Gnomon Workshop: The Techniques of Scott Robertson

I watched Scott's video on "Creating Unique Environments." As someone who has a lot of trouble getting started designing an environment, I am intrigued by an exercise that he uses to get started. Using markers (it can be charcoal, paint, or any other layer-able medium) he creates abstract spaces based on shapes. He doesn't have any plan about the content - he doesn't even focus too carefully on perspective - he just uses value and variation in scale to create the impression of atmosphere. He then layers several of these in Photoshop and plays around with different compositing methods to create more complex, interesting space and color palette. He then resizes the frame and moves the view around, frequently switching different layers on and off until he finds an interesting composition (he describes the process like finding images in clouds).

He ultimately goes on to overlay perspective lines and paint, slowly creating a story out of what he sees.