How to Recreate a Stylized Toulouse-Inspired 2D Environment in 3D
Yang Tian talked about the workflow behind the Blooming Toulouse project, explaining how she sculpted the tree and the rocks, including the main shapes and the details, and shared how she textured the foliage.
Introduction
Hello everyone! I'm Yang Tian. I originally graduated with a degree in software engineering. Still, I've always loved playing video games and painting, so I've been slowly picking up painting fundamentals throughout the years by making fan art of my favorite game characters.
In 2018, I played a AAA game for the first time, and it completely revolutionised my view of video games. I didn't know games could be so realistic and feel like an immersive movie. I wanted to make something like that in the future. However, I didn't dare to study arts, so I took the "safer" tech route.
During my university studies, I participated in making a very simple board game as a programmer, but I felt that it wasn't what I truly desired. In 2024, I was still painting in my free time, and that was when I discovered 3D as a tool to help with 2D painting. Initially, I wanted to make simple 3D environments that complement my characters because painting environments is my weakness, but after dabbling with 3D a little bit, I finally made up my mind.
In 2025, I was more financially independent and decided to pursue 3D more seriously, so in October, I started learning 3D at Think Tank Training Centre. I'm currently in the Intermediate term and specialising in environments for games.
The Blooming Toulouse Project
The Blooming Toulouse was my foundation term final project at Think Tank. I wanted to make a full environment for this term, but we were only given four to five weeks, so searching for a concept that is both challenging and achievable wasn't easy. I also wanted it to be visually engaging. Then, I came across Sylvain Sarrailh's beautiful concept, the Blooming Toulouse.
It's dramatic and grand, yet also calm, bright, and cheerful. The tree and waterfall add a sense of fantasy to the scene. The sheer scope alone is challenging, and the combination of complex organic shapes and modular buildings makes it even more so.
I'll admit that I doubted myself at first, especially since we were taught to focus on smaller scopes and making simple assets stand out throughout the term. However, as I worked on it more, I grew more determined.
Starting Point
I started by planning out the trim sheet and gathering references in PureRef. For planning, I used the schedule template provided by my awesome supervisor, Pablo Hurtado. The schedule basically breaks down each process into separate weeks and categorises each asset into different tiers.
I could easily estimate how much time the project would take. Though there were quite a few differences between my estimation and the actual time it took in the end, I still find it simpler to visualize the entire process than just filling out a calendar.
Modeling
I spent a significant amount of time on modeling the tree because it has to match the concept. It was initially modeled at the origin due to Maya's curve tool restrictions, but I needed to redo it because the perspective was completely off. I resorted to drawing curves on a live plane near where the tree should be in the scene, and then used sweep mesh.
The rocks were pretty rough at this stage since I only wanted the silhouette to match, and they would be sculpted in ZBrush later anyway. I broke them down to three variations, so if I wanted more variety, I could just combine them into new ones. To save time and space, I made a trim sheet for some of the patterns. The rest of the blockout went relatively smoothly as the buildings are mostly made of simple shapes.
Refining and Texturing
Most of the details for the tree trunk and the rocks were sculpted. To get a solid base of the tree trunk, I used masking by alpha in ZBrush and sculpted from there.
Then, I baked displacement maps in ZBrush and set them up in Maya. I didn't need retopology since I already had a rough low-poly during the modeling phase. The low-poly models were UV unwrapped in Maya and taken to Substance 3D Painter to texture. For the other trees, I rendered my main tree with a transparent background, then used it as an Opacity map to fake the details.
To save time, I only made one texture for the rocks and another one for the windows, and then converted them into smart materials to reuse on the others.
The brick wall was also sculpted in ZBrush. There was a lot of back and forth from ZBrush to Substance 3D Painter to make sure it tiles.
I only started making the foliage during the texturing phase because it's easier to visualize with at least some texture. I blocked out some rough shapes, then sculpted each foliage in ZBrush. The alpha, ao, and curvature were baked in ZBrush, then brought to Substance 3D Painter for further texturing.
I made a few variations for each type of plant, then put them in clusters to scatter around the scene. There weren't a ton of skills involved in this since it's mainly manually placing them, and this process can be very time-consuming and requires lots of patience.
The waterfall is surprisingly easy to make. I followed this tutorial sent by my supervisor. To make the water look more convincing, I set up a Displacement map in Maya.
As for the roof tiles, I eventually switched to modeling them out in Maya using MASH because the tileable texture I made only looked good mid-distance. I'd still like to share it, though.
Final Adjustments
I was really debating in my head whether to make the characters or not, but I decided to do it since I had an extra week after the assignment submission. I posed the model in DAZ Studio and made the cloth in Marvelous Designer. The cloth was then brought to Maya for minor adjustments and UV, and Substance 3D Painter for texturing. I also sculpted the hair in ZBrush.
Minor adjustments to the lighting were made in the final week, but most of it was done in the modeling and texturing phase. There are more than 30 lights in total, but only a few of them are the main lights. I needed some additional lights because the shadows were too dark and harsh, which didn't fit the stylized look of the concept. To make the scene have more depth, I set up some basic Vray fog in Maya early on, adjusting only the distance and color.
Compositing was done entirely in Photoshop. I did some color correction and applied a minimal vignette. I also painted some fog, white birds, and clouds. The red birds were an image I found on the internet. I modified it for each bird to match the concept better.
Conclusion
Looking back at this project, I learnt a great deal, from hard skills like the 3D pipeline, to soft skills like time management. Additionally, it made me realise what I still need to improve. I'm new to 3D as well, but my advice to other new artists is to always plan and be open to advice.
Scheduling is essential, especially for bigger projects. Don't be afraid to chase your dreams, but also keep a backup plan. Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to Emma Collins for the opportunity to share my workflow.
Thank you to all my peers who cheered me up when I had doubts. Another huge thank you to my supervisor, Pablo Hurtado, for the great support and guidance. I wish everyone the best of luck in their journey!
