Portfolio Research – Katie Li

Theme/Location Exploration and Research

For the Environment Design module, we have been tasked to create an environment based on a selection of one of the four main themes:

Horror
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Historical

And one of the eight sub-themes:

Alien
Corruption
Utopia
Dystopia
Celebration
Decay
Family
Beauty

The themes I have chosen for my environment are fantasy and beauty.

My initial idea was to create an underwater environment that is inspired by Studio Ghibli movies “The Secret World of Arrietty”, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Ponyo” and the two video games “Genshin Impact” and “Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom”. The Secret World of Arrietty was the main movie that inspired my underwater idea; although the movie is set above ground, the concept I liked was the characters and how they are small people. I loved the contrast between the characters and the environment around them and how regular objects such as a pencil looked much bigger than the character. The detail in the amount of clutter that surrounds the environment in this movie and Howl’s Moving Castle was something I wanted to implement in my own project.

After analysing the movie and cross-referencing ideas for my environment, I wanted to make the environment appear bigger from a first-person point-of-view. Rather than an environment similar to the one in the movie, I decided I wanted to make the environment underwater; this idea was influenced by the other two video games and the Ghibli movies I mentioned before.

In Ni no Kuni II, there is an area of exploration that the player comes across which is underwater. The environment in this specific area isn’t like the usual underwater area in which you are required to swim; like on land, you are able to walk freely and explore the different structures of the underwater abyss that’s made from shells with a coral reef design. Additionally, Watatsumi Island in Genshin Impact has a similar looking environment but rather than being underwater, its surrounding is completely on land, but its aesthetic is based around shells. Through my research, I believe that these inspirations fit the fantasy and beauty theme perfectly.

(STUDIO GHIBLI INC, 2022), (Creative Uncut, 2023) & (Genshin Impact Wiki, n.d.)

Planning and Conceptualisation

When creating concept art for my underwater environment, I used Clip Studio Paint to draw out my ideas. To begin with, I first decided to create a dome surrounding the area to pose as a sort of protection bubble to prevent water from filling in the area. As the landscape is underwater, I wanted to have sand for the seabed. For the main area of the environment, I had a specific layout in which a coral reef would surround the perimeter of the dome with algae bunched and scattered around to mimic a forest. I used reference images of conch shells and coral reefs when creating my concept art. For the beauty sub-theme, I had intended on the colour of the coral to be vibrant and have variety in its colours.

The concept art in the images show my ideas for the layout of my environment and how I intend on having conch shells to mimic houses in order to create a landscape that appears as though people reside within the shells.

(rawpixel.com, n.d.), (Toby Hudson, 2010) & (Thee Pupil, 2017)

Although after attempting to find assets online, I discovered that the stylised design I had in mind could not be found in the Unreal Marketplace; therefore, I decided to research other ideas that fit my fantasy and beauty theme.

Following my usual thought process, I decided to conceptualise something that I enjoy. My next idea was inspired by the movie “Shrek” and the video game “Witcher 3” with their swamp environments. To maintain my original chosen themes of fantasy and beauty, my idea was to design a swamp where a witch inhabits.

(ShrekWiki, n.d.), (Joseph Guillory, n.d.), (Michael Nichlos, n.d.), (WitcherWiki, n.d.) & (aravindpanil, 2018)

The first thing I did was creating a layout for the swamp landscape. I decided to include a cabin for the witch to reside in and a pond. I experimented with different layouts and ultimately decided to create the 2nd option in layout 2. To ensure that my environment fits my themes, I decided to add a cave beneath the cabin; this idea coincides with my 3D asset, because the cave holds the skeletons of the witch’s victims which is then used to create her spell to keep her young and beautiful.

Additionally, I proceeded to create concept art for the cabin and a bird’s eye-view of the floorplan; this enables me to properly plan out the layout of the cabin and what assets I will need to furnish the environment. By designing this concept art, it allows me to visualise the kind of environment that the witch lives in and how the assets can help build the environment to create a narrative.