Congratulations to @Enrik_3d on completing Crafting Environments: Career Kickstarter with @BeddowsDesign at Sierra Division Academy. The main goal of Quique's mentorship project was to expand his environment art skills and challenge himself to take ownership of every aspect from modeling and sculpting to texturing, materials, shaders, VFX and lighting. Another important goal was to deepen his knowledge of Substance Designer and get more practice creating procedural materials. He also wanted to learn about shader creation, vertex painting and how to achieve natural transitions between materials. With so much to focus on, one of his biggest challenges was staying organized and motivated. Through Alex's guidance, he learned the importance of planning, selecting the right workflows, and trusting his own abilities. Quique Your environment came out beautifully! Great work! Credit: Arab Quarter is inspired by Vladimir Manyukhin’s concept art. See more of Quique's project: artstation.com/artwork/wOr81…

Beautiful work by our student Nore Pollentier! Her project is inspired by a real-life street in Ankara, Turkey, which she recreated as a real-time environment in Unreal Engine. With @BeddowsDesign 's guidance, she was able to improver her skills in material creation, modularity, and sculpting. Alex only had great things to say about Nore: Nore is one of the most intuitive and receptive artists I have mentored. Her ability to take implicit feedback and apply the ideas broadly across her scene paid off in terms of her turn around time. An exceptional artist any studio would be lucky to have. Great work Nore! Software used: Unreal Engine, Blender, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Substance Designer

Congratulations to Paras Joshi on completing Crafting Environments: Career Kickstarter with @BeddowsDesign at Sierra Division Academy. For his mentorship project, Paras set out to create an environment inspired by The Last of Us and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Using a concept by Alex Hacout as his foundation, he focused on capturing the eerie atmosphere from those games. Well done Paras!

Congratulations to @ritapabat on completing Crafting Environments: Career Kickstarter with @BeddowsDesign at Sierra Division Academy. Rita is a 3D artist that enjoys creating realistic story-driven immersive environments. With the goal to work in AAA games, she enrolled in Alex’s course for the opportunity to learn directly from a Senior Environment Artist with extensive experience in the industry. Her mentorship project is based on the Finkenherd area in Quedlinburg, Germany. A fan of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Rita’s environment is also inspired by the environment shown in the reveal trailer for AC: Codename Hexe and the workflows used in AC: Shadows. The main goals were to practice modularity, sculpting, material blending, set dressing, and lighting. Amazing work Rita! See more breakdowns on ArtStation: artstation.com/artwork/4Ng3Z…

Crossfire was one of the highlights of Summer Game Fest. Incredible work @BeddowsDesign ! We're very excited for it.

Starting Monday with an awesome success story! We're proud to share that @BeddowsDesign's student, Mieszko Parys, has recently joined Sperasoft as a Junior Level Artist II. 🎉

To get more useful tips from Alex and personalized feedback, check out his Environment Art mentorship: academy.sierradivision.com/c…

Don't rush the Blockout Phase! Here's a checklist of all you need to consider from Sierra Division Academy's @BeddowsDesign Scope: Every asset intended for the final scene must be represented in the engine during this phase. This helps identify what needs to be modeled, where reuse is possible, and prevents you from wasting time at later stages. Workflow: Figure out in advance what workflow and methods you will use to create the assets, such as if you will be using procedural workflows, specific sculpting techniques, and what tools you’ll need. Establish the composition: Base your blockout on a key reference of concept art. Play with the camera's focal length and position to establish the framing. If you check these off at the start of your project, you'll save a ton of time later on.

If you are a junior artist looking to learn professional workflows but can't find breakdowns on ArtStation, try and abstract out what is needed to make the game and go from there. Think about game size, the amount of detail, or what is needed to make a linear game (ex: Naughty Dog’s LoU) vs open world (Assassin’s Creed/ Red Dead Redemption 2 ). This can help you find suitable pipelines and resources. EX: You need to make a large viking valley from AC Valhalla. Focus on solid landscape work (blockout), procedural tools such as PCG, and strong robust kits. Get in the habit of reverse engineering other people's work. By looking at art and trying to understand how someone did something without a breakdown is a useful skill. SDA Quick Tip provided by @BeddowsDesign , Expert Environment Artist and Mentor.