The Violet Citadel stands at the heart of the cosmos, a place immersed in arcane magic. At its heart is the Engine of Order, a relic left behind by the mage Cosadal. Its purpose remains a mystery, yet its captivating beauty draws people from across the stars.
I started this project in 2020 and worked on it with several breaks in between. Each time I returned to it, I had grown as an artist and new technologies had emerged that I wanted to try out. This meant that I frequently had to redo parts of my scene. During that time, I switched from Maya to Blender and moved the project from Unreal Engine 4 to 5. The final result is a fully handpainted scene in Unreal Engine 5 that uses Lumen and Nanite. To achieve appealing, stylized lighting, I used fake lights and fog effects to properly showcase the handpainted textures.
Special thanks to Marie Lazar, who provided helpful feedback on this scene; to my friends, Mohamed Hadiri and Orest; and to the folks from the Stylized Station and Handpainter's Guild Discord servers. Without their support, I would not have been able to finish this scene.

https://www.artstation.com/pixelbutterfly
https://www.artstation.com/nemsix
https://www.artstation.com/oriichan