How to Become an Environment Artist for Games

When I was just a kid, I always found myself enamored with the beautiful sprawling environments in video games I played, often entirely forgetting my current mission and allowing myself to get lost in the sprawling grass fields, breathtaking architecture design, and admiring the smallest details of these beautiful environments.

It was this deep childhood appreciation for the art behind the games that drew me to Video Game Art as a career.
Now if you’re watching this video, you’re probably in the same situation I was in all of those years ago. You want to learn How to Become an Environment Artist for Games.

Video Edited by Nicolo Bacialli
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[rskityaev]

I can't stress enough how important unwrapping skills are, especially for environment artist. Understanding such concepts as "overlaps" and "trimsheets" are essential.

[kellogskiller]

Hi! The title of your video should have been '' How to Become an Artist for games'' because it was so general! I didn't find it to be specifically for the environment. So much can be said about how to make/master environment art and you mentioned nothing about it. I link your video to my interns because I find them very helpful for juniors! I have watched your videos since the beginning but have never commented before, it's a first! Keep the good work and the high-quality content :)

How to become an Environment Artist for Games: (quick overview of the guideline)
1 - Get a general idea of the scene/level (and the story).
2 - Get all the concepts and references you need.
3 - Blocking and first pass lighting. (Helps to highlight the main area(s)).
4 - Start modeling the main assets (+ Uvs + baking).
Placement
5 - Modeling filling props ( UVs + Baking).
Placement
5.1 - (If needed) Mod/Tex vegetation
6 - Texturing (You can do it right after modeling each asset or do it all in one. I prefer to do it all in one for more consistency in the style and colors).
7 - Particle systems and effects (Post process, etc.)
8 - Final lighting pass.
9 - optional! Animation/ shader animation. It will bring the scene to life!

More steps can be added depending on the environment and complexity (demo or real game).

Some other important stuff that will make your work better:
- Optimize as you go! This is not the last step. You may have to re-do full assets If you didn't think about it earlier. This step can help you save time too by atlassing or using symmetry, etc.
- Learn how nature works, analyze everything ( forest hierarchy, rock degradation, water flow, etc! ) This will make your scene more believable x1000.
- Each asset has a story to tell.
- Learn how real objects are made ( you can use that knowledge, even for stylized assets. You can exaggerate some important parts for the style or bring the eye to it. )
- Watch what other people do, Share your work.
- Open old projects. If you ask yourself wth@! did you do, well that's good. It means you have learned to do better. There is always room for improvement, even for veterans.

5 years in an indie studio, learned alot! still have a lot to learn!

[JdotCarver]

Damn. This should be the de-facto video for all 3D Environment Artists.
It assembles everything I've been learning for the past few months in under 15 minutes.
Great job.

[Hagon]

I'm delving into 3D modelling and game design at the age of 27 as a big career shift from being a carpenter up until now. I discovered i have a knack and some talent for it, but it's still hard. I know in time I will become better and maybe some day I'll even be able to work with my newfound passion. But i can't help but shake the feeling sometimes that I came into this " game" or industry a bit too late as people my age or even way younger than me are already wildly talented, skillfull and successfull artists while I'm merely beginning. It's sometimes discouraging, but it's just one of many hurdles I'll have to surpass. Atleast I'm done doing things I don't want to do, and I'm starting to focus on the things that I do want to get better at and work with. It's great to see videos like these that inspire me and channels like this that share in their plethora of knowledge on the subject. Keep up the good work guys!

[grodkowski]

I graduated in my game dev degree back in may. I got hired at my first studio a couple weeks ago. Super stressful and imposter syndrome is very real. But I love it. :D

[onlybooleans]

After 2 years of working in product design, I'm starting as an environment artist in a small indie studio. Your videos have been extremely helpful, to say the least. Thank you Stylized station ^^

[zephyr]

Thank you so very much for featuring my work! 😊💛

[dozar]

I swear this video is truely deeply well explained ...how to become artist i have seen soo many video with thumbnail how to become game artist but they never deeply talk about modeling uvs and texture ...their all just like ....blockout models picture refrence lighting thats all and they end up their video ...you never going to understand from where you should began with ...

[OnigoroshiZero]

And this is one of the reasons of why being a solo game dev feels so overwhelming (the word itself is such an understatement).

I like to mostly do the game design and game developing part, but the (visual) art plays such a huge role that can also make or break a game, and I will not even start about the sound, animations, story, etc.

ps: Keep bringing high quality content like this, your videos are highly appreciated. Now I need to get back into my cave, my game won't finish itself.

[arrw]

Long comment incoming. Important info for students and prospective future professional game artists.

To any people looking to pursue this as a profession and work at a studio making games, I just want to warn you that while it's totally possible, it isn't easy. The competition is fierce, and if you want a job you're going to have to work your ass off. Also, having a fulltime job while you learn it on the side makes it exponentially harder. It's all possible, but it's hard. It takes time and a lot of effort. I wish it wasn't like this, but it's just the reality of being able to live off making art. I don't want this to discourage anyone, but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea and think this is an easy thing to do. Put in the time and effort, you'll get there. You can do it, I promise.

You need to know how to do a huge variety of stuff that ranges all over the board. There's lots of disciplines involved that range from very 'creative' to very 'technical'. The range of what amount of them you'll be doing at wherever you end up ranges wildly as well. It depends if you end up as more of a generalist who does all sorts of stuff, or end up being specialized only doing a few things. Here's a list of a lot of the main ones for environment artists.

Modeling. Trim sheets. Baking. Texturing baked assets. How to make tileable materials, whether it's in designer, painter, or zbrush. The difference between a baked asset vs an asset made from tileables and trim. How to gather good reference. How smart materials work. Topology. Sculpting. How PBR works. UV mapping. A game engine. Modularity. Texel density. Lighting. Composition. Stylization vs Realism. A modeling package, a sculpting pacakge, a texturing package, photoshop and a engine.
There's also Protogrammetry, Shaders, Terrain. etc. etc. etc. The list goes on. Some of these you just need a basic understanding of, some of them you need to be very proficient in. It's a lot of stuff as you can see.

My biggest recommendation would be joining a community that has people like you who are working towards the same goal, as well as industry professionals who can help guide you in the right direction. My #1 recommendation for that is the DiNusty Empire Discord. It's filled with top talent and students alike. There's other options like Experience Points, 3D Fast Track and The Rookies, but DiNusty is where I'd start. The guy who runs DiNusty also streams on twitch regularly which is great for asking questions and seeing an industry veteran's workflow in real time. They also offer mentorships similar to the mentorship coalition shown in the video. Mentorships are amazing for making portfolio pieces and getting intimate knowledge and guidance from professionals. That being said, I wouldn't recommend starting a mentorship until you know the basics of modeling, texturing, uving, baking and sculpting. Also, once you have a prop and basic environment under your belt. You don't want to waste your time and money with a mentor having them show you how to use software that you could learn from a youtube video.
I also obviously want to recommend watching lots of tutorials, including buying tutorials from professionals in the field. You can get them on youtube, gumroad, artstation, flippednormals, Learn Squared, etc.
Also, make an Artstation! Post your work on there and ask for critique on discord. Get as much critique as you can. Let it be harsh. It's how you get better.




Sorry this was long but I hope it will help someone who is on a similar path to the one I was on.

[jjstarrprod]

This was mind-blowing, dude ! I just started the Summer of Unreal as a 2D animation film director (with almost 20 years of xp behind me), so I've been completely drown by all the 3D jargon in there (Blueprints, Nodes, PBR, meshes... What the heck are those !?).
Your vid is a fantastic eye-opener on all of this !

Thanks a bunch ! It was really a timely video !

[gcracker]

I really like this video. I just started attending college last fall for Multimedia and Game development. I'm not very great at coding, and I've learned I will probably never be a pro at it. And I've really learned that I love creating things in Maya, creating maps and levels for games. I've done stuff in Unreal and Unity so far. Thanks for the video!

[aribahmed]

Awesome, I'm an indie game dev and I'm only 15, I just wanted to check out what it takes to become an actual environment artist

[MonsterJuiced]

Beautifully said, I'm an aspiring environment artist currently working on smaller projects and I'm cobbling together everything and anything I can learn to be able to create these environments in a timely manner. The biggest setback I've faced in UV unwrapping and optimisation. Even with lower poly counts, your shaders MUST be taken into account and advanced effects should be used sparingly (this is for VR). UV unwrapping takes the cake and it needs to be right or you will find yourself fudging the results to make ends meet. Simply put, I may hide certain things behind props because I simply didn't have the time to do it properly.

My advice is to UV unwrap on the fly, don't make everything first and then come back to it. The only reason I ever do that is if my clients are expecting results that same week and I will model everything as fast as I can with decent detail, use tri-planar texturing shaders to slap materials onto everything and then show the demo result and go back and refine it afterwards. This is usually due to regular meetings and updates for the people funding the projects. They always want to see good and fast progress.

[ma.]

This is an amazing video. Something I wish I had seen it was created a long time ago. Nothing against you, the video is just that good. It told me things I already knew (hence why I wish I saw it earlier), told me things I sort of understood and reinforced my understanding of it, and taught me new things.
Incredible video. Thank you for creating it.

[hitmangamesyndicate]

What a fantastic video... I was a uni student and now solo artist of over 5 years... and everything you said in the very beginning and throughout rings true... The reasons why I got to where I am as an E.A. down to everything my professors and real world industry instructors taught us in class... I am a member of stylized station by way of the 3d artist coloring book... and I look forward to everything you have coming in the future... cheers...

[KIRKS]

Essentially most off this video is correct. And a well put together video. I've been an environment artist for around 6 years now. The point of needing to know 3D Modelling isn't entirely correct. I have never touched 3DS Max and opened blender around 3 times in that 6 year gap. Knowing 3D Art is advantageous not essential, so don't be put off environment art if your new to the idea. Although there is said to be a shortage of 3D artists in the industry. This only refers to TOP TOP talented 3D Artists. And there is a MASSIVE abundance of websites that offer 3D Assets. The point I'm making is don't be alarmed if your wanting to get into environment art and level design and have no interest in making 3D Assets. Proceed with your dream.

[karthiknaidu]

I want to become Environment Artist for Games. And im always learning and improving with great inspirations from Pinterest and youtube.

[Lync]

I'm seriously shocked you did not mention Modo when you spoke about the 3 modeling software. However This video touches deeply and totally one of the same situation right now. Setting back listening to where you started brings me back to my memories LOL Oh do I have them. Lost a lot of battle matches due to me reviewing environment art. Example are "Fanboy and chum chum shows, Hale, Rachet and Clank. Banbicot, Tekken and a lot others. I need guidance and careful pacing to get to where I need to be in this skill set. I remember in Halo 1 when playing on teams I'd be the driver at times and I remember getting out of the Wart Hog right and just wandering around leaving the game and in aww about the structures and how they are built and the theming of the sets for game play for hours LOL so I know what you mean and this is my mission and glad I found you somehow on youtube to help guide me through your courses. Man I am on board for sure. I also am a musician and wondering how to add this at some point to my production. I work with Cubase and Nuendo for the music and play all the instruments to create scores including sound designing as well . So at some point I think this will be helpful. I have so many ideas swarming around in my creative head and it's so frustrating that's where my ideas are trapped for right now. Great video and everyone here viewing this knows and understand we all start at some place, Thank You Stylized Station for making this video for that childhood memory you've resurrected in all of our hearts starting when one crayon on my wall drawing "Wile-E Coyote Super Genius" LOL.

[yusrighouse]

Great video man! Totally agree on the soft skills part. One of the reasons I feel I got a shot is while there are many talented people not all of them are easy to work with meaning if you are easy to work with it improves the chances of breaking into the industry.