A environment can carry a story before any character walks into frame, and that idea sits at the heart of environment visual storytelling. Joris, an environment concept artist who works mainly in video games and animation, treats the setting as a character in its own right. Its job is to convey emotion on its own.
Joris started as a concept artist. He found that environments do more than frame characters. They are a narrative tool in environment visual storytelling that can reveal stakes, history and identity.
Before he sketches, Joris asks one question: “What happened here?” The answer sets his initial narrative intent. Every visual choice then serves two purposes: building atmosphere and solving problems of composition, readability and credibility.
His images are meant to provoke curiosity. Composition, lighting and colour give a simple scene enough detail to suggest what took place there, and leave the viewer to work out the rest. The ten techniques below are the ones he uses daily.
Environment visual storytelling in practice
01. Inspiration from the real world
Joris researches every reference a project needs before he draws. He keeps a library of real-world material, including landscape photographs, architectural details, traditional Western paintings, plants, animals, objects and historical documents.
He studies his subjects through observational drawing before he invents anything. He works in traditional media in a sketchbook or digitally, and he varies the approach from project to project.
02. Building a coherent world
Each environment needs its own personality and identity. That identity guides every design decision that follows. An environment that feels like part of a larger universe reads as more credible.
Places that hint at a bigger universe often borrow surrealism‘s logic, as Remedios Varo’s enchanting surreal worlds show.
Joris works through architecture, history, culture, climate and technology. He adds anything else that helps the viewer want to explore the place. The hard part is making the environment work as a character within the story.
03. Exploring shapes and silhouettes
Joris often explores silhouettes before he adds detail. He works on overall forms first, then defines the primary shapes.
Strong silhouettes stay recognisable at a distance. His quick sketches cover architectural and natural elements, and he generates as many iterations as he can. The goal is an interesting design that reads at a glance.
04. Light as a narrative tool
Joris treats lighting as a compositional tool. It sets the focal point and guides the eye to it. A carefully lit setting can turn an ordinary space into a scene with a clear emotional tone.
He uses light to suggest the time of day, the atmosphere or a specific mood. Strong contrast around the main subject pulls the eye in. Softer areas give the viewer a place to rest.
05. Design by line
For complex designs, Joris moves to a more precise outline. A solid outline gives the design a firm foundation, and it lets him work through problems that come up when he conceives a specific environment or architectural style.
He establishes the main shapes first, then adds detail gradually. He also settles the function of each design at this stage, which shapes the rest of the project. Joris notes that this process is common in video games.
06. Playing with scale
Joris varies proportions on purpose. Placing small figures or objects beside gigantic structures pulls the viewer in and gives the image an almost mythological quality.
Scale contrast also supports a sense of exploration and travel. Joris hopes the viewer will picture themselves moving through the space, much as they would in a video game. Scale is a quiet but powerful part of environment visual storytelling.
07. Creating fantasy architectural designs
Joris builds fantasy architecture from real-world references. He works in three stages.
A. Work in large shapes
After gathering photo references of architectural elements for the world, Joris blocks in the main masses. He lays out simple primitives such as cubes and cylinders, and he builds the 3D base in Blender.
B. Add precise line work
Once the main shapes are blocked in, he draws over them with precise line work. This pass refines the design and adds decorations, props and vegetation. The line work becomes the base for colour.
C. Bring the design to life
In the final stage, Joris focuses on colour and texture. He aims for a pleasing colour harmony. He adds signs of wear, dirt and stains to suggest imperfection. His aim is a place that feels peaceful and unlike any other.
08. Emotion through colour
Colour sets the mood and carries emotion. Joris favours vibrant shades and harmonies that evoke a sense of wonder. Nature is his main source, and he also draws on the work of Studio Ghibli and great Western painters.
He treats colour as a narrative element. Like light, it highlights a crucial part of the image and draws attention to it.
09. Creating a mood
Joris makes sure the atmosphere matches the emotion or story he wants to convey. He builds an atmosphere that turns the setting into a protagonist of the story, which is central to environment visual storytelling.
Mystery is another device he uses often. It leaves room for the viewer’s imagination and interpretation. Lighting, composition, the depth of the planes and colour harmony all contribute to that feeling.
10. Adapting and exploring
Joris has tried many techniques over the years. That range lets him move between media and graphic styles. He encourages artists to explore different mediums.
Learning 3D software, specifically Blender, was a significant asset early in his career. Joris says the tool should not become the goal, because it is easy to get lost in the process.
If you want to see that Blender workflow applied from blocking to finish, an overgrown robot built in 3DCoat and Blender walks through each stage.
Joris’s central point holds across all ten techniques. The environment is the story’s protagonist, and every choice in light, colour, scale and shape should reveal what happened there, which is the essence of visual storytelling.
H/T creativebloq.com
Frequently asked questions
What question does Joris ask before he starts sketching an environment?
Joris asks himself “What happened here?” before he sketches. The answer sets his initial narrative intent for the environment.
How does Joris use lighting to tell a story in his environments?
Joris treats lighting as a compositional tool that sets the focal point and guides the viewer’s eye to it. Strong contrast around the main subject pulls the eye in, while softer areas give the viewer a place to rest.
How does Joris use scale to affect the viewer?
Joris deliberately places small figures or objects beside gigantic structures to pull the viewer in and give the image an almost mythological quality. He also hopes this scale contrast encourages viewers to picture themselves exploring the space, much as they would in a video game.
What are the three stages Joris follows to design fantasy architecture?
First, he blocks in the main masses using simple primitives such as cubes and cylinders, building the 3D base in Blender. Next, he draws precise line work over the shapes to refine the design and add decorations, props and vegetation, then he finishes with colour and texture, including signs of wear, dirt and stains.
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