Progress is being made on my Cyberpunk themed scene. I have finalized the interior blockout for my scene to get the general placement of objects correct. I went from the original concept art and then took from other sources of inspiration to build out the room layout. I have giant tubes leading from the pod to a large computer terminal, The wires above are coming from a broken ceiling light I have pipes coming lining some of the walls. I shrunk down the room and swapped where I had the door and where I now have the windows. I plan to fill parts of the room with clutter objects from Megascans in order to fill some of the empty spaces. I want to think of this as a game level that you can walk around in, and I want a scene that works in multiple angles by the times I have completed.

I am still working on getting the angle right for this render, but once I get more of the updated models in the scene I should be able to get the right angle and field of view to get the feeling I'm going for.

Below are screenshots of the room in its base grey look, to get a better picture of the room as a whole. The windows face towards the pod with Mew's back to them, focused only on Mewtwo.

The full layout in these shots above and below, The primary focal point is the pod in the center with the secondary being the computer in the back and some tertiary objects such as the vent and machines beside the computer terminal and accents like the pipes and the screens along the walls.

I plan to add more emission lights to the scene which should up the cyberpunk feel, and in the image below I used an HDRI to get the outdoor lighting that I was going for. If I have time, I may do some simple building models outside with emissive signs, though depending on how it looks I may just go with an image background. I'm not entirely sold on the windows, I might make them full of industrial slats instead of the current window design. But I want the lighting to be dark and cool, with purple, red, and blue to highlight the somber tone and pain felt in the final scene.

My next step is to get this into Unreal and start testing and playing with lighting. I also need to settle on my primary mood board and finalize the asset list. I'll focus on the primary objects and then I can work down to stretch objects. I'll try to get through that soon so that I can get to the fun part of building the final models!

I am super stoked to be participating in this art challenge. The theme is one that I'm truly a fan of and have been wanting to make a portfolio piece in and I respect both Experience Points and DiNusty and what they bring for the community. My goal is to have an amazing addition to my portfolio by the end of this with feedback and critiques during the competition to push myself further.

To start out, the art I'm basing my scene off of is this "Mew Meets Mewtwo" artwork by Nayek that really made me want to model it when I saw it.

It invoked feelings of sadness and loneliness that I wanted to capture in a 3D scene. The faded image of Mew looking at its scientifically enhanced and mutated child, the cracks and decay of the technology, the loose wires hanging from the ceiling. All of these depict a warning that technology can bring great strides but can also bring destruction.

I will, of course, be adding to the scene to bring more elements of cyberpunk and flesh out the lab to tell a story and show more abandoned technology. I plan to introduce Team Rocket digital signs that are broken, sink in the area around the pod and add more cables, add a Pokémon -style computer station and storage locker with items from the games, add a main computer station and server in the distance reflecting the same broken-down state the pod is in, and adding a window showing the city that continues to live unaware of this "failed" experiment.

I've started compiling a mood board and will organize it into categories for focuses within the environment, story I'm trying to tell, and feelings I'm trying to invoke. I will also make a core mood-board with a few pieces that guide the primary look.

My next objective will be blocking out the scene while I finalize the mood boards and the asset lists. I plan to work in Unreal Engine, with my models made in Blender and ZBrush and textured using Substance. I plan to really push myself as I haven't made a full scene in Unreal yet and my ZBrush skills still need developing. I can't wait to really start working on this project.

Check back here for future blog posts of my progression!