The first level and environment work I art directed was the unforgiving region of Lavastorm. I really wanted to create a bold, fantasy world environment that was different and a volcano ravaged land that wasn’t your typical lava rock environment. I looked to these artists: Genndy Tartakovsky, Roger Dean, and Eyvind Earle for some inspiration. The designs of their worlds were made of geometric shapes, a minimalist feel, and immense scale in land masses and forms.

Lavastorm was ravaged by a meteor strike. I envisioned a land that was scarred by the impact causing whole mountains and rock formations to radiate out from the center of the meteor’s impact crater for a dramatic sprawl of massive destruction.

I settled on the shape of rock formations that were sharp and angular and focused on a single image of a vista.

Color studies of Lavastorm was focused on a complimentary color scheme of orange and blue. The blue was designated for the rocky formations and lava rock, and the orange for the lava and fiery sky.

Construction drawings of some of the rock formations in the Lavastorm vista.

Work in progress of the Lavastorm vista in Unreal Engine 4.

The center piece of the Lavastorm level is Mount Sol, the liar of Lord Nagafen the dragon. The following concepts reflect the geometric influence of the rest of the environment. Instead of the typical volcano shape and design I directed concept artist, Mongsub Song to give Mount Sol large, planar sides giving it a more menacing, monolithic look.