Environment Design with Sr. Concept Artist Danar Worya

On today’s episode of GameDay, Danar Worya; the Rotterdam-based Concept Artist who has worked on huge titles like The Last of Us Part II, Horizon: Forbidden West, and Uncharted: Lost Legacy; brings us a live demonstration showing how to quickly generate environments in Blender using the software’s built-in tools and assets from KitBash3D. 

When Danar told us that he used our Warzone kit in his work for The Last of Us Part II, we were eager to see his process first hand! He started the demo by first gathering assets from our Future Slums, Highways, and Aftermath kits, and he went on to cover a number of topics including collecting references, iterating ideas, managing polycount, speed versus detail, making artistic choices, creating visual intrigue, lighting, real-time rendering with EEVEE, and more.

A striking trait about Danar (apart from his immense talent) is his unwavering positive demeanor and commitment to teaching others. Since he wanted everyone to be able to follow along, one of the things Danar made a point of in this demo was to keep a light footprint. When he was starting out, he didn't have a high-performing machine, so he knows the importance of forming habits to “keep it simple” (many of which he still uses to this day). 

Some of the tools Danar used in this episode were: ANT Landscape to generate terrain, the Bool Tool to cut holes into surfaces, the Decimate modifier to reduce the vertex/face count of a mesh, and the Photometric Lighting Add-on for real-time lighting. 

Whether you’re just getting started in Blender or you’re interested in insights from a fellow professional, Danar is a hugely valuable resource. If this livestream was helpful to you, be sure to send him your support and check out his other work for further inspiration and tutorials! 

About Danar Worya

Danar Worya is a freelance Senior Concept Artist and Illustrator based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. His partnerships on projects include Call of Duty, Uncharted: Lost Legacy, Horizon: Forbidden West, and the critically acclaimed game The Last of Us Part II. In addition, he is passionate about teaching and coaching youth about art in today's world and the opportunities it can bring when life seems more than they can handle.  

As a son of a Kurdish-Iraqi family who fled war in the late 90s, his personal and art experiences have been forming his way of thinking about life, making him curious about subjects, people, and places beyond imagination. With deeper perspectives and hope, he cannot wait to see and experience what the future holds for him.

You can see more of Danar’s work at his Instagram, Twitter, and ArtStation, and learn from him at Gumroad.

About GameDay

GameDay is a video series from KitBash3D featuring world-building demos and interviews with artists from projects like THE LAST OF US PART II, HALO, STAR WARS, AVATAR and many more. GameDay is hosted by KitBash3D founders Maxx & Banks and originally aired live in partnership with LightBox Expo.

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