Framed Environment Design

New from the animator and illustrator behind your favorite DreamWorks and Netflix films, the next installment of the Framed series will help creators design a world that comes to life.

Framed Environment Design presents the artwork, wisdom, and philosophies behind designing environments for film, animation, graphic novels, and illustration so that they serve a narrative purpose and become part of the story. With informed methodology and special care for the smallest details, environment design can inspire script visualization, making it come alive in meaningful ways--together with the characters--as part of the same actions and emotions.

From historical epic to futuristic architecture, and natural environments to fantasy scenarios, in this newest addition to his best-selling Framed series, Mateu-Mestre illuminates the full process in great detail. Starting with the early research stages and thought process all the way to the final design--employing hundreds of carefully created and never-before-seen illustrations and sketches--the reader can not only follow the detailed explanations but actually make sense of them through an incredible array of visual ideas and solutions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction

Chapter 1: General Introduction

The Purpose of a Design

Reading the Script

Visual Research, A Journey of "Archaeological" Discovery

General Shape Language

Big vs. Small--Organizing Shapes and Distributing the Visual Weight

Centers of Attention. A Shot-Composition Philosophy That Also Applies to Location Design

How a "Big vs. Small Shapes" Philosophy Works for Environmental Design

Period and Geography / Identifying Shapes

Creating Mood and Tone through Location

Chapter 2: Developing Two Versions of the Same Location (and Why)

Setting Up through Visuals the Story Point That We Want to Tell

Johnny's Automotive Shop: East Coast Location

Getting into Specifics / The Alleyway's Buildings

Sidney Walks into the Shop

The Second-Floor Office

Elevation, Plan, and Profile Views

Designing the Props

Arianna's Automotive Shop: Mediterranean Location

The Interior

References and Research

Chapter 3: Building up to a Historical Epic

An Ancient Egyptian Settlement / Preliminary Research

A "Working-Class" Area

An Upper-Class Environment

Setting up a Location with an Establishing Shot

Understanding a Location as a Cinematic Environment

Chapter 4: Pushing the Shape Language

A Basic Checklist of Some Available Shapes to Play With

Straight and Extended vs. Jagged and Compressed

Exploring the Language Possibilities of Geometrical Shapes

Angular, Cubic Shapes

Very Basic Geometry Applied to an Interior

A Cinematic Use of This Stylized Location

Pushing the Complexity

Curved, Round Shapes

Curved, Round Interiors

Chapter 5: Weather, Lights, Camera, Action!

Visualizing an Environment at Every Stage of the Story

Weather Comes into Play (A Village Exterior)

Pushed and Stylized Lighting

Chapter 6: Nature Tells Its Tale

Elements of Nature

Visual Progression

Mountain Country

Different Environment Sections for Different Story Moments

Scattered Rocks Valley

Narrow Canyon

Scorpion Desert: The Final Stretch

Chapter 7: A Path to Fantasy--The Creative Thought Process: Part 1

Fantasy Loosely Inspired by Reality

Further Pushing the Look

A Path to Fantasy--Living in that World: Part 2

Getting into the Actual Fabric

Developing Interiors

Adding Complexity

In and Around the Village

A Villager's Family Hut

Preparing to Design a Throne Room

Characters--Stylized Version

Throne Chamber's Exterior

Camera and Lighting / Cinematic Possibilities

A Big, Final Celebration

Epilogue

Index