Mees Middelkoop - Concept Art - 23/24

For this project, we were tasked to design two characters, and one creature based on a random prompt generator. My prompts were Ottoman empire, space colony, age of imperialism, and father figure.

I started with a research process, diving into the culture and thinking of different creatures and storylines to create. I decided to paint a snowy environment, which while maybe unconventional with these prompts, not unrealistic.

Every character went through numerous iterations, also with a base of metahumans in Unreal, after which I used original Ottoman clothing garments and carpets to photo-bash outfits.

The project ended up being quite a challenge, however a great learning opportunity.

Artstation post: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/042gJ8

For this next project I was tasked to make a realistic medieval castle concept based on a real-life castle. For this project I picked Gravensteen castle in Ghent. We started with scouting the location and taking many reference pictures. After this I created some thumbnails, from which I blocked-out a 3D scene in Unreal Engine.

I then exported different render passes into photoshop, where I reconstructed the render using blending modes. It was now time to start adding details using photo-bashing techniques, as well as painting by hand.

Artstation post: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1xPOnL

We were also tasked with creating a callout based on the scene. I chose to make a cart.

Artstation post: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Jv18za 

This is the game project I have been working on for the past few months. I am in charge of the environment, and while I'm inherently a concept artist I looked for a way to combine 2D and 3D. I concluded camera projection mapping was the best way to go. Every building is created by first making a concept, after which I created the 3D model. I then painted on top of said model from a fixed angle and then projected that painting on the mesh from the camera angle. This only works because the camera in our game is in a fixed position, and only pans, as opposed to rotates.

I have had the opportunity to collaborate with a lot of talented artists, who have all contributed to making this game possible.

For the assets that needed to be rotated in-engine, we added a base diffuse texture, after which I overpainted the Uv's.

For the scene in Unreal, I set up the lighting to have a more dreamy quality, fitting the nature of the Alice Through the Looking Glass story.

Artstation post: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/YB36q6

This is a personal environment I have worked on. I made an attempt at using a different lighting setup than I am used to. For the building design, I researched more round-ish architecture as well as buildings used in galaxy's edge.

Artstation post: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zPEWwL

Portrait studies. The image at the top is a self portrait.

These are some studies, and still-lives I have made.