Behind the Scenes: Windmill Farm Illustration

I really enjoy going back to buildings and assets illustrations styled in a way of strategy game elements. Down the road, there is probably a compilation of all of them waiting for me to finish. Maybe even optimized and imported to a game engine. It's really satisfying to do them occasionally one by one and seeing how they pile up over time.

But sometimes I just miss the target. With over 300 works done over these 2-3 years, it would be naive to expect a flawless result all the time. There are countless factors that influence your work. From the tight deadlines and stress, all the way to basic things like mood, amount of sleep and overall creative energy, which fluctuates on a regular basis.

So naturally, even in this series, some works just don't hit the spot for me. One of those was the farm illustration. I always looked at that one and wanted a do-over.

I checked some of the references I collected and realized, I have never done a windmill in this style. Dangerous spark of inspiration, that can sway you away from the original intent. But then I realized, I can get the most out of joining these ideas together. A nice windmill illustration with a small grain field, that could nicely serve as a farm building in game.

So I sat down and dug up as many stylized windmill references I could. I even included my older low-poly flat shaded windmill, I have done before. If not for anything, just to inspect my older work to see what could have been done better.

I picked some of the best artworks as both object and style reference and started to sketch some layout. This time I paid more attention to the architecture of the windmill and if it could actually work. Like getting through the door while the prop is spinning for example :)

What I focused on the most while sketching, was the layout and proportions of the small grain field and the mill. It was supposed to feel primarily like a building, but the field should be recognizable right away. Balancing acts like these are the primary reason why I do these sketches in the first place.

To make sure I lock down the architecture, style, proportions and overall layout before I commit to hours of modeling.

You can watch the?process video on Youtube?

So that's it for the latest illustration and I hope it will help you with your own projects.

See you in the next one! :)