Search For A Star | Environment Art Finalists 2024
Search For A Star Environment Art, presented in partnership with d3t and Coconut Lizard
The assessments have been completed and we have our finalists selection for this year’s Search For A Star and Rising Star challenges in Environment Art!
We’ll be interviewing all the finalists and revealing the winners of this year’s challenges at our Search For A Star finals day, taking place on April 4th in Sheffield.
We’ve had a range of fantastic submissions this year, so let’s take a look at the projects that have taken these high achieving students into this year’s finals!
Search for a Star 2024
Students in their final year of a degree or in postgraduate study
Ben Moylan
Escape Studios
Cargo Town
Ben created a modular asset toolkit to build this beautifully detailed cyberpunk town, supported by a lot of materials work to build variation into the scene with location-based randomisation.
Our assessors loved Ben’s highly technical approach and use of advanced techniques, while still maintaining an efficient workflow.
See Ben’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/benmoylan
Berenika Zemanek
Abertay University
Dinosaur Playground
Bee produced a bold, stylised scene that’s full of charm and joyful appeal, utilising only a small and highly efficient asset set.
Our assessors praised the excellent creative process, supported by a strong technical workflow (and adorable dinosaurs).
See Berenika’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/facelessmochi
Elvinas Mikulin
Escape Studios
Portrait of Madness
Elvinas invites us into an atmospheric and claustrophobic attic, packed with detail and oozing an uncomfortable sense of dread.
Our assessors loved the creativity and presentation of this project, that really achieves its intent in creating a disquieting scene.
See Elvinas’ portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/elvinasm
Jesse de Groot
Howest DAE
The Duskfell Carnival
Jesse created a wonderfully immersive nocturnal carnival scene, inspired by WoW’s Darkmoon Faire.
Assessors loved the creative development of the project, with big compliments on the quality of presentation and lighting.
See Jesse’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/feladir
Maria Georgescu
University For The Creative Arts
Eternity Gateway
Maria created a surreal, dream-like environment, beautifully enhanced by a strong appreciation of colour, composition and lighting.
The assessors awarded Maria the highest rating for R&D, which set a strong base for an excellent development process that shows in the quality of the final piece.
See Maria’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/mariageorgescu
Rising Star 2024
Undergraduate students not yet in their final year, or at college/school level
Asher Maddocks
University of South Wales
Astrologer’s Room
Asher’s compact, star-filled astrologer’s study makes good use of the space to give a real sense of storytelling.
Assessors praised Asher’s development process, with great detail shown to the planning, research and presentation across the project
See Asher’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/asher_gray
Cameron Margetts
University of South Wales
Chaotic Artist’s Atelier
Using a smartly used asset set, Cameron brought a huge amount of variation and chaos to a very detailed and dynamic workshop scene.
Our assessors loved the scene and composition, earning Cameron high scores in all criteria and excelling in creativity and presentation.
See Cameron’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/imliteral
Ieva Palubeckyte
Middlesex University London
A Solitary Temple Among Arid Sands
Ieva’s project conjures up magical imagery to tempt in viewers to this oasis of mystery, with a strong sense of storytelling and purpose to create a cohesive environment.
Assessors gave Ieva strong scores across all criteria, particularly with the detail in research and documentation leading to an impressive final presentation.
Jacob Foster
University of South Wales
Airborne Atelier
Jacob created an artist’s workshop with a strong identity within a wonderfully imagined modular multi-tiered attic space.
Assessors complimented Jacob’s great planning and execution, particularly with the attention to detail across the asset creation.
See Jacob’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/ovidiuariciuc
Rūta Katkeviča
Howest DAE
ChewChew Temple
With a great technical approach, Rūta created a realistic underground club scene based around efficient production processes and a lot of smart shader work.
Assessors loved the asset creation and presentation and highly complimented the tech art development of the scene, earning Rūta one of the highest technical scores across both tiers of the challenge.
See Rūta’s portfolio here: https://www.artstation.com/rutakatkevica
