“TINKERBEARD’S SECRET LAIR”

See additional breakdown on ArtStation!

I wanted to create a stylized, technicolor world that felt like the swashbuckling fantasies I loved as a kid, like those in THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER and THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN. Concept created by the unbelievably talented Ke You Ting.

This is a real-time scene running in Unreal Engine 5. All assets were modeled in Maya with select elements sculpted in ZBrush. The majority of the materials were created from scratch in Adobe Substance Designer, supplemented by customized smart materials created in Substance Painter.

To achieve the nuanced color variation seen in the concept, I used vertex blending to layer multiple hand-painted wood materials within a single shader directly inside Unreal.

To imbue the project with a flowing ocean breeze, I added vertex animation to many materials within the scene. There are ZERO blueprints driving the object animation in this scene aside from the standard world and lighting setup; all motion is achieved entirely within the material shaders!