Oct 5, 2026 · 2 hr 9 min · 16 segments
Sergio Suarez explores environment art through systems that artists can change and reuse. His personal Unreal Engine project leads into a discussion of materials, vertex painting, procedural variation…
I think, uh, that kind of training for that long period of time gives you, gives you an advantage, uh, for sure.
One of the hardest things, in my opinion, to train as an artist is having a good eye for things, um, having a good- Eye for like being able to tell what's good and what's bad, you know what I mean? Um, like good composition, good color theory, uh, good design.
You can teach somebody how to draw perfectly well, how to use a pencil, but how to see things differently as an artist, that, that takes-- It's something that only time can give you, and I'm still not-- I, I wouldn't say about myself I'm an expert in any of that stuff.
Uh, I still like to do little thumbnails and that stuff nowadays in 2D because it's interesting for me and it helps to train your, your eye.
Uh, I have a slightly different philosophy when it comes to making a game where I don't believe-- I believe art is one of the pillars of course, but for me it's not everything.
So I look at things in terms of, of composition and like composition over fidelity, I should say, where you might look at a scene and the scene looks really good as a whole, but then if you go and inspect the little elements of the scene, I don't believe those should look, um, as polished or as good as the whole scene itself.
Where like you, you might see, um, some games, and there's nothing wrong with that, where you can pick up a bottle or like you, you see a bottle standing on a table, and the bottle is this beautiful thing, uh, this perfectly designed thing, or like a pot or a-
... a, a vase with flowers on it, and it's, it's like this beautifully designed thing that could stand on its own in terms of fidelity.
But, um, I don't really believe in that so much as making sure that the whole scene as a whole is, is, uh, having a good composition and good colors, and it's pleasing to the eye.
And then the smaller elements in that scene, like the chair and the table, it doesn't really matter as much if it stands up to scrutiny, uh, as much as the whole scene.
I, I think that we need to talk more about the overall eye, uh, and how different artists are seeing this.
I, I think this is, um, you know, as an engineer, for me it's much easier to talk sometimes about the, the structural stuff that we are-- even though sometimes it's craft.
In many cases it's craft the way-- because y-you, you sit down a couple of engineers during the development and you will see different code.
I think, uh, that kind of training for that long period of time gives you, gives you an advantage, uh, for sure.
One of the hardest things, in my opinion, to train as an artist is having a good eye for things, um, having a good- Eye for like being able to tell what's good and what's bad, you know what I mean? Um, like good composition, good color theory, uh, good design.
You can teach somebody how to draw perfectly well, how to use a pencil, but how to see things differently as an artist, that, that takes-- It's something that only time can give you, and I'm still not-- I, I wouldn't say about myself I'm an expert in any of that stuff.
Uh, I still like to do little thumbnails and that stuff nowadays in 2D because it's interesting for me and it helps to train your, your eye.
Uh, I have a slightly different philosophy when it comes to making a game where I don't believe-- I believe art is one of the pillars of course, but for me it's not everything.
So I look at things in terms of, of composition and like composition over fidelity, I should say, where you might look at a scene and the scene looks really good as a whole, but then if you go and inspect the little elements of the scene, I don't believe those should look, um, as polished or as good as the whole scene itself.
Where like you, you might see, um, some games, and there's nothing wrong with that, where you can pick up a bottle or like you, you see a bottle standing on a table, and the bottle is this beautiful thing, uh, this perfectly designed thing, or like a pot or a-
... a, a vase with flowers on it, and it's, it's like this beautifully designed thing that could stand on its own in terms of fidelity.
But, um, I don't really believe in that so much as making sure that the whole scene as a whole is, is, uh, having a good composition and good colors, and it's pleasing to the eye.
And then the smaller elements in that scene, like the chair and the table, it doesn't really matter as much if it stands up to scrutiny, uh, as much as the whole scene.
I, I think that we need to talk more about the overall eye, uh, and how different artists are seeing this.
I, I think this is, um, you know, as an engineer, for me it's much easier to talk sometimes about the, the structural stuff that we are-- even though sometimes it's craft.
In many cases it's craft the way-- because y-you, you sit down a couple of engineers during the development and you will see different code.
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