The incorporation of fine arts skills into the technology and entertainment industries resulted in the many intricate backgrounds in movies and games that we see today.
Although it is difficult to pinpoint its origins, individuals and their contributions have significantly changed the way backgrounds and environments work.
Before technology was introduced in the games and cinema industry, there were various other techniques used such as matte painting, miniatures, rear projection, and forced perspective.
Very popular films such as Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back used matte painting to achieve realism in the background (Moore, 2022[3]).
Eyvind Earle and Claude Coats were award-winning artists who worked on films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty.
These new standards elevated the experience of audience members as the atmosphere and general feel of the film were improved.
These different styles can be accomplished all through software like Maya, Blender, Nuke, Unreal Engine, and Adobe Creative Suite.
However, as you travel further away from the main level, the background is a bunch of detailed 2D art that has depth to simulate the dimensionality of it.
The evolution of technology has significantly increased the accessibility of tools required for creating environment art, especially in a growing digital world.
Maya is a “professional 3D software for creating realistic characters and blockbuster-worthy effects” (Autodesk, 2024[7]) and ZBrush is “the industry standard for 3D sculpting and painting digital clay” (Maxon, 2024[8]).
For majors such as Visual Communications Design which use Adobe products every day for their assignments, the cost is a barrier to their education.
According to Giuseppe Stidemann who posted a blog on Morph3d titled “Computer Spects You Need for 3D Modeling[10],” there are 11 hardware components that are needed: CPU or processor, GPU, memory or RAM, graphics card, monitor, computer case, PSU or power supply unit, storage devices including HDD, NVE, SDD, cooling, an operating system, and peripherals and other input devices.
This cost does not include the paints, brushes, pens, pencils, and colors that go into creating this traditional art medium.
There are dozens of channels dedicated to creating educational step-by-step videos giving insight into tips and tricks on how to use the software with the most efficiency.