Serena Howard (UK Env Artist LFW!)
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3d-stardust.bsky.social
Serena Howard (UK Env Artist LFW!)
@3d-stardust.bsky.social
310 followers 240 following 99 posts
She/They
UK Environment Artist in the games industry 🇬🇧
Enjoyer of all things handpainted and stylized 🎨
D&D newbie ✨🎲

www.artstation.com/serenah_art
Get in touch if you want to work with me! I'd love to make cool beautiful art with awesome folks!
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3d-stardust.bsky.social
Since this post did surprisingly good numbers compared to my usual bsky nonsense:

pls enjoy a v silly TBW gif I made of our fav anxious wreck Zan!

The game is full of witty details like this, my friend and I cracked up laughing when we spotted it in the background of a big serious exposition scene
October 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
It took a couple days to get a nice ethereal vibe from the material on this tree asset, but I'm loving the glow up compared with the placeholder version! I'd like to push it further but not sure I have the tech art ability for that yet..
#UE5 #UnrealEngine #stylized #3dart #gameart #shaders #techart
A screenshot of a stylized scene with the upper half of a bright white tree sapling in the foreground. The environment around it is overgrown with flowering plants and moss-covered rocks, and one end of a mossy crumbling grey stone bridge is visible just behind it. A screenshot of a stylized scene with the upper half of a bright white tree sapling in the foreground. This version of the tree is a brighter white overall, with more varied subtler shades of blue and purple on the leaves and branches. It also is emitting a slight glow as if it's translucent and lit from the inside. The environment around it is overgrown with flowering plants and moss-covered rocks, and one end of a mossy crumbling grey stone bridge is visible just behind it. A screenshot of a stylized scene showing a bright white tree sapling growing from underneath a stone bridge; there's a few flowering plants clustered around the base of the tree trunk and another similar white sapling on the other side of some stone steps leading up to the bridge. Both trees are mostly uniform blue-white with very little colour or detail in their texture. A screenshot of a stylized scene showing a bright white tree sapling growing from underneath a stone bridge; there's a few flowering plants clustered around the base of the tree trunk and another similar white sapling on the other side of some stone steps leading up to the bridge. Both trees are mostly pure white with slight blue and purple pastel shades visible on the branches and leaves. They're also emitting a soft white glow as if the bark is translucent and lit from the inside.
April 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Finally got around to updating the foliage textures for this #UnrealEngine scene! I was hoping I'd finish this project a bit sooner but life got in the way, feels good to be making progress on the to do list again though!
#UE5 #MadewithUnreal #stylized #3dart #gameart #gamedev #indiedev #handpainted
A painted foliage texture layout consisting of grass tufts and strands, plus stems, leaves and flowers for various flowering plants. Most of them are rendered in flat colour against a black background using uniform shades of green, or one shade of pink/white/orange/red for the different flowers. A stylized Unreal Engine environment showing a small area of mossy ground covered in flowering plants; dark green heather with pink flowers, clusters of tall flowering plants with red and orange flowers, scattered groups of off-white flowers with dark green leaves, and fluffy clumps of grass. All the plants are rendered with uniform colours. A painted foliage texture layout consisting of grass tufts and strands, plus stems, leaves and flowers for various flowering plants, rendered against a black background. This updated texture has more colour variation and detail than the flat colour version, though the plants are still painted in a stylized rather than realistic aesthetic. A stylized Unreal Engine environment showing a small area of mossy ground covered in flowering plants; dark green heather with pink flowers, clusters of tall flowering plants with red and orange flowers, scattered groups of off-white flowers with dark green leaves, and fluffy clumps of grass. The plants have been updated with more vibrant colours and more painted detail, with most now having a darker value gradient from bottom to top.
March 26, 2025 at 4:19 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Finally back doing art after job interview (didnt pan out) + other delays; painting textures between reading terrible industry news atm

It's hard out there and all I can do rn is paint rocks. Doing my best to keep going.
#unrealengine #stylized #handpainted #substancepainter #ue5 #3dmodeling #3dart
A screenshot from Substance Painter software showing a grey-green rock with subtle painted tones of blue, purple and yellow, and lighter highlights on sharp edges. A screenshot of a default Unreal Engine scene with two rocks coloured using different methods against a grey checker background. On the left is a dull grey-green rock, with some basic noisy texture applied to its surfaces. On the right is a handpainted rock of similar base underlying colour, but with more colour variety, greater value variation (brighter light areas, darker shaded areas), and visible painted brushstrokes.
February 25, 2025 at 9:52 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
I made fire yesterday!! It's a v simple RGB flipbook on a billboard plane rather than particlefx, so prob wouldn't work in a realistic scene. Luckily I think it suits the handpainted aesthetic I'm going for in this scene rly well!

#UE5 #stylized #gameart #techart #3dart #gamedev #MadewithUnreal
February 9, 2025 at 7:10 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
It's #screenshotSaturday time!

Managed to clumsily stumble thru learning #UE5 Niagara over past few days, enough to add cute lil wind trails and butterfly emitters to my project! Steep learning curve but love the results so far!! 🍃🦋

#UnrealEngine #MadeinUnreal #stylized #gameart #gamedev #techart
A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling mossy bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a light blue stream or pool. The bridge is surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas, plus clumps of bulrushes at the water's edge. At one end of the bridge four tree saplings with bright white bark and leaves are growing up between the rocks. A screenshot of a default Unreal Engine scene with a bright white ribbon-like particle effect; it's shaped like a stylized waveform and tapered at each end A screenshot of a default Unreal Engine scene containing a single pink flowering plant on a gray tiled floor. There's a small scattered cloud of butterflies fluttering up from around the plant. They all vary slightly in size, some are light blue in colour with dark blue wingtips and the others are patterned orange and brown.
February 8, 2025 at 1:24 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
QRP with something watery!💧
Hope the water shader in my #3dart project counts!
February 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Painted some pretty lil critters to add more life to my #stylized #UE5 scene! All based on ref pics of real species, fully handpainted to ensure they fit the aesthetic - and I built a matl to swap between 4 atlas tiles w vert animation for flappy wings!
#gameart #gamedev #MadeinUnreal #UnrealEngine
February 4, 2025 at 5:25 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
I won't quite hit my deadline of finishing this project by end of Jan, but I'm v happy w progress during this month!! All the major assets are in, the water is updated, it's now just a case of refining textures, implementing particles and tweaking lighting/post.
#UnrealEngine #stylized #gameart #UE5
A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar colour. The rocks have a layer of moss on most of their upward facing surfaces, consisting of blotchy splashes of colour from dark green to bright saturated green and light yellow. Wherever the rocks meet the water, the green moss layer or underlying rock colour fades into a light muddy brown. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling mossy bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a light blue stream or pool. The bridge is surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas, plus clumps of bulrushes at the water's edge. At one end of the bridge four tree saplings with bright white bark and leaves are growing up between the rocks.
January 31, 2025 at 6:39 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
and here it is in motion!! Many thanks to @cosmicjaybird.bsky.social for sharing her water shader techniques I've borrowed here during Into Games Env Art course last Sept!
I'm a little late on finishing the project since my scene needed a hard reboot, but it's been so worth the extra work and time
January 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
My weekend task was implementing a proper water shader into this project - finally no more ugly blue planes!
Was a long overdue update and I'm so happy w the result, still some work to do but rly feels like I can see the end at last
#UnrealEngine #UE5 #MadeinUnreal #stylized #gameart #3dart #shaders
A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling mossy bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream or pool, which is represented by a placeholder blank flat surface with a uniform dark blue colour. The bridge is surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas, plus clumps of bulrushes at the water's edge. At one end of the bridge four tree saplings with bright white bark and leaves are growing up between the rocks. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling mossy bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a light blue stream or pool. The bridge is surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas, plus clumps of bulrushes at the water's edge. At one end of the bridge four tree saplings with bright white bark and leaves are growing up between the rocks.
January 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Finally deleted my twitter acct, as I can't see that site returning to how it once was.
Sad to lose the record of my early career but ultimately I think starting fresh here is for the best.

As a reintroduction, here's some of my best #gameart prop work and a sneak peek #WIP of my #UE5 environment!
January 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Do we do #screenshotSaturday here? Time for an update on my current #WIP #gameart project!
The foliage is looking p good so next jobs are:
- update water
- brainstorm clutter items to scatter around
- work on particlefx
- finalize textures

#UnrealEngine #UE5 #MadeinUnreal #gameart #stylized #3dart
A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas. At one end of the bridge four tree saplings with bright white bark and leaves are growing up between the rocks. The bridge has also been covered in small moss clumps in corners and crevices between the stones, that weren't present in the previous screenshot.
January 18, 2025 at 9:17 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Hello #PortfolioDay!

I'm Serena (she/they) and I'm a 3D Env/Props Artist from the UK!

✨3+ yrs exp making stylized art in UE4/5
⭐looking for contract/fulltime work
🌟happy to work remote, hybrid or onsite

Not much new to share yet, but I hope 2025 will change that!

www.artstation.com/serenah_art
January 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Started retopology (or treetopology maybe) of this sapling asset! Always a nice part of the process where I can sit back and listen to podcasts while pulling verts around
January 12, 2025 at 12:55 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Doing my best to disconnect from the news cycle with some late night relaxing tree sculpting. I haven't used Zbrush since before Christmas so it feels great to get back into highpoly sculpting again.
#3dart #stylized #gameart #3dsculpting #3dmodeling #zbrush
Screenshot from Zbrush showing a close up of a 3d model against a black to grey gradient background. This section of the model shows three upper branches of a tree sapling, and each branch has a leaf bud at the end. The branches are coloured light grey, and the buds are a slightly darker grey shade. Screenshot from Zbrush showing a close up of a light grey 3d model against a black to dark grey gradient background. This section of the model shows the lower part of the tree trunk, with thick curled roots at ground level and two thinner lateral branches growing out partway up the trunk. Screenshot from Zbrush showing a light grey 3d model against a black to dark grey gradient background. This screenshot shows the full tree sapling model from the roots to the leaf buds growing at the top. There are three branches clustered together near the top, each growing a leaf bud at the end, and three thin curving lateral branches between the top and bottom of the tree without leaves. Screenshot from Zbrush showing a close up of a light grey 3d model against a black to dark grey gradient background. This model is a three pronged tree branch separated from the main tree trunk - it has smooth bark and no leaves, and each branch curves into a thin point.
January 11, 2025 at 11:51 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Easy breezy; I finally got a wind effect implemented today! Also fixed some pesky normal issues w the foliage planes so they look better than ever! Love that a tiny bit of subtle movement has added so much to the scene.
#stylized #gameart #3dart #techart #UE5 #MadewithUnreal #UnrealEngine #gamedev
January 6, 2025 at 9:14 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
So long 2024 - I'm ending the year strong with this project! Here's how it started vs how it's going!
Despite a rough start, dressing it up with foliage has made it feel so pretty and alive 😊
#stylized #gameart #UnrealEngine #UE5 #gamedev #3dart
A screenshot of an Unreal Engine scene with a teal background - a crumbling bridge made from grey-green stones is in the centre, surrounded by white oval blockout rock assets. A dark blue plane sits underneath the other scene assets to represent a river or pond. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks covered in light green moss and fluffy clumps of dense light green grass. Where the rocks meet the water their colour fades into a muddy brown. There are clusters of tall flowering plants growing between them with small orange-red flowers, a few clumps of dark green heather with pink flowers, and scattered groups of small off-white flowers on some of the mossy areas.
December 31, 2024 at 3:43 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Starting to feel like my Unreal diorama is finally pulling ahead of my sketchy initial concept art. Lots still to do but I'm learning to trust the process again on this project! Next task: work on the water shader or make some ground foliage.
#stylized #gameart #UE5 #UnrealEngine #gamedev #3dart
A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar colour. The rocks have a layer of moss on most of their upward facing surfaces, consisting of blotchy splashes of colour from dark green to bright saturated green and light yellow. Wherever the rocks meet the water, the green moss layer or underlying rock colour fades into a light muddy brown. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar colour. The rocks have a layer of moss on most of their upward facing surfaces, consisting of blotchy splashes of colour from dark green to bright saturated green and light yellow. Wherever the rocks meet the water, the green moss layer or underlying rock colour fades into a light muddy brown. Around the edge of the scene are bright green blobs of moss that intersect with some of the rocks. A sketchy digital paintover of a screenshot from Unreal Engine with a light teal blue background. There's a 3d model of a crumbling dry stone bridge in the center made from smooth dark grayish green stones over a small stream or marshy lake. The bridge is surrounded by a digitally painted natural riverside scene of grassy rocks covered in yellow and pink wildflowers, with some reeds at the water's edge and white tree saplings growing up from between some of the rocks. There are also two roughly sketched cast iron lanterns with lit candles inside - one below some steps leading up to the bridge, and one positoned where the pathway continues beyond one edge of the bridge, like waymarkers to light the path at night or in low visibility weather.
December 15, 2024 at 7:13 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
Realized I forgot to share a vid of the mud vertexpaint!
V satisfying seeing the coloured outline effect work properly after a day of wrangling matl math to first figure out what I wanted to do, then figure out if I could.
#stylized #gameart #texturing #gamedev #UnrealEngine #UE5 #shaders #techart
December 15, 2024 at 6:54 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
More vertex painting! Building the soft coloured outline around the edge of the mud vertex paint was a challenge but I'm so happy I could make it work! Slowly getting out of the ugly prototyping stage, and it feels awesome looking back on where I started with it.
A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar dull grey colour, all with a layer of dark green moss on their upward facing surfaces. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks. A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar grey or brown colour, all with a layer of light green moss on their upward facing surfaces. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks. A screenshot from an Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar colour. The rocks have a layer of moss on most of their upward facing surfaces, consisting of blotchy splashes of colour from dark green to bright saturated green and light yellow. Wherever the rocks meet the water, the green moss layer or underlying rock colour fades into a light muddy brown.
December 14, 2024 at 7:25 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
And of course since I love to keep everything customisable as far as possible when I'm building shaders or material functions for myself, I just had to give the moss texture some parameters to play around with!
#stylized #gamedev #shaders #techart #UnrealEngine #UE5 #gameart #texturing
December 12, 2024 at 8:14 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
It took a little while but I'm proud to say I finally got my vertex painting figured out, after having to put this #UnrealEngine project on hold during a 4day powercut. Feels good to get back into it!
#gamedev #stylized #gameart #UE5 #Unreal #shaders
December 12, 2024 at 7:48 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
More progress on this lil #UE5 scene!
- Swapped highpoly rocks for baked lowpoly versions
- Made a stone smart matl in Painter to use as a texturing base (currently too noisy, more work needed)
- Shelved the topdown moss, too much matl math for small diorama
#stylized #gameart #UnrealEngine #3dart
A sketchy digital paintover of a screenshot from Unreal Engine with a light teal blue background. There's a 3d model of a crumbling dry stone bridge in the center made from smooth dark grayish green stones over a small stream or marshy lake. The bridge is surrounded by a digitally painted natural riverside scene of grassy rocks covered in yellow and pink wildflowers, with some reeds at the water's edge and white tree saplings growing up from between some of the rocks. There are also two roughly sketched cast iron lanterns with lit candles inside - one below some steps leading up to the bridge, and one positoned where the pathway continues beyond one edge of the bridge, like waymarkers to light the path at night or in low visibility weather. A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar grey or brown colour, all with a layer of light green moss on their upward facing surfaces. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks. A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar colour. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks.
December 2, 2024 at 9:25 PM
3d-stardust.bsky.social
ok 1 more quick update bc I checked my concept art and realised the scene wasn't matching the vibe at all!
- reduced noisiness in the moss texture
- made worldpos gradient darker
- tweaked colour values so rocks have warmer tone overall and match bridge better
#ue5 #unrealengine #stylized #gameart
A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar dull grey colour, all with a layer of dark green moss on their upward facing surfaces. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks. A screenshot from Unreal Engine scene with a light teal background. The scene shows a stylized 3d model of a crumbling bridge constructed from grey-green stones over a stream, surrounded by smooth oval rocks of varying sizes and similar grey or brown colour, all with a layer of light green moss on their upward facing surfaces. There are some smaller rocks in the stream with a placeholder white material that haven't yet been updated to match the other larger rocks. A sketchy digital paintover of a screenshot from Unreal Engine with a light teal blue background. There's a 3d model of a crumbling dry stone bridge in the center made from smooth dark grayish green stones over a small stream or marshy lake. The bridge is surrounded by a digitally painted natural riverside scene of grassy rocks covered in yellow and pink wildflowers, with some reeds at the water's edge and white tree saplings growing up from between some of the rocks. There are also two roughly sketched cast iron lanterns with lit candles inside - one below some steps leading up to the bridge, and one positoned where the pathway continues beyond one edge of the bridge, like waymarkers to light the path at night or in low visibility weather.
November 24, 2024 at 7:50 PM