My project The Vault emerged from a struggle I was having, which I think many professional artists face. Working as a concept artist in a studio, I couldn’t count the number of times I have thought to myself, ‘wait, I want to do that,’ when I see one of my colleagues doing something cool and new (especially in Blender), only to then go home and feel massively overwhelmed by the need to create a whole world around this new drive.
Naturally, everything falls apart at the moodboarding stage, and the idea dies inside a folder on my PC, never to be opened again. This is where ‘The Vault’ comes in. I committed myself to building a world, and every time a wave of inspiration washed over me, I already had a world waiting at home that I felt confident with.
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How I create a concealed control room
01. 1 Building your assets
Before creating a final image, I prefer to design all elements separately in advance. This clarifies how forms will look and allows thumbnails to closely reflect the finished image, which I find that clients increasingly value.
This approach also mirrors industry workflows, where pre-approved designs need to be respected.
02. Thumbnailing
Once the scene is built, I render several greyscale angles. Using the compositor to establish strong values, I do a rough paintover of three to five options, and add any annotations I need.
This stage is ideal for gathering feedback from colleagues and friends. I prioritise camera angles a human could realistically photograph, helping the viewer feel like they are within the scene.
03. Final paintover
Here, I am doing a once-over of the image and painting out any artefacts left over from the Blender scene. This could be anything from geometry that needs cleaning up, to adding reflections and highlights.
I then go on to apply the same atmospheric effects and value adjustments as I did in the thumbnail stage.
Some tips
Include minor details
Part of the story is that the entire facility lies hidden underground within an old mine. When a piece contains many narrative elements, choosing what to show can be difficult, but even small visual details can be enough to communicate the story enough, like here with the nets over the rockface.
Stand out
In a concept piece, I am trying to find contrast in everything: In colour, in value and in shape. But also more subtly, like having the uniform of this character be clearly superior to everyone else in the scene.
By doing this, you pay more attention to him, and where he is going and what he is doing. There are hierarchies in everything in art.
Use existing assets
I did a lot of work making a tileable kitbash set for this project, and I use the assets all over this piece. Being able to ‘drag and drop’ assets you know are approved designs allows you to focus on being more creative at this final stage.
Do a ‘clown pass’
Whenever I am working from a 3D base, I always render out a ‘clown pass’. I have to make a lot of selections to be able to paint over atmospheric effects, and this brightly coloured flat pass allows me to easily select objects with the magic wand tool in Photoshop.
Keep design consistent
This rotating terminal was the first prop I designed in this project and was the driving factor for a lot of the design languages in the world. I did an animated concept of this too, which industry clients can find very useful.
Respect the boundaries
It was important to clearly separate the environments inside and outside the room using the thick glass barrier. I achieved this by adding scratches to the glass, and emphasising interaction with the barrier with a window cleaner, which helped reinforce the contrast between the two spaces.
Custom brushes
For this piece, I used two key custom Photoshop brushes.
Clouds
This brush I always use for fog. I tend to find it works much better when erased into with a big soft round brush so you can art direct the fog shapes yourself.
Dynamic rake
This brush I used for the streaks of water on the window, as it gives a nice pattern you can cut into with an eraser.
Download the resources here.
Also see our guide to the best free Photoshop brushes.
