Put your sensible shoes on, as we continue our tour of the art of WINTERSANDS! Today, we will visit wonderful interiors and even take a hike in the greater outdoors with your guide and our artist, Ami.

Scene 1 backgrounds mashup

INTO THE UNKNOWN

“We want something special, but we don’t know what!” was our ground zero for working on the world-building of WS, that is, the backgrounds. We didn’t want stock pictures or pure 3D backgrounds, so we set out to find an artist to make our world real for us. To find one, though, we had to figure out what it would look like first.

Ami: I live for detailed descriptions. Don’t give me ‘draw what you want’! If I hadn’t been drawing for WS for 1.5 years by the time j.s. and trickster.kaja asked me to do backgrounds, I would’ve probably bailed. Luckily, I had some knowledge of the story and the characters, so it was easier to start on its world.

We sat down and wrote a detailed synopsis, focusing on the setting for the story. Where will the plot unravel? What sort of city will it be? All the best concepts for alternative worlds are successful, because they are based on the familiar served from an unusual angle. So, that’s where we began.

The familiar – skyscrapers, public transportation, city halls – is the new strange

After we got our pitch, we raked through the artists we followed on VK (the Russian Facebook, and boy oh boy, the number of talented people over there!). Our result – a list of 77 artists to approach for collaboration on the backgrounds, or commissioning art for our visual novel. 

But, although the next step was to start writing to people on that list, fate had something else in store for us.

ART MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

It began in 2017, as we drew a card (or The Card) on our way to one of the Moscow comic and videogame festivals. We did it just in case, that is, if we had the courage to give it to someone (because approaching cool talented people is somehow easier in person, duh :^)

On the back: We need an artist to draw us backgrounds for a visual novel for $ (it’s gonna be a long and chill collaboration) :’)
j.s.: The email on the card is mine, but we have one for the studio now: whaeverstudios@gmail.com – email us!

j.s.: Festivals with their artists’ booths and desks are the best place to find someone for the team. When trickster.kaja and I went to the 2019 San-Diego Comic-Con, a guy saw me sketch Agatha and approached me to ask if I was the artist he’d been looking for for his comic. Sorry, dude, my heart and schedule are already taken by WS!

It so happened that our only card ended up with a group of artists working under the name of Kommunalka [Shared Flat] and specifically with Ami, the artist we’re working with now.

Ami: If someone told me that after I took a handwritten card at the Moscow Comic Convention, worked with the guys for 1.5 years, created a logo, a bunch of icons/sprites/posters, to then become the artist for backgrounds that they were originally looking for, I’d think they were kidding. But here we are!

The first person to email us, though, was another extremely talented Kommunalka resident – bark_han. Later, we parted ways, although it was a great ride! Next, we approached yet another Kommunalka artist — Linch. She created the first three backgrounds for WS, with the aesthetics and level of detail that we had been looking for.

Our more specific pitch for Scene 1 backgrounds

Still, everyone’s doing their own thing, and it’s hard to find someone who’d be into your ideas and have the time and energy to put them to life. So, after we received the invaluable help from Linch and another artist and creator of visual novels from the Lotos Project team, we went back to where we started and contacted Ami. And we’ve never regretted it.

Ami: Barkhan is my BFF, and Linch is her friend, so I’d heard about WHA’EVER STUDIOS before I did anything for them. Usually, I’d hear something like this: ‘j.s. is sending helluva lot of text with corrections, they always have loads of notes, especially on the backgrounds.” Sounds… intimidating, when you’re not part of the process! And even more so, when you know that backgrounds are such an important part of the world-building.

Couldn’t be truer, Ami, queen! Backgrounds are what makes an imaginable world visible. And here’s how it’s done.

COLLECT YOUR TICKETS – AND YOUR REFERENCES

The work starts with describing the background we need and collecting references.

j.s.: As soon as I get the picture in my head (even if the script is yet to catch up with the particular location), I jot down something like this:

This description is not final, but it does help in finding references and narrow down the vision for the place

j.s.: Next, I collect as many references as I can. Anything goes! A photo with beautiful light? Yes, please. An unusual chair from Pinterest? Give it here. A nice palette? But of course! Kengo Kuma’s architectural designs? Ooh, yeah. The awe-inspiring interiors of the castle of Elric of Melnibone from the graphic novel by Julien Blondel, Didier Poli and Robin Recht? Yes, a thousand times! Our ‘loads of notes’ are, in fact, ‘loads of hints’ that we need to minimise the number of corrections early and eliminate the risk of having to re-do stuff. After all, if art goes sideways, in 90% of cases that’s because the client didn’t explain it right to the artist in the first place.

References for the Hall of Doors – mainly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome

Ami: References, thumbnails and descriptions are crazy useful for my process. Very often, I’d still have to ask questions about the time of day, the lighting in the room (whether it’s natural or there are lamps or something), the palette, or some of the original details there are no references for (like statues), the size of the place, etc. Once I’ve collected all the information, I get an image in my head, and then I sit down to make a 3D model or a 2D sketch.

 ENTER THE SANCTUM SANCTORUM OF PROCESS

And so Ami Architecture and Design (TM, or almost :^) creates a 3D model. Nope, we haven’t renounced 3D for good, because it saves time to build the composition and the more challenging elements of the background in space.

Ami: The software I use are ArchiCAD (the soft I’m most comfortable with; lets you build the ‘box’ and stick objects into it), 3ds MAX+Corona for pretty models (or modelling stuff that doesn’t exist in real life) and rendering, and Clip Studio Paint to get all that into 2D.

The World Health Organisation advises: do not draw backgrounds without a 3D model

These days, it doesn’t take long to agree on the composition and the model. But originally, we reached out to Ami bringing several unfinished backgrounds by other artists, that is, she had to finish pieces that weren’t hers.

Ami: That was the toughest one. You’d think it should be easier, with something to build on! Eventually, though, I had to correct and/or add so much that I would’ve done it quicker if I’d started from scratch. All’s well that ends well, of course, but I’m so happy that this stage is behind us :D

Lecture Hall at the Snare (the hospital): the slow revision of another artist’s models

Ami: This one still gives me the giggles – when I opened the unfinished model for the Snare Lecture Hall, I zoomed out and… beheld (that’s the word) the entire campus! That’s what I call ‘seeing the bigger picture.’ Truly everyone has their own process!

That’s where the City had been hiding all along!

Ami: For the first several backgrounds, I was working practically on a single layer, armed with the eyedropper tool. Then I realised that it might not have been the best idea: sure, that’ll give you volume, but it might look weird. I longed to go back to dozens of layers and blend modes, since that gives me more control over the process and the result. And I really did relax once I ‘let go’ of the 3D render as the final version of the background that needs just a little finishing with the light and colour settings (and redrawing everything else, huh). 3D is not something I’m a pro at, and it’s very likely that I take ten steps to get a result that only requires one :D Looking for models at 3ddd.ru [a database with 3D models for designers] is fun, but that takes ages, too. There are so many of them that sometimes you have no idea which search words to use to find something nice (the search for ‘shelf’ gave me the bookcase, who knew!).

The Library: references, models, the pain-in-the-ass staircase (that we ended up switching for a magic elevator) and the notorious bookcases!

Ami: Other times, though, it’s the opposite, and 3ddd surprises me with inspiring search results, like the ‘asparagus’ column we used for the Snare Reception, or the “oriental stalactites” for the Hall of Doors.

The magic of 3D

The resulting 3D is rendered, lined / inked (adding detail, if necessary) and coloured. Sometimes, though, we don’t even need a 3D model, and those are the moments of true bliss.

Ami: Outdoorsy and non-urban backgrounds are my favourite piece of cake. Here, you don’t have to have much linear perspective, it makes no sense to do any 3D modelling, so I just sit there, drawing rocks, trees and crystals. That’s the way to live! :^)

Take a break from 3D by the fire? Yes / No

j.s.: We don’t correct that much now that all team members have felt the atmosphere of the game and can imagine what we need for it. For the Hall of Doors, for example, we only had one wee thing to fix –the gradient wasn’t smudged at the base of the column, but that’s nothing, c’mon :^)

Behold, the final Hall of Doors!

WE WILL SHOW YOU THE WORLD

It’s way too early for us to sit back and chill, though: even WS Chapter One will need over 50 more backgrounds. Yes, we know how it sounds – as inhumane treatment, and yes, we’re that kind of perverts. But imagine this: you will feast your eyes on a whole world, details and all! All we have to do is our artist happy, as a happy artist makes happy clients!

Look at all this room for imagination

Ami: When I said ‘yes’, I also said I wasn’t an artist for backgrounds :D In those early days, I was only beginning to appreciate them and to realise that a character against a white background is meh. When I did try drawing backgrounds - as late as 2016 – I found out that, hey, I love creating the atmosphere! Now, working on the backgrounds is one of the best parts of creating WS, and I’m having immense fun building spaces I’d like to visit myself. Who knows, I might still become an interior designer :D For the longest time, I was certain that I’d never work as an artist full-time, and that it would either make sick of doing art, or I wouldn’t be able to draw what I’m asked to draw all the time. The reality wasn’t all that scary! The visual novel scratches a lot of my itches and goals in terms of personal development as a creative, and I’m thankful for that. I want to grow as an artist and try new things, improve my 3D skills, expand my NSFW art portfolio (my guilty pleasure!) and the audience of my followers. We’ll see how it goes!

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Oh, and see we will! The brave new world is under construction, and our characters have already started to move in. Speaking of characters and how we create them – from concept to sprite – that’s what we’ll tell you next!