Environments + Lighting

Watering Can Home - Interior

Winter Cottage - Interior

Winter Cottage - Exterior

Lily Pad Pond

Maya, Substance Painter, Procreate

Maya, Substance Painter

Watering Can Home - Exterior

Maya, Substance Painter

Medieval Church

ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, Procreate

Cloisters

Maya, Substance Painter, Procreate

Throne Room

Maya, Substance Painter, Procreate

This medieval church was created for Immemoriale and is the final resting place of warriors who have been turned into their own tombs. One of my biggest inspirations was the Basilica of Saint-Denis outside Paris, France, with its collection of effigy tombs throughout the nave, being bathed in colorful light from the stained-glass windows. I combined elements from Saint-Denis and other medieval gothic cathedrals to create a fairly accurate structure with an air of magic. There are three different sizes/designs of windows, each textured by hand in Procreate. The tombs utilize rigs of the knights used in the film, placed as Stand-Ins to optimize geometry.

The throne room is where the Queen bides her time for eternity, waiting to collect when she is called. It is the seat of her power, a sparse room where a single chair stands ominously. The chair is directly modeled after medieval gothic thrones of the period, with a fitting design carved onto the back, front, and sides of the chair. The stone texture of the walls is hand-painted in Procreate for a stylized look. I really enjoyed creating the candles, using geometry with a transparent texture to achieve the orbs of light.

The cloisters are an extension of the Queen's castle, and as such utilize the same stone texture. The candelabras from the previous set have been adapted into chandeliers. Their warm glow helps to counteract the blue of the moonlight and add dimension to the scene.

Bubby the frog and his tadpole son find themselves dumped out into this lily pad pond at the end of Bubby and Son. The pond features sculpted lily flowers bathed in the glow of a setting sun. I stylized the set to match the simplicity of the characters, while still focusing on color to illustrate the mood of this closing scene in the film.

The Huntress stumbles upon this winter cottage in my film Kindling. I wanted the cottage to have an old-world, storybook feel, with exaggerated, rounded elements similar to the Dwarves' cottage in Snow White. Throughout the film, the sun slowly sets, leaving the Huntress to light a fire in the cottage at night, at the exact moment that her relationship with the arctic fox kindles.

The interior of the cottage is part of the same set as the exterior. It is mostly functional, but lacking personal items - indicating to the Huntress that it was not currently being used. A panel that has been pushed aside under the stairs leads to a small chamber that the arctic fox hides in.

This abandoned watering can is Bubby's home in Bubby and Son. The foliage is created through a combination of modeled plants and Maya plant brushes. I wanted the environment, although outside, to feel warm and cozy and like it's own little world.

The interior of the watering can is even more cozy than outside, dominated by warm tones. Bubby climbs down into the home using a ladder from the top opening, and a furnace blocks to opening from the spout. I was inspired by the Peter Rabbit illustrations of Beatrix Potter, combining a use of found objects with human miniatures.

3D Environment + Lighting Reel