In this edition of our Cover Artist interview series, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Yari Lute (ArtStation; Instagram), the talented artist behind the stunning cover art for our newest Kit, Japanese Neighborhoods. Known for his ability to capture intricate details and rich atmospheres, Yari brought the spirit of traditional and modern Japanese cityscapes to life in a way that’s both captivating and true to the essence of the Kit.
In this interview, we dive into Yari’s artistic process, his inspirations, and how he aimed to capture the authenticity of Japanese neighborhoods while balancing both modern and traditional elements. Join us as Yari shares his journey in creating the cover art that sets the tone for this immersive Kit!
KB3D: Tell us about your background! How you entered the 3D art world, projects you’ve worked on, studios or companies you’ve worked with, and any other details you want to share.
I always used to do art on the side for fun, eventually picking up 3d out of pure interest. When Covid hit, I used this time to get into 3d for art and design, which I enjoyed a lot and after quite some time I started integrating it within my workflow. Planning out shots, scenes, and environment spaces full of life and story.
I started learning concept art for a profession in December 2020 / January 2021. I’ve been working as a concept artist since the Summer of 2021, in which I have worked on a variety of projects, from pre-production & worldbuilding work at Vizlab studios for AAA & AA studios to production & illustration work as a freelancer with a wide variety of projects in scope & direction.
KB3D: Tell us about the story you told in the piece. How did you brainstorm story ideas and execute them? How did the story come together?
I wanted to set up a cozy, comfortable environment in Modern Japan. With locals & tourists alike doing their own thing in the street, from taking a break with a drink to being dropped off to go shopping. This, while not taking away the focus on the buildings of the set. I always enjoy adding that little life to all my pieces, to make them feel believable, that I couldn’t help myself from adding these elements of life & story.
Initially, I started out by setting up a mood board, using pictures from my travels in Japan and getting directional images for moods & compositions, following the guidelines set by KB3D. I had the mood board set up for different types of directions such as realistic lighting in Japan, 90s Japanese photography, ghibli-inspired & sunsets. The other pictures acted as references for composition & set dressing.
With the mood boards created, I started playing around with the set for a few afternoons, to get to know the kit better & get inspiration for possible compositions. During this part, I used grey boxing with the kit as building blocks. Once I felt like I had a few contenders, I started filling in all the compositional elements with basic lighting, textures, and 3d models of the kit to be sent over to Kit Bash for approval.
Luckily, we managed to get an accepted composition on the first go. With this approved, I started getting the scene together by adding elements of story, detailing and refining elements within the composition, such as characters, buildings, and textures. With all the elements added, we started doing some mood & lighting alterations. Which was fairly quick due to the established scene, with some changes to the world & lighting, a quick overpaint was more than enough to get the different ideas across.
With the final direction agreed upon, all that was left was to apply final feedback and go into the smaller details for overpaint and 3d. The hard part was mainly the juggling of all the values and elements in the scene due to so much going on. But I’m happy with the final result.
KB3D: What is your favorite model in the new Kit?
The “Showa Souvenir Shop” & the “Traditional Restaurant” models. These models are a bit more unique in that they are set up and can be used in a lot of different scenarios with some adjustments. For instance, the elements of the “Traditional Restaurant” could be used to set up a Japanese school in a small town.
KB3D: What tools do you use to create your pieces, and at which point in your workflow?
I mainly used Blender & photoshop for this image. Blender for setting up the scene, and photoshop for overpainting, taking notes, and sketching.
