top of page
SCREENSHOTS
HOL_1.png
Kang_001.png
ElectricHeart_01.png
HOL_1.png
1/3
GET TO KNOW KIERA
Can you describe the extent of any relevant work experience you might have?
I haven't had any experience directly in the industry, but have received insight from professionals at events like EGX, and attended classes on the Future Material Artist discord server. I've also worked in the producer role within group projects, so believe I have a decent understanding of industry practices and managing a small team.
How would you describe your contribution to your group project?
In the Sifu style project, I worked as an Environment Artist to create kits and environment pieces to build out the playable areas of the scene. During this I tried to follow the conventions of Sifu's art style; lower poly models with lots of hard edges, used to create bold readable shapes. This is especially interesting in more organic areas such as the paving stones, where I used the hard edges to force certain shapes to form within the shading. Additionally, I tried to consider the storytelling aspects and purpose of the pieces I made, particularly with the main residential building, wanting it to feel run down, but homely. The central courtyard's vertical view I think manages to capture this essence of a place that is lived in, and this is further brought to life by the set dressing, characters and lighting.
What do you specialise in and what made you choose that specialism?
I chose to specialise in environment because I really enjoy thinking about how areas are influenced by the people or events that happen in them. I like the ability to tell little stories be it with a kids game drawn on the ground or the way in which a building was made to suit its climate and time period. I realised in games like Minecraft, I would subconsciously do this, with each of my buildings having a purpose and an imaginary person living there. Figuring out the reason for each thing to exist within a 3D environment and giving it purpose really helps to make things feel more alive, and I think more engaging to someone experiencing it. I want to be able to help make areas in games like this, that feel alive and believable and that is why I want to become an environment artist.
What would your ideal first role in the industry be?
Junior Environment Artist
Which of your student projects are you most proud of, and why?
I was really proud of both my own and my teams work in the second year High on Life London group project. For the time in my education, understanding of games workflows, I had to learn a lot of new things on the job for what was a grand task, and for the first team based project it came out really well. It was my first time properly using Z brush, and I got to do so in a way that brought extra life to the scene with these comedic monster designs, and during this project is where I also realised I wanted to do environment art. I got to create proper kits for the first time here which really helped me learn and grow from making mistakes first hand, the difference in quality between my 2 kits that are in this level; the markets and the bridges is big, as what I learnt from doing the markets I brought with me to the bridges. Additionally we got to enter this project to the Rookies, for which we received some traction with, getting to the draft stage, but myself and everyone else on the team was really just happy with the look and quality of the final outcome of the level itself.
What’s a piece of media (film, game, animation) that changed the way you think about your discipline?
I've mentioned it already but Minecraft. As a game, Minecraft itself is like environment art to me. I didn't realise this when I was younger at the time, but I would go about building cities and towns, each with different architectural styles and purposes and imaginary people that could live there and (try to) bring this into the game through my building. Now when I was younger, this consisted of building a Mc Donald's next to my massive cobblestone castle because the king would get hungry, which of course didn't make sense. But as I got older, I noticed that when I play I'll now consider where something needs to be built to make sense, who would live there and what materials I should use to fit in with the other buildings around it and the context of my world. These are the same exact concepts and questions I consider when I am making an environment asset. In this way I believe Minecraft is a great game that has subconsciously helped me to train these thinking skills needed in order to make a cohesive environment,.
bottom of page