Artstation Challenge Dragon's Rise: The Forgotten Realms
The Main Shot

The Main Shot

A Close-Up Shot

A Close-Up Shot

A Vertical Shot

A Vertical Shot

A WIP GIF

A WIP GIF

All assets in same sheet to demonstrate scale of foliage assets. Details in smaller assets were minimalized due to the scale and amount of pixel space these assets would need in final images.

All assets in same sheet to demonstrate scale of foliage assets. Details in smaller assets were minimalized due to the scale and amount of pixel space these assets would need in final images.

There are more groupings of the UE5 Blueprints of Magical Amulets with symbol, rope, and mesh variations. Shown below are just a few examples. Details on the window assets are minimized as these assets use a small amount of pixel space in the final image

There are more groupings of the UE5 Blueprints of Magical Amulets with symbol, rope, and mesh variations. Shown below are just a few examples. Details on the window assets are minimized as these assets use a small amount of pixel space in the final image

These materials were set up to give instanced control over various parameters such as color, opacity, emissive, etc. The Magical Effects decals and the Dragon Shadow alpha are not to scale - these assets were scaled up in the environment as needed.

These materials were set up to give instanced control over various parameters such as color, opacity, emissive, etc. The Magical Effects decals and the Dragon Shadow alpha are not to scale - these assets were scaled up in the environment as needed.

This is the main, foundational trunk used throughout the environment. There are separate branches for adding foliage to the scene. The purpose of separate these elements was to give more control over the canopy shape and composition.

This is the main, foundational trunk used throughout the environment. There are separate branches for adding foliage to the scene. The purpose of separate these elements was to give more control over the canopy shape and composition.

This is the secondary trunk used throughout the environment where trunk + foliage was needed.

This is the secondary trunk used throughout the environment where trunk + foliage was needed.

The hidden nodes are a branch grown off of the Trunk that I export separately (shown below).

The hidden nodes are a branch grown off of the Trunk that I export separately (shown below).

This is one of the branches grown from the main trunk, exported separately to give more canopy shape control.

This is one of the branches grown from the main trunk, exported separately to give more canopy shape control.

This asset is sometimes used as a standalone trunk and sometimes as a branch growing off of other trunks.

This asset is sometimes used as a standalone trunk and sometimes as a branch growing off of other trunks.

Some smaller trunk/branch clusters like this were made to demonstrate the magical growth of the tree into shapes that could be inhabited by people living in the forest. This is a smaller detail in the final images.

Some smaller trunk/branch clusters like this were made to demonstrate the magical growth of the tree into shapes that could be inhabited by people living in the forest. This is a smaller detail in the final images.

Jenny Mati's submission originally inspired me and I decided to build off of that and add some of my own twists. Here are my sketches/notes from the beginning of the challenge.

Jenny Mati's submission originally inspired me and I decided to build off of that and add some of my own twists. Here are my sketches/notes from the beginning of the challenge.

This is my entry for the Environment Art category for the 10 week 2022 Artstation Challenge: Dragon's Rise - The Forgotten Realms. I was responsible for all assets and assets were created only for this challenge and for the particular camera/view distance. Many of the assets are of Vista/Skybox quality as they were not intended for close-up shots. I'm very happy with the progress I was able to make and the lessons learned over a 10 week period! Final post-processing for color balance, bloom, levels, etc was done with Photoshop using render passes from UE5. I used Sky Creator as an organizational tool to help combine all the existing various fog, atmosphere, and lighting tools in UE5 into one convenient asset to quickly iterate.

More WIPs and process: https://www.artstation.com/challenges/dragons-rise-the-forgotten-realms/categories/165/submissions/71357

Please check out Jenny Mati's submission as it was a large inspiration for my work!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/X18Jda