After creating some initial sketches, I moved onto a much more fleshed out concept for my Diagon Alley shop. In my previous attempts, I noticed that the shop fronts I had drawn up were vastly disproportionate to the strict 8 metre by 8 metre plot size and, as a result, suffered from features such as a 2 metre wide single door, or a front paving more fitting in Minecraft than in ‘reality’.
In this digital drawing, I laid out a grid with metre wide divisions and quarter-metre subdivisions. This allowed for me to appropriately scale every element of the structure with the help of my wizard hat adorned silhouette.
It was at this point that I had also gotten around to deciding the theme of my store. I had toyed with several ideas in my head but settled on something that would both push my ability as an artist and also showcase the visual fidelity possible in UE4. I decided on creating a jewellery shop. This will give me the opportunity to mess around with materials and shaders to hopefully create some eye-catching magical ornaments to capture the attention of any window shoppers.