Between a rock and a hard place - Top projects for environment art inspiration

The environment artist’s role is that of world builder. The mission is nothing less than to craft the spaces that will create a sense of immersion, help tell a story, and work hand-in-glove with level design and gameplay. Environment artists work at the vanguard of game development, typically collaborating closely with level designers to visualize, build, and refine the 3D content that helps define aesthetic as well as gameplay flow.

Environment artist's need a wide range of skills and we've scoured The Rookies to find some of the best projects that will inspire you to create your own digital worlds.

When nature wins

Created by: Bert Plasschaert
Member Level: contender

When humanity leaves and nature reconquers the terrain.

A Tribute to Nature

Created by: Anton Van der Velden
Member Level: contender

A viking survived a shipwreck and decided to pay tribute to Mother Nature and the Spirits of the Forest.

A glimpse of Ascension

Created by: Igor Francey
Member Level: contender

This small scene is an assembly of assets originally created for a greater scene, the goal was to give justice to these assets by focusing solely on their presentation

Daily Substance Alchemist Materials

Created by: Jonathan Boyes
Member Level: debut

Set of materials, one every day, made in Substance Alchemist. Rendered in Marmoset.

Diorama-Unreal Enigne 4

Created by: Alexia Benkaroun
Member Level: contender

Cobble Stone Material

Created by: Aleksandar Paskaš
Member Level: player

Recently I started learning Substance Designer and this is my first material. It is a cobblestone material done with the help of Rogelio Olguin's Tutorial.

The Animal Shrine

Created by: Peter Dimitrov
Member Level: contender

Challenge entry created from scratch in 2 months. Topic of the competition was Feudal Japan. I decided to create this animal shrine and try to tell a fantasy story through some statues and a calligraphers workshop.

Forest Cabin (personal project)

Created by: Tim Nijs
Member Level: contender

A personal project with a duration of about 9 weeks. All assets made from scratch

Nord Noratlas - Think Tank Advanced Project

Created by: Nikhil Kedige
Member Level: contender

This was my advance project at Think Tank online (Environment For Games). Learnt a lot by working on a large scale project like this. Now on to the mentorship!

The Untold Story of Bernadette

Created by: Giselle Valenzuela
Member Level: contender

This is my work in progress Senior Thesis known as Bernadette. This is a third-person side-scroller experience where you follow the story of Bernadette and her journey to escape the home of "The Caretaker".

Video Game Environment Concept

Created by: Quentin Marsollier
Member Level: player

Greenhouse

Created by: Alec Tucker
Member Level: rookie

UE4 Foliage practice.

Solitary Living

Created by: Anthony Robinson
Member Level: contender

This was a run painting to experiment with a new range of brushes I had recently downloaded. I think I was dreaming of a holiday after a long semester.

Beyond Human Challenge - Environment Real Time : Spirit House

Created by: Marco D'Angelo
Member Level: rookie

This is my Final submission for beyond human artstation challenge, the concept is of Grace Liu : https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GYgx4 .

Created by: Parth Shah
Member Level: player

This was personal model work done by me in past from concept of Artist -G liulian

'Heaven on Earth'

Created by: Hisham Taufik
Member Level: contender

I took two weeks for this project and my goal was to mimic production as a Lookdev/ Lighter to give life to the already amazing set dress provided. Responsible: Look Development, Lighting, Compositing. Model : Christina Faraj Concept : Paul Felix