Environment Concept Design: The Caves beneath Sewers

Continuing from last week, I'm gonna be talking environments.  Admittedly, this is working a little differently than I'd like, as concept art needs regarding environments shift depending on the panel with this medium (A fancy way of saying I'm quite sure what I need and I'm making up as much  as I can as I go).  That said, the tighter your pre-production, the easier it is when you actually start working. So, here we go!

These are the caves beneath the sewers.  The prevailing idea is that either these were extensions to the sewers that were never finished, or they were pre-existing caves that the sewers just happened to connect to.  No one really knows; there's proof for both (ladders and other architecture vs. hollowed out walls). 

Design-wise, I wanted this to be really simplistic. At first it was going to be just BLACK with just the characters, but that was just a bad idea.  I need SOME sort of environment. So, instead, I'm doing just slight highlights and reflections, with just the hole as a source of light.   Enough info so that you can see everything, but not so much that you don't see how DARK its supposed to be. Hope you're not afraid of the dark and/or the horrors within! hehehehehehehehehehehehe.......

Environment Concept Design: The Sewers

Continuing from where I left off about a week ago, I'm gonna be talking environments.  Admittedly, this is working a little differently than I'd like, as concept art needs regarding environments shift depending on the panel with this medium (A fancy way of saying I'm quite sure what I need and I'm making up as much  as I can as I go).  That said, the tighter your pre-production, the easier it is when you actually start working. So, here we go!

Ahh.. the eponymous sewers.  I have to admit, I am free-styling it a bit with the sewers. At first I was really worried that I would be deviating a lot from reality, but luckily I was able to find a ton of reference (which I'd post if it weren't for copyright and all that jazz).  In the bottom sketch, you can see the giant hole caused by Hobo Joe.  Initially, I had the street intact, but then I realized that Joe was way too big for any manhole and so I had a more fitting idea.  Next time, we're going a little deeper!

Environment Concept design: The Alleyway

So, for this next set of concept art, I'm gonna be talking environments.  Admittedly, this is working a little differently than I'd like, as concept art needs regarding environments shift depending on the panel with this medium (A fancy way of saying I'm quite sure what I need and I'm making up as much  as I can as I go).  That said, the tighter your pre-production, the easier it is when you actually start working. So, here we go!

So. The alleyway. There's nothing really special about it aside from the fact that the action has to start somewhere and this is how.  There's not much more I can really say about it without giving away plot stuff, so you're just going to have to infer and guess as you will. You're smart guys; by the time I get food, I'm willing to bet some of you will guess the plot!