How to become an environment artist

**LittleCodingFox** · November 19th, 2012, 06:14 PM

hello,
i've always wanted to get into art but never got any proper instruction or path to follow, and i know my passion lies within environment art, more specifically landscapes and buildings.
Does anyone have any tips on how i could get started doing this sort of art, having no art experience at all?
Thank you very much for your help and time.

**Artimatum** · November 19th, 2012, 06:22 PM

Pick up a pencil,buy a sketchbook and start drawing landscapes from life...

**dpaint** · November 19th, 2012, 06:25 PM

Go outside and paint. Get yourself a french easel and some paints and give it a try. Try copying some photos you like. Post them here in the Work in Progress section and get feedback. Look at online tutorials by people like Noah Bradley on Youtube. If you want to see an approach to landscape painting I have a link in my signature to some Alla Prima demos.

**arenhaus** · November 20th, 2012, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by dpaint

Go outside and paint. Get yourself a french easel and some paints and give it a try. Try copying some photos you like. Post them here in the Work in Progress section and get feedback. Look at online tutorials by people like Noah Bradley on Youtube. If you want to see an approach to landscape painting I have a link in my signature to some Alla Prima demos.

Do all of the above, except for copying photos. It's much more useful to set up a simple still life with consistent lighting.

Also, be aware that the base of painting lies in drawing and values, not color.

**OmenSpirits** · November 20th, 2012, 03:29 AM

Copying from photos tracing them actually, was a teaching method used by the famous artists school established by Norman Rockwell and other golden age illustrators so the practice is valid as a learning tool.

**Arshes Nei** · November 21st, 2012, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by arenhaus

Do all of the above, except for copying photos. It's much more useful to set up a simple still life with consistent lighting.

Also, be aware that the base of painting lies in drawing and values, not color.

Disagree. It is ok to copy from photos. It is however, bad to only copy from photos. The big mistake that people make is that they think all their learning is to be done from Google. Go. Outside. And. Draw.

**DreamArt** · November 21st, 2012, 05:02 PM

EDIT: Didn't read carefully enough. Not relevant.
Sorry.

EDIT again: I didn't know Rockwell traced photos when he was learning. Interesting. Schmid seemed quite opposed to the idea... then again he didn't seem able to articulate why.

**dpaint** · November 21st, 2012, 05:34 PM

Photos aren't a replacement for good judgment and I agree with Arenhaus, setting up a still life would be better, I just don't think you'll get most people to do it in the beginning. When I first started teaching workshops I refused to allow people to work from photos because I believed in working from life but some people have trouble working from life in the beginning and photos can be a good set of training wheels for them. I'd rather people use them as a stepping stone than be overwhelmed trying to draw and paint from life and just give up.

**Meloncov** · November 21st, 2012, 05:52 PM

Wait, by enviroment artist do you mean landscape painter, or do you mean it as the game industry does, i.e. someone who models and textures environments? In either case, you'll benefit greatly from drawing and painting in nature, but if it's the latter, learning 3d software is rather important too.

**Farvus** · November 21st, 2012, 05:55 PM

I got into environments mostly by drawing traditionally (pencil) some simple structures in perspective and sometimes putting characters in there. Most of this stuff was crap though. Then I started playing with digital and watching tutorials (I think Ryan Church videos helped a lot) and developed some basic techniques. It took long time though to get some decent grasp on values and colours. During all that learning time I did some life drawing and painting not as much as I would like to.

I would also recommend life drawing/painting but also freehand perspective drawing and playing with different mediums.