The 3D Winners of the Worlds Challenge Massimo Di Leo and Valerio Bellia give us details on their creation process of Wall Town. 

Inspiration:
M.  Japanese and Disney animation, Sci-Fi movies. My favorite artists are Bruce Timm, Anthony Holden, and Kenichi Yoshida
V.   Mainly Sci-Fi and fantasy movies and video games. I also really like Japanese animes, like Trigun or Gurren Lagann. 

Average Number of Layers When You Paint:
M. 10-15 (but sometimes I try to paint using just one or two!)
V.  I don’t paint!

Coffee or Tea:
M. Tea
V.  Coffee (a lot)

Good Habits:
M. I like to keep some time to practice drawing by myself everyday
V. To sleep a lot, to have great social life, and to be a big liar

Favorite Movies:
M.  Star Wars, Blade Runner, Spirited away, Demolition Man
V.   The Iron Giant, Lord of the Rings movies, Total Recall

Favorite Games:
M.V. We like pretty much the same games: Bioshock Infinite, Dishonored, Overwatch, Guild wars series, the Total War franchise, Ori and the Blind Forest and many many others.

Music While Doing Art:
M.  Classical and jazz
V.   Game and music soundtracks 

How to Bounce Back from a Bad Day:
M.  BEER
V.   Actually there aren’t bad days, just days.

What is a Good Day:
M. For me, a good day balances between working on a good project and passing time with family and friends
V.  Actually there aren’t good days, just days

Favorite Quote:
M. “Try not. Do...or do not. There is no try.”
V.  “He choose….poorly”

Future Goals:
M.V.  We have the same objective: to make games. What we want to do is to put together a good team, to create an indie game studio and to start making games!

Can you introduce yourself?

M. I’m Massimo and I’m from Rome. I’m a concept artist and illustrator and I love everything about animation, video games and movies. I worked for the animation industry as a background artist but I moved working for games about a year ago. Some things I really like are: food, driving, swimming, and painting miniatures.
V. I’m Valerio, and I’m from Rome. Despite having been a great video game player since I was a kid, I never thought about having a 3D artist career. It all started by chance, as a hobby, and very soon turned into a real passion. I think that now my work is maybe my greatest passion among all others!

What got you into 2D art, when did it all start?

M. I have drawn all along my life; I remember entire summers copying old Disney comics and cover art while other children were outside playing soccer. 
I actually decided to do art for a living when I was 21, so I went to an art school in Rome. This really made me realize I wanted to do this, and gave me a chance to start working in the industry.

How did you get to the level you are at today? Did you study in any particular way you would recommend?

M.V. We both went to art schools, but we found that the key for getting better was to not just follow the school lessons, so we studied by ourselves with books, video tutorials and joining art forums, and we tried to keep updated with the latest news and programs. I think that there isn’t a universal way to learn, it can vary from person to person; the key is just to be motivated. 

How did you begin the process of creating Wall Town? What was your inspiration?

M.V. We brainstormed some ideas: we wanted to create a “post apocalyptic-cyberpunk” setting, with an overall atmosphere which had to seem “toxic”. 
The initial idea was to make it a lot more bright, with sunlight coming up from above, leaving the bottom of the city a lot darker. After some test we liked more the idea of a night setting, with fog, neons, and some warm spots.
Our inspirations for setup and lighting were of course Blade Runner, The Castle in the Sky, and Bioshock.

What was your biggest hurdle during the process? What did you do to overcome it?

M.V. The biggest problem with our project was to have a short time to do a lot of things (we joined the challenge at the end of August). Our project was very ambitious, and we had to figure out how to manage the actual asset production. We tried to think about all the project in a modular way, doing lots of kits and building them like Lego bricks. That really shortened the process of the actual scene building. 

If you had to do it over would you do it differently? Why?

M.V. We’re very happy with the results. Today we would probably take less time to do certain things, but talking about the piece itself, we would do pretty much the same.

Do you have any tips or advice for aspiring artists out there who might be looking to get to your level one day? What's your recipe for success?

M.V. One word: teamwork. For us working with a great team is the main recipe for success. We can be great talented artist by ourselves, but it’s when you get into a team that you realize confrontation is the real key for success. It’s impossible to master everything, but having a good team would mean to have complementary skills.

What got you into environment art in particular?

M.V. Environment art involves creating many types of things. While working on an environment you will probably think about buildings, props, vehicles, effects and decals: you will setup an entire atmosphere. These things, all together, can really convoy the idea of a living world. For us is one of the more complete way to be creative!

What do you think the Worlds Challenge experience taught you, and would you participate again next year if you could?

M.V. For us, joining the Worlds Challenge meant to work on a hard project with a tight deadline. It was a chance for growing a lot as artists, and mostly as a team. Sharing problems and getting over them really bounds people together and 
Of course we would join it again the next year!

Any final thoughts?

M.V. We are really happy to have joined this challenge. This goal we achieved really pushes up ourselves with motivation. We thank again Cubebrush for giving us the chance to participate.

It was also incredible to have been judged by such great professionals, and we wanted to thank them again for the time they spent judging all the challenge entries.  
Lastly, we thank all the other artists who joined the contest and worked hard to create such amazing works.