Etienne Vittani Entry

Composition and Design sketches

Ancient Guardians is a project created as part of The Rookies "Forbidden Lands, Fallen Empires and Ancient Guardians" contest. The brief was to create a single, epic illustration that is both fantastic yet believable, original yet relate-able and which demonstrates high levels of artistic skill and storytelling ability.

For this I decided to make an underground temple in the manner of a buried Pantheon that served a humanoid civilization as a council chamber.

I started with several quick design researches, before moving on to placement and vegetation researches. Once I had found an interesting design, I switched to Cinema 4D to place my 3D elements, the kitbash statues and characters and the rest I had modeled.

The story behind this image is a group of explorers discovering this fantastic place through a hole at the top of this buried temple.

I used Photoshop a lot to retouch the textures, repaint several of them and add shadows or lights. Also to create all this underground atmosphere with the light well and the surrounding dust/particles.

Composition researches

Cratere Base is a personal project that was designed to take Clarisse's software in hand. I wanted to go further than just a technically beautiful image. So I worked on it in order to come up with a keyframe of a movie that could be a James Bond movie. I like the fascinating side of the ennemy bases in James Bond, especially Arecibo in GoldenEye.

I had a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. So I started by creating a crater with World Machine that had the shape I wanted. On this shape in Clarisse I was able to place the trees I had created on SpeedTree.

I still had to place the base and the helicopter which are kitbash. The foggy atmosphere of the canopy was placed at this time as well.

On Photoshop I reworked all the textures to give them a realistic look, adding the writings and stripes to give an impression of a military-scientific complex. I also added the character that helps the helicopter land to create storytelling in the image.

Composition search with my 3D scene based on my references

References used for the night mood

Peaky Blinders is a project created for The Rookies « Netflix and Skill - Peaky Blinders » contest.

The goal of this contest was to create something that represented Peaky Blinders, a notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham, England, is led by the fierce Tommy Shelby, a crime boss set on moving up in the world no matter the cost.

So I started with the idea of creating a scene’s keyframe that could have been part of the series. It's a night scene, where the gang would move a shipment of weapons from one of their warehouses to another location.

First I looked for night scene references in the show. It always had the same elements : a lot of fog or smoke, muddy and wet ground, and industrial lights coming from the many windows of the factories or warehouses.

With these elements in mind I started to set up the scene I wanted using different kitbashes. I then placed my camera after several tries.

Composition researches

Additionnal composition researches with the 3D Scene

Early sketches

Time Portal Design

Time Portal is a project done as part of my Bachelor's degree. The goal was to design a time portal created by human, nowadays. It was necessary to design the time portal but also the place in which it was going to take place.

My references ranged from the LHC to the former Russian space shuttle base at Buran. After several tests of composition and context in 2D photobashing, it is on the Buran composition that my choice was made.

So I kept the same very long and vertical architecture, while imagining offices and labs on the sides that could have an eye on the portal.

For the portal itself I based myself on a Tokamak serving the Helium fusion. I then added pipes and various mechanisms to make the whole thing more complex. The opening of the portal in which the time travelers enter is a large disc that rotates on itself to create a field open to time travel. This disc is created from different pieces that are all superconductor.

For the atmosphere of this concept / keyframe I have chosen complementary colours with the blue / purple of the portal which opposes the red warning light of the rest of the room. 

Composition researches

Additionnal researches with the 3D Scene

New Horizon is also a project I did as part of my Bachelor's degree. The goal was to create the poster of a film of which we had to imagine the key elements. This project allowed us to approach the constraints of the realization of a poster and the rules inherent to it.

Here is the brief of my film:

"In the near future the earth is no longer livable because it is completely polluted, as well as the ambient air.
Humanity has therefore decided to appropriate the upper layers of the atmosphere, which are still pure. However, a dystopia sets in, separating the different classes by wealth. The city is created by levels that descend further and further down in the clouds of pollution and are reserved for poorer and poorer classes of population. The rich, on the other hand, live in the clean air.
A black market of objects from the Earth sets up and could lead to a discovery that could change everything..."

To begin with I did a lot of sketch researches to find a composition that worked. Then I created my scene in 3D on Cinema 4D. The bases of the cities were made using the Mograph tool which allows meto build complex shapes from simple elements. I further complexed these shapes with displacement maps, which were also used to create the many small buildings in the cities. The large buildings are kitbash.

The biggest work was then done on Photoshop to create this atmosphere of pollution clouds, and clearly show this dystopia. I also retextured to show more or less wear and dirt depending of the levels. 

References / Early cave explorations

Japanese Cave is a personal project which was the first project where I mixed various techniques (3D, painting, photo texturing).

The idea was to create a mystical and fantastic place that would be a mythical place mixing a gigantic cave and Japanese civilization. I made some sketches to get an idea and gathered a lot of references of a cave that had the spirit I was looking for in terms of light.

I explored with Mograph several possibilities on Cinema 4D before setting off on a cylindrical cave that would have cubic formations, shaped by the inhabitants of the cave. Then I placed the Japanese dwellings in kitbash. The big towers go in pairs and form like a tunnel to the giant gong at the end of the cave. In their belief this channels the energy before it is redistributed through the gong.

On Photoshop I then reworked the textures of the walls, added vegetation, several elements of the cave and created the atmosphere of light/fog.

Early Sketches (final version was modified when working in 3D to make the final hammer more realistic)

Viking Hammer is a personal project done in two steps. The first step was a school project for which I needed a hero props. I chose a Viking Hammer because they are a people whose style I particularly like. After several design researches I had found the style of hammer I wanted to make (number 5).

The second step was personal, when I decided to model it in 3D and then push the painting to make a finished image. I removed the jewels and the tree at the top of it to get a more "realistic" props for real vikings. The 3D was only used as a base for the light and perspective. The materials, wear and light were done in painting. I really enjoyed working on this project because it allowed me to spend more time on the painting than on the 3D.

Thanks for your time, and don't hesitate to leave me your impressions in comments so that I can make further progress!