Backgrounds the Academy

 

An unused idea for the castle. Originally it was going to be broody and dark with a more fantasy elven style with a lot of curved shapes. I ultimately scrapped this as I felt it didn't give of the sense of grandeur and wow the other rough design I had and overall it isn't very dynamic and doesn't really show the full scale of the castle.

Work in Progress
Final depiction of the castle

designing the outside of the academy was probably the hardest part for me as I had a lot of ideas on what it should look like and keep changing my mind at the last minute however I settled on a more medieval look that fit more within the setting of the animation. I wanted the castle to look bright, welcoming and full of life, to contrast with the dark motives behind the organization and some aspects of the interior.

When deciding the color I wanted something that would fit in with the city which is what I designed first and looked at one of my artist models Chim JolJol whos environment work on Dragon Nest is vibrant and expressive even when the events within the plot are dark and broody. Originally I had a lot of difficulty with the texture I wanted to make the building look as if it was made of stone so looking at my artist model I noticed a technique he uses as his style is quite painterly he will often use a slightly lighter shade than the darkest, not so bright that it looks like a shadow but will create small squares along the castle to give the impressions of brick and stone.


Some examples of Chim JolJol's enviroment work



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