Video games have always been one of the most exciting elements in my life. In fact, I was a gamer since I was 6 and games had a huge impact on my creativity in every step in my life. When I was young, I started to create my own world by developing the dreams I could imagine and that was a starting point for me to choose Video Games as my goal. I started to expand my knowledge and make plans then learned about the three main aspects of creating games consist of Game Design, Game Art and Programming, then tried to develop my skills in Game Art section with a little of Design abilities.
In the Game Art area, there are different types of skills like concept art, 3D art, VFX and animations that every skill can be made in a specific genre which defines the style of the artist. Among these fields, I chose 3D art that is about creating the 3D file of the asset based on the chosen concept art. The steps are creating the block out, adding the details, creating the high poly object (for texture baking), creating the low poly object, UV unwrapping and adding extra details with materials, shaders, colors and normal maps. My art style is Gothic Science Fiction which is a combination of Dark Gothic theme like vampires, castles and cursed monsters with Science Fiction genre like astronomy, advanced technologies and robots.
My Artstation: https://www.artstation.com/moh-nay
February Week 1
I started by thinking about a plan for making my ideas by considering the limitations I may face and the key points where I need to push the design further or where to be realistic about the problems and removing some of the contents. My main idea was about a First Person Shooter Real Time Strategy game called “Metallic Waves” which I was developing for a few years and I thought how I can create at least the visuals of the game world.
During the first week, I decided to create a Game Art projects instead of a Game Design project. I did a lot of research and found it’s better to focus on my specialist skill rather than a lot of generalist skills. For example, I wanted to create a practice range where the player was able to try different equipment and different abilities but I noticed that I need to create a lot of unnecessary elements like Sound effects, Animations, Visual Effects and also attaching everything together by programming skills and later bug fixing which was an unrealistic plan for a short period of time especially when I didn’t have a team and I needed to work alone on my project. Then I decided to start creating only the 3D objects of my game like characters, weapons, props. In addition, I changed my practice range to an exhibition to only display the assets I made in a game level. Based on the details of my 3D objects, I found Unreal Engine is strong enough and a good choice for me to start working with especially when Unreal Blueprints (Graph and node based programming) made this engine a lot easier to use as there is no need to do programming.
February Week 2
I started to create a list of the assets I need in my game and decided how many of these objects can be made by the end of every week. The required Time and Skill for completing my list were the two main challenge I faced and as I mentioned before, some contents needed to be removed in order to focus on what can be made by a certain amount of time. I started with creating the main three characters of my game Hecto, Lightning and Ogre but once I started Hecto, I found that making a character is very time consuming (due to the fact that there are a lot of parts) and suddenly changed my mind to leave that project but instead start creating the main weapon of Hecto which was “Shotgun of Hecto”.
I used the mood board and theme of Hecto (was inspired by house centipede) to create a powerful shotgun. Further in the progression of the design when I was creating the block out of the shape, I wanted it to be as powerful as possible and I ended up transforming it to a triple barrel shotgun with two huge blades at its front. There is a grip to reduce the kick (and has small red charm which is a tooth of a robot), a sniper stock for a more balanced shape and a visualizer next to the iron sight where the player can easily watch the music visualizer when the EDM music is playing in the background (the visualizer reacts to it). When I was learning Substance painter earlier, I bought a few decals from Artstation of Nazz Abdoel (robot artist at Guerrilla Games) which helped me to decorate the appearance of my assets and the emblems you see on my shotgun is one of my first experiments I did about creating textures with decals.
Nazz Abdoel Artstation and store:
February Week 3
After creating the first asset of my game, I tried to ask the feedbacks of AAA game industry artists. I had the pleasure to ask the opinion of Anton Gonzalez (Environment Artist and Co-founder of Cold Symmetry); he suggested me to use real world references when creating assets due to the fact that I should learn more about the basics of anatomy and mechanics before I make a fictional version of any object. The second note he mentioned was starting from simple shapes and then making them complex. In the end, he told me about improving my artworks by creating fan arts for the games of my favorite game companies, recreating an artwork of another artist and recreating an artwork but based on the block out of the object with customized details.
I had a chance to talk with Micheal Eizenbeg (animator at Blizzard Entertainment), he told me to blend the details of my assets more and create more object for my portfolio. In addition, he mentioned that for the game industry, I need to clarify what my focus is, for example character, environment or props (which is also depends on the art style of the studio).
The third person I had the pleasure to ask for feedback was Mike Garn (concept artist at Treyarch and indie game developer). He suggested me to study more about real world mechanics and robotics which is important for the designs to be felt functional in the game. He also said I need at least 12 assets for a AAA game portfolio and every object in my asset should be colored and detailed.
Cold Symmetry website:
Micheal Eizenberg tutorial:
Anton Gonzalez Artstation:
Mike Garn Artstation:
February Week 4
After I received valuable feedbacks from AAA professionals, I decided to change my strategy. I removed all of the characters as I needed to study more about anatomy, mechanics and learn new skills. I bought a Zbrush tutorial from Jonas Roscinas (robot designer at Guerrilla Games). In his videos, he shows how to create a mech in Zbrsuh like the robotic animals we saw in Horizon Zero Dawn. In fact, he teaches how to make a mech with an organic modeling software and I’ll explain what I learned from his workflow. First, he creates the block out of the robot, starting with a sphere, and then using different brushes like Snake brush for adding stretched volumes (like arms and legs) and using Move brush for changing the shape of the model, inward and outward, left and right, to finally makes the shape he wants. Then he uses masking brushes to detach the parts he wants to be separated and then he uses smaller masking tools on those separated objects to create the details. In the end, he was able to easily name the ID of those parts for rendering and even retopology and making the normal maps.
I also watched a few short tutorials about Moi 3D, which is a CAD software and suitable for creating industrial 3D objects like kitbash parts. CAD 3D modeling softwares like Moi 3D and Fusion 360 always use Nurbs for creating objects which is another type of 3D modelling.
Jonas Roscinas tutorial:
Jonas Roscinas Artstation:
Moi 3D website:
March Week 1
I started to create the second asset of my game which was a grenade launcher for Ogre. This time, I used the images of a real double barrel shotgun as reference and tried to create the structure of my grenade launcher based on those details. Like the previous gun, I tried to add Gothic Sci-Fi essence when I was prototyping the block out of the shape even on the textures when I was painting in Substance Painter. The mechanism works exactly like a double barrel shotgun combined with a single barrel grenade launcher. I added a thorax looking detail on the top, a few sharp metals attached to the barrels, trigger guard and stock, an EDM visualizer on the top and the name of two inspiring artis Vitaly Bulgarov (robot artist, co-founder of Cold Symmetry) and Zomboy (EDM producer) on the sides of the barrels. Unlike decals and alphas in Substance Painter that look like flat colors, some details like factory cuts, antique patterns and bolt places are a little inward or outward which can be made by changing the Height and Normal information of the layer using any type of brush. In addition, there is an under barrel flashbang which helps the player to stun the enemy (as a grenade launcher can’t attack in close range).
I used the antique pack form Mels Mneyan on Artstation to use for my projects. Also I bought a basic Zbrush tutorial from Nickolay Naydenov which is perfect for beginners.
Zomboy Soundcloud:
Beginner Zbrush tutorial by Nickolay Naydenov:
Vitaly Bulgarov Artstation:
Nickolay Naydenov Artstation:
Mels Mneyan Artstation store:
March Week 2
This week, I contacted several AAA artists to ask them for feedback and I had the pleasure to receive feedback form Ivan Nestorov (Hard surface artist from Machine Games, Bethesda) and Chelsea Velazquez (Weapon artist at Bungie). Ivan Nestorov suggested me to create more objects and use a lot of real life refences when creating assets and said even if you are not able to create complex items, start from simple objects as it’s a good way of learning about shapes and forms because it makes your assets way more believable. He also mentioned that concept designers usually have a concept art background or a lot of work experience.
On the other hand, Chelsea Velazquez taught me about the proper way of publishing 3D artworks. In fact, showing only the final result forces people to guess your skill level in the previous processes (like optimizing, UV unwrapping, texturing, etc), then it’s important to include all of the required documents like High poly meshes, High poly Wireframes, Low poly meshes, Low poly Wire frames, Polycounts, Texture maps (Normal, Metallic, Roughness, AO, ect), custom decals and Top, Right, Side views of the objects. She also said avoid big block of colors as different people have different emotions about colors and it’s better to add more details or gradient colors to make it more floating. In the end, she suggested me to start from designing props because this let me to practice the base workflow and gain a mastery which can help in designing more complex shapes.
Ivan Nestorov Artstation:
Chelsea Velazquez Artstation:
March Week 3
I started to create an ammo box for the Ogre Grenade Launcher. This time I focused more on optimizing the object to create a proper low poly model. The lower the amount of the polygon in a scene of a game, the higher framerate we will get. Then I removed all of the bevels from the tiny edges and reduced the circular divisions by half or even more as far as the object still looked circle in a small scale (I create my circles with 32 sides and later I’ll optimize it to 16 or even 8 based on the size of the asset or camera angles). I started with a simple cylinder and put a grenade ammo next to it to have the right proportion for the box. I also used more smart materials to make it look professional in addition using scratched eraser brushes to remove some parts of the decals and make them look more professional. I should mention that in Substance Painter the emissive layer is turned off by default that the user need to add an emissive layer manually in order to be able to create the glowing effect. It’s a good idea to use the glare effect when rendering in iRay to have a realistic render.
This week I also did a few experiments in Maya to create a sample of my arena and I made a scene with high poly models of the two previous guns by adding a few lightings and solid colors. I found that creating an exhibition can be better than building an armory because I only want to show what assets I made instead of doing Environment Art.
March Week 4
When I was planning for creating my 4th assets, I noticed a few problems in my UV unwrapping skills because there were a few dark and low resolution areas on my textures. After watching a few tutorials, I learned that we usually use face unwrapping tools for hard surface objects which have sides to be organized; on the other hand, we use unfolding tools for unwrapping organic and sculptures which don’t have a straight side. This will help us to avoid overlapping and other baking problems for making textures in softwares like Substance Painter.
When I started to create my 4th assets, I planned to create a musical Gothic Sci-Fi crate that provides ammo for the team of the main character of my game. For the Gothic part, I was thinking about creating a traditional chest with skulls and later I added a few fantasy candles with several antique patterns to add a “cursed” feeling to it. On the other hand, I used a lot of Sci-Fi lines and bolts alphas beside the Sci-fi material to keep the futuristic feeling of the artwork. In the end, I added to circular speakers with visualizers inspired from JBL portable speakers to add the essence of EDM to the design. One of the most difficult parts was sculpting the skull in Zbrush and Importing it to Maya to optimizing it for the final mesh. The UV unwrapping part was very challenging too and I tried to unwrap the softer shapes manually by doing cut and unfolding (most of the time industrial parts can be unwrapped easily by doing auto unwrapping tools) for creating a smooth texture set.
These are two valuable tutorials by Armored Colony:
High poly to Low poly workflow:
UV unwrapping workflow:
April Week 1
This week, I had the pleasure to receive a feedback from a professional concept designers, Aaron Boomhower. The first note he mentioned was similar to the feedbacks I received from the other AAA artist. He said I need to use more real world references when designing assets and study about the scale and how the shapes of those items are arranged. He also added that colored background may distract people from the design, a simple gradient is a better choice. He suggested me to buy Visual Design tutorial from Alex Senechal (concept designer at Nvidia and Studio 343) for improving my skills.
In Alex Senechal’s tutorial, I found several important design rules which I want to explain. The first note is “70-30 Rule” which means we need to avoid evenness when creating a good design. When we create an asset, it’s better to break it into two primary and secondary sections (and maybe a tiny but bold tertiary detail). For example, when we create an armor plate, instead of creating a big object with a solid color, it’s better to divide it into two parts that one has the 70% of the volume with a lighter color, the second part has the 30% of the remained volume with a darker color and maybe a tiny golden detail (by paying attention to the visual intensity and values of your design). Another valuable note he mentioned was about “Frustration Periods” which means in every step of the improvement in every skill, there is a frustration point that every artist (from junior to senior) will suddenly notice their designs are not good enough and then they start to learn and create better designs for a while and again they feel they are not good and it happens again and again which is completely normal and is the golden rule of progression.
Aaron Boomhower Artstation:
Alex Senechal Artstation:
Alex Senechal tutorial:
April Week 2
My 5th asset was a combat knife and for this one I didn’t use any Gothic Sci-Fi essence and just tried to create something like a modern knife. The handle of the knife is inspired by the default knife in Modern Warfare (Activision 2019) but the blade and guard are completely new. In the end in Substance Painter I just added a Danger decal and a few scratches to make it look battle hardened.
This week I also spent some time for creating the base of my project and started to test some of my ideas. The first problem was creating a music visualizer in Unreal Engine and I found that it requires a lot of programming but after a lot of searches, I learned it’s possible to play a video in a game and I can easily add a mp4 visualizer video based on my chosen EDM music and this made my work a lot easier. The only work I needed to do was importing the required file and making an Unreal Material for it and adding to any surface I want (like a rectangular plan as a TV) to display the video and also the sound of the video during the gameplay.
Unreal Engine Media Player Material:
April Week 3
This week I started creating “Planet Spawner” which was a magical robotic arm able to create planets. For this project, I tried to use the notes that Alex Senechal teached in his Visual Design tutorial. The first thing I did when I was creating the block out, was following the 70-30 rule both for parts and colors. I gathered a few references from robotic arms and I was trying to create a more functional design along keeping my art style. I started to create more detail on each part by changing the edges of every part, adding additional small 3D parts and copying the current faces to make connections easier. After I finished the painting process in Substance Painter, this time I added an overall dust particle to make it look more realistic.
This week I also found another problem in Unreal Engine that imported object looked very oily. I found that we need to remove the sRGB tick of the “Occlusion Roughness Metallic” texture that we imported with the object and in the material editor (when we connect textures to the material) we should change the “Color” to “Linear Color” in the setting of the “Occlusion Roughness Metallic” texture.
April Week 4
This week I started to make my final asset, a Gothic Sci-Fi lantern. I tried to follow the notes I learned from AAA artist by considering the connections, negative space, forms, the 70-30 rule, functionality and color theory. On the other hand, I needed to consider all of my technical skills to be able to create all the details I want like High Poly to Low Poly workflow, UV unwrapping, texturing and most importantly for this time, hand painting ability. The blood effect I made is completely hand painted and I used a lot of brushed and different red colors to create a fantasy looking blood. In the end, I added an Emissive texture set to create the glowing effect.
In Unreal Engine, the is an open slot in the Material Editor for any exported texture sets that includes an emissive image.
Conclusion
During this semester, I used almost everything I learned for creating my game. I learned a lot of new skills, both hard and soft skills which helped me to widen my vision about video games industry and I had the pleasure to receive several valuable feedbacks from AAA game artists. In the future I want to stay in the 3D art and concept design field and evolve my skills in this area to become a Lead Designer in the later steps of my goal. Special thanks to the professionals who helped me and I keep all of these valuable notes for the generation of the future and developing the new ideas.
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