ex-AI Discovery — Key Art (VisDev | 2D+3D Paintover | 2025)

Process board showing sketch, value blockout, palette, references and story beats for the scene.

Final keyframe: warm amber capsule on the right, lone explorer on the left in cold haze.

Rough layout pass: capsule vs. explorer, early composition and scale exploration.

Greyscale/value blockout establishing lighting hierarchy and read before color.

Keyframe illustrating the moment an ex-AI is found sealed in amber inside a forbidden lab from Heirs of the Collapse (HdC). Blender blockout + Photoshop paintover focused on mood, scale and warm–cool storytelling.

Pipeline.
• Blender: quick blockout for perspective, scale and camera; base pass for AO and guides.
• Photoshop: value comp, color script, volumetric fog, texture polish and final paintover.
• Lighting: 3-value design; warm amber core vs. cold cyan environment to isolate silhouettes.
• Design intent.
• “Cold world vs warm relic”: sealed yet faintly alive; tension through contrast.
• Clear read at thumbnail distance via right-weighted glow and left negative space.
• Materials: translucent resin/amber, wet concrete/metal, soft haze to sculpt depth.
• Composition: C-flow and leading lines to guide eye from capsule → explorer.