Mining Area Concept Sketches

Environments have certainly been a weaker area of my skill set, so it was both daunting and exciting being challenged to concept some mining areas for this project. I had to find a method that allowed me to iterate quickly some shape designs and color palettes. The function of the mining equipment wasn't fully decided yet, either, so that proved to be both an additional challenge as well as provide wiggle room for creativity. I cut out the need for a lot of perspective restrictions by doing strict a strict orthographic view and channeling my inner side-scroller lover.
Can you believe I had never fully realized the potential of the gradient map tool before this assignment? Yikes.