I'm proud to present my original character, Irena Stormbrook, a Tiefling design entirely created by me.

This project was a personal milestone, as I set out to grow in several key areas of my artistic skillset. First and foremost, I wanted to improve my ability to sculpt and texture stylized characters. Irena provided the perfect opportunity to explore this further, and I’m pleased with the progress I made in capturing a cohesive and expressive look.

Secondly, I aimed to expand my knowledge of shader creation within Unreal Engine. This character allowed me to experiment with a variety of materials—from implementing subsurface scattering in the skin to crafting a custom crystal shader for the horns. It was a rewarding challenge that pushed me to think more deeply about how shaders contribute to storytelling through material design.

My third goal was to integrate hair into a real-time character. I chose to try hair cards for the first time, and while the process came with its learning curve, I gained a great deal of experience and came out the other side with more wins than setbacks.

All in all, I’m very happy with the result: a fully stylized character featuring hand-painted textures, stylized PBR-based materials, real time hair, and all rendering in real time in Unreal. Every part of this project—from concept to final render—was created by hand, and I'm excited to share the outcome of this personal learning journey.