imaginary enviornments

[chi monkey]

Hey all,

I'm always trying to expand my artistic techs, and lately I'm trying to do other stuff besides my normal character design - namely landscapes and enviornments.
For some reason I cannot render the enviornments I have in my mind - maybe a building or so, but I can never put together say - a town or landscape. I really have a hard time incorporating my characters in such scenes.
I have a real hard time with perspective - so maybe thats at the root of the problem.
In any case, I would appreciate any help I can get as a push in the right direction,
Thanks.

[Koopa Hunter D]

i have a few helpful things you might find useful. if youre doing something like a valley landscape with montains or hills in the background, drawing the basic flowing shapes always helps me compose something. i usually draw the mountains [or what have you] through the middle third of my page, to allow enough room for the actual shapes of the geology to come out. experiment with just drawing light flowing lines near the bottom, and make your stroke more jagged and random as you go up. also, make the actual forms smaller as you go up [duh].
as for cities and such, i try drawing some horizontal lines through where i want some buildings to go. then, i add a line from the horizon [or hill pass, or whatever] that goes through the center of the town-to-be. then its a matter of adding the buildings to the grid. the reason i start the building with a grid is that it helps me build the scale of the town. if you want to add a character to the scene, then just add a hill near the bottom of the page. or a cliff. those are cool too.
hope to help cm

[chi monkey]

Thanks a bunch - I've got a project comming up where I'll be required to such things - I guess its just a matter of practice and getting more in touch with perspective in all the things I draw.

[Big Al]

a good command of perspective is a definite requirement for environments and if u don't have that, u r going to struggle. outdoor scenery is not as perspective heavy, but a basic knowledge of composition, fore, mid and background are essential. characters r pretty common, but the perspective dependent renderings scare alot of people off..if u can get good at it, u will be in demand.

feng zhu offers a class in production design at gnomon that is very informative and gives a good overview on perspective...problem is, u r not in LA.

good luck...