Environment Mentorship Review | Bilal Can Kocaman

Review

Tell us about yourself: Who are you, what do you love to do and where are you from?

Hi, my name is Bilal Can Kocaman. I am an Environment Concept Artist and Illustrator who loves architecture and its relationship with nature. I am from Turkey and I live in Ankara.

Actually, my biggest hobby has become my profession, and sometimes I feel lucky because of this. Drawing industrial objects and especially architectural structures was my biggest hobby during my childhood. Regarding this, I can say that my interest in design emerged during my childhood, especially thanks to modern and historical architectural structures.
When I was a child, I went with my family to Ephesus, an ancient city in Izmir, and I remember admiring the amphitheater structure and its epic oval architecture. I was dreaming of people and scenes in that building. Who was walking here? Where did they get the inspiration for this oval structure? Was it just nature or something else? As a child, with this imagination, I was trying to draw and design buildings, stadiums, etc. All of these were a reality and included a story, even emotion, behind them. After I grew up, these thoughts turned into points that attracted me to concept art.
Besides my profession, in my free time, I love playing video games and researching the processes and ideas behind them. Also, I enjoy collecting keychains, catching up on movies, and nowadays, I am planning to learn to play the violin, but I haven’t created time for that yet. My dream is to be able to play some soundtracks on the violin.

What were the biggest problems you faced when you started as an artist?

First of all, studying in the fine arts department of high school was a start for me, but at that time I was not very determined about what I would do in my professional life. This was the first issue for me. Architecture or industrial design were some key points of interest for me at that time. I believe that these interests led me to concept art afterward.

Clearly, I decided to be a concept artist during the last year of my university time. The biggest problem at this stage was deciding where I needed to start. I was trying to develop my traditional drawing and digital painting skills on my own. I was trying matte painting, speed painting, and posting these works to different Facebook groups, waiting for feedback from other people. But I was not sure about where I was going. I think it is very important to have a clear direction and to know which weaknesses and skills you should improve. I had some people recommending me things related to professional life and other aspects, but I had problems deciding which was the right way for me. While working for your dreams, it is very important to be able to manage life as well.

Isolated Kingdom

The palace is a huge majestic structure with towers and high walls. It is isolated from the local population. Inspired by mainly Byzantine and some elements of Islamic architecture. For environment around the main palace, Venice was the main inspiration.

Why did you decide to sign up for CGVerse online art school?

After working in the video game industry for nearly 4.5 years, I thought that I still needed to improve my design skills in areas such as composition, color, and other major fields, and I needed to add 3D usage to my workflow.

I decided to join a long-term education program. While researching different places, I found the CGVerse mentorship program. The best option for me was a training process where the instructor works with the student 1-on-1, similar to a master-apprentice relationship.

Also, before the mentorship, my conversation with Christopher was very decisive for me because he explained CGVerse’s education method very clearly, and this helped me decide to join.

Isolated Kingdom 3D Assets

Several assets used for the scene.

What did you do during the mentorship and what helped you on each task?

Firstly, my main instructor was Adam, and Christopher also gave me so much feedback throughout the process. In my mentorship, we focused on the whole creative process, including creating briefs, moodboards/collecting references, sketches, 3D workflow, and post-production in Photoshop. We created two finished environments and started a third one, which I finished after the mentorship. I wanted to experience different genres such as sci-fi and fantasy, and model different types of objects and architectural forms. The first two projects were exteriors, and the third one was an interior. Additionally, besides the projects, I practiced some objects for advanced texturing.

For the first task, which was a mix of architectural and fantastical elements, I learned tons of things, especially related to the 3D workflow and many techniques of using Blender as a concept artist. This project was a starting point for my 3D usage, and it went very well. Also, I saw the importance of creating a proper moodboard.
Regarding the second project, in addition to further enhancing the 3D skills I learned from the first project, experiencing the sci-fi design process was very beneficial for me. I practiced creating some hard surface designs from scratch. Also, I got used to project management and optimizing scenes more by creating better sketches to guide the final piece.
For the third project, we decided to go with a more realistic and smaller-sized scene, which was an abandoned hospital interior. In this project, I had a chance to test myself in a more limited time. As a result, for each task, Adam recommended that I stay loyal to all the stages individually without skipping any of them, and this helped me to be more coordinated.

Isolated Kingdom compositional layout

Overview of the isolated kingdom.

How was the mentorship for you?

Apart from technical and design information, I can definitely say that this mentorship helped me gain more confidence in creating bigger and more efficient environments for my future career. I felt a lot of enjoyable parts of the development process and learning new methods. As I create new designs and see that they work, it gives me more desire to work.

Furthermore, during the mentorship, Adam was very encouraging and very patient with my tons of questions throughout all the sessions. Also, Christopher gave a huge amount of time to explain many hints which I probably couldn’t find elsewhere. Whenever I talked to both of them, I felt that they were putting in a grand effort to teach with great attention, without skipping any stage.

Entrance of Geothermal Facility

Main entrance of a geothermal facility where transportation for pedestrians walking is provided by bridges over geysers.

What would you say when you recommend us to an artist?

First of all, the instructors, who are very successful in their work in this course, are very interested in you in return for the effort you put in. What is important at this point is that you constantly produce throughout the course and have a desire to learn more. When you have this desire, they will give back to you strongly.

Moreover, learning in a 1-on-1 environment and the fact that instructors deal with you directly makes the learning process both faster and more detailed.

Compositions for Entrance of Geothermal Facility

Initial compositions

What are your next steps?

I am very appreciative because of this mentorship program and my lovely teachers gave me a lot of self confidence, vision and hope that I can trust myself for being able to embark on new adventures with bigger knowledge and clearer mindset.

Secondly, I would like to apply for concept art positions where I can feel that I am establishing a more exciting and efficient career for myself for the future. I would like to create very inspiring environmental and prop designs for people seeing them. I feel like I can consider this mentorship as one of key points of my career.