Narratives in Environment

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	2K		The video footage shows the creation process of Environment art  for Bioshock 2 - a video game by 2k - and interview with the Lead Environment Artist. Each levels and environments assets created has its own meanings in how they look the way they do - even the tiniest details such as colours are narratives. It is important to give concept a meaning, rather than simply trying to make them look pretty.	Popular (Video on Youtube)
Initial
Year	2008
Title	Art of the Bioshock 2 - Lead Environment Artist
Publisher	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GkQ1fprBKI

Matte Paintings in Films

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Cole		Industry leading artist Dylan Cole demonstrates how he created his stunning matte paintings for films and game production. The demo reel shows the layered images of various films scenes, revealing how matte paintings were combined with real actors and scene sets. It is fascinating to find out how well they manage to blend real world and matte painting, as the scenery looks highly realistic.	Popular (Demo Reel Video on the artist's official website)
Initial	D
Year
Title	Dylan Cole - Demo Reel
Publisher	http://www.dylancolestudio.com/

Quick Environment Concept Creation on Photoshop

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Thoorens		Speed environment painting by G.Thoorens shows the process of creating envronment concept in Adobe Photoshop from the very scratch. In his method everything in the scenery was created on Photoshop using custom brushes. Custom brushes not only saves time in speed painting, since it allows artists to quickly render objects and add values, but also brings life to the painting too.	Popular (Video Reel on the artist's website)
Initial	G
Year	2009
Title	Making of Source of Origin
Publisher	http://www.djahalland.com/ goodies/source_of_origin.swf

Digital Matte Painting process

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Lacoste		In this Gnomon Workshop DVD, Raphael Lacoste shows the process of creating matte painting for film/game. He starts off by creating thumbnails then paint the initial concept, once the initial concept is done he creates 3D assets then combine them with 2D background. After it was done he finalise the painting by retouching using Photoshop. It shows one of the industry standard process of creating matte painting and is very informative.	Academic (Tutorial DVD by An industry professional)
Initial	R
Year	2010
Title	Digital Environment Painting Matte Painting with Raphael Lacoste
Publisher	Gnomon Workshop (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/ 2010/11/digital-environment-painting-matte-painting-with-raphael-lacoste/)

Environment Art as a world concept

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	SquareEnix		Stunning example of 2D Environment Concept Art  for games. The art is from Final Fantasy XII by SquareEnix. The artist has created the image from traditional pencil and paper artwork then coloured digitally. While it still retains some of perspective guidelines in some places, it is created in great details and the art is used in many places for marketing. This is a production concept artwork and the piece is not created into 3D, while Final Fantasy IX's environment concept artwork was created in 3D, however these artworks are used more like a guideline for the world concept.	Popular (Published book by SquareEnix)
Initial
Year	2006
Title	Final FantasyXIIUltimaniaOmega
Publisher	Square Enix

Matte Painting using photos

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Warnock		One of the finest example of how combination of 3D elements, 2D elements and photography collage can make beautiful matte painting. It seems fairly simple to create however matte painting is not just about photo collage or knowing a trick or two on Photoshop, artists are required to have solid knowledge in perspective and lighting.	Popular (Article from a magazine)
Initial	T
Year	2006
Title	Imagine FX February 2006 - Create Film Sets in Photoshop
Publisher	FuturePublishing

Tools for Environment Art

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Mattingly	I principally use these apps in the work I do: Photoshop After Effects Modo ElectricImage Boujou I generally use 3D in every shot I do that has architectural elements in it. Otherwise I utilizing photo reference and do Photoshop work. I usually do everything in the shot but shoot the plate; matte painting, compositing, match moving, model building, animation, keying. The one thing I don’t do myself is roto. I can do it, but it’s such a tedious job, I just don’t have the patience for it. Fortunately I work with someone who does the roto work for me when the need arises.	An artist's tool for creating matte painting and such. It shows how simple Adobe photoshop won't do all the job. Matte Painting and environment art creation requires multiple different softwares - from 2D package to 3D, film packages and so on.	Academic (Published Book)
Initial	D
Year	2011
Title	The Digital Matte Painting Handbook
Publisher	Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Importance of traditional skills to Matte Painter

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	D	"Though I do think there will always be a need for a matte painter simply because it is often the easiest and cost-effective way to create a shot. A simple, locked off shot with a set extension  will probably be done as a matte painting for many years to come."	Dylan Cole also mentions how matte painting skill - 2D skill is still important to today's industry. It is much easier and cost effective to simply paint, compared to re-composition and re-rendering of a shot using 3D packages.	Academic (Published Book)
Initial	Wade
Year	2005
Title	d'artiste Digital Artists Master Class: Matte Painting - Dylan Cole Interview
Publisher	Ballistic Publishing

Visual Environment Artists

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	D	"I think the term matte painter is already an absolute term. to be honest, I have never done a real matte painting. Those days ended with digital. Now we are visual environment artists. I think there are more, and more 3D environments being created these days, and matte painters will have to adapt to keep up. It is becoming more common for there to be teams of people on an environment instead of a matte painter."	This is a quote by industry leading artist Dylan Cole, he mentions that good artist must continuously learn and keep up to date with the latest 3D packages and technology. As film industry and game industry keeps on advancing, it is vital that artists do the same - keep on learning and strengthening their skills. Artists cannot simply learn the basics, they must adapt and keep up to date, just like doctors.	Academic (Published Book)
Initial	Wade
Year	2005
Title	d'artiste Digital Artists Master Class: Matte Painting - Dylan Cole Interview
Publisher	Ballistic Publishing

Environment Art Creation on mobile devices

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	Lockertsen		Example of how quickly and easily artists can create environment concept art on the go, using mobile devices such as Apple iPad. The artist created this beautiful environment art without even sitting in front of computer. In older days environment concept artists had to work in front of computer, using highly expensive package such  as Photoshop, or use traditional method of pen, paper and rulers. Today, artists are more mobile and the technology surrounding artists never seem to stop advancing, providing useful tools that noone would have never dreamed of 20 years ago.	Popular (YouTube video uploaded by the artist himself)
Initial	N
Year	2011
Title	subway 01
Publisher	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrynNeBWgWQ&feature=BFa&list= UUJL5xkRq9_2TFOQXuQIxSZQ&lf=plcp

The impact of concept art on games

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname	SquareEnix		This is one of the world concept for a late Sony  PlayStation game called Final Fantasy IX. The game features pre rendered 2D environment with 3D characters and objects (which was one of the most popular method back in 1st generation Playstation era.), however all of the concept was done in pencil and paper, then imported into digital package such as Photoshop for painting. The artbook of Final Fantasy IX absolutely fascinated me when I was in school, and it inspired me to work for a game industry one day. Carefully created, highly detailed environment concept gave game a fascinating environment to explore, and it is something I will never forget. Final Fantasys IX Shows how much impact environment concepts can have on games and films.	Popular (Published Book)
Initial
Year	2000
Title	FinalFantasyIXVisualGuideBook
Publisher	Shu-ei Sha

High Quality Environment Art in Films

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname			Avatar by James Cameron is a stunning example of 3D environment being used in modern films. In a highly realistic films set in fantasy environment, it is vital to create believable and high quality environment.	Popular (Review on Entertainment News Website)
Initial
Year	2010
Title	Avatar UK Review
Publisher	http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/ 105/1054370p1.html

The Use of 2D Environment Art in Modern Games

Source		Quote, image or video	Annotation	Academic or Popular
Surname			One of the finest example of 2D environment art being used in today's commercial game product. While most of the games in today's industry going for 3D Environment, SquareEnix managed to create fascinating scenery using 2D environment art, combined with 3D objects. By using 2D background it allows developer to allocate most of the polygons to objects and characters, resulting in stunning images. It is a very efficient method for mobile devices especially mobile phones.	Popular (Screenshot of the game, the official website provided)
Initial
Year	2009
Title	Chaos Rings
Publisher	http://www.chaosrings.com/ origin/en/index.html