[WIP] Stalker 2 Fan Art - Unreal 5 Realistic Environment & Story Telling
polycounter lvl 6
Hello!
I’m excited to share the very early stage of my new Unreal Engine 5 environment art project.
This first phase focuses on blocking out the space and exploring the core ideas behind the scene. I’ve gathered thematic reference materials, used AI to generate early concept directions, and I’m actively collecting real-world photo references — a process I’ll continue throughout the project.
The goal is to deliver a fully finished UE5 environment, combining:
my previously completed vehicle model
newly modeled custom assets
carefully selected assets from Fab, integrated and reworked to fit the scene
Art Direction & Style
The visual style is realistic, inspired by
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,
Metro Exodus, and post-Soviet realism.
Key themes:
Authentic, lived-in decay
Objects that feel used, repaired, and repurposed
Implied human presence:
mugs, blankets, ammo boxes, notes, tools
The aim is to create an environment that feels cozy yet unsettling, grounded in reality, with a muted, dirty color palette that supports atmosphere and storytelling.
More updates coming as the project evolves.
At this stage, I’m intentionally working only in graybox, avoiding textures and detailed materials. This allows me to focus on iterating the space, composition, scale, and environmental storytelling.
I’m excited to share the very early stage of my new Unreal Engine 5 environment art project.
This first phase focuses on blocking out the space and exploring the core ideas behind the scene. I’ve gathered thematic reference materials, used AI to generate early concept directions, and I’m actively collecting real-world photo references — a process I’ll continue throughout the project.
The goal is to deliver a fully finished UE5 environment, combining:
my previously completed vehicle model
newly modeled custom assets
carefully selected assets from Fab, integrated and reworked to fit the scene
Art Direction & Style
The visual style is realistic, inspired by
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2,
Metro Exodus, and post-Soviet realism.
Key themes:
Authentic, lived-in decay
Objects that feel used, repaired, and repurposed
Implied human presence:
mugs, blankets, ammo boxes, notes, tools
The aim is to create an environment that feels cozy yet unsettling, grounded in reality, with a muted, dirty color palette that supports atmosphere and storytelling.
More updates coming as the project evolves.
At this stage, I’m intentionally working only in graybox, avoiding textures and detailed materials. This allows me to focus on iterating the space, composition, scale, and environmental storytelling.
Replies
Maintaining a human-scale character reference is absolutely essential to ensure believable proportions, spatial readability, and immersion.
As im importing new assets - I'm making sure only what i need is in the porject so for now only blockout meshes with gray material and cleaning up redirectors.
Here I am showing an example of identifying key some of the assets / prop selections for my scene thematic
Great start, this already feels well-planned.
Your references will really pay off once you move into detailing and lighting.
Sticking to greybox at this stage is a smart choice, it helps lock in composition and scale before committing to assets and materials.
Hello! Here’s another update on my new project 🙂
I’m still working on graybox shapes, scale, and composition. At this stage, I’m introducing placeholder assets to strengthen the storytelling while keeping the scene clear, readable, and free from texture or material noise.
One of the ways I generate ideas for this project is by going out and gathering real-world reference photography. I recently visited my vehicle mechanic’s garage, knowing it would be full of strong thematic materials. I was surprised to discover that he had built his own bench press using vehicle parts.
I applied the same idea to my environment storytelling by repurposing parts from a vehicle 3D model—using rims and brake discs to create a thematic bench press that fits naturally into the space and reinforces the narrative.
#EnvironmentArt #LevelArt #LevelDesign #GameArt #GameDev
#GameDevelopment #WorldBuilding #VisualStorytelling #Graybox #Blockout #LevelBlockout #UnrealEngine #UnrealEngine5
#UE5 #Nanite #Lumen #NextGenGames