Stinson Lenz
Hard Surface & Environment Artist
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Fortnite Zero Hour Live Event

I had the opportunity to contribute environment art for the Zero Hour Live Event as part of the my time at Final Strike Games. Working closely with Lisa Melillo (sr env artist) from Final Strike and Epic leads Scott Kennedy (AD) and Christian Ledbetter (sr designer), I developed environments for the reality shift sequence featured in the event.

My largest contribution was the Noir Office which is the first reality shift to appear in the sequence. The brief was simply "a noir office of some kind" at that stage we were working fast and loose and I ran with the concept. I'm proud to say I completed the work in a few short days and what I created was approved and shipped with almost no notes. The environment earned repeated compliments from leads whenever it was seen in playtests. Producer Joseph Knox noted "We couldn't have asked a better person to get this made."

Additionally I helped create or refine five more of the environment shifts working with my lead, Lisa. I contributed to Hatsune Miku and Carti Playboi environments, as well as creating all new Underwater, Comic Book, and Fire reality shifts.

I worked closely with senior designers at Epic like Christian Ledbetter who provided crucial technical guidance on the fast reality switching systems, while art director Scott Kennedy's helped push the visual quality. This was a collaborative effort across multiple teams at Final Strike Games and Epic. Special thanks to the entire environment art team for the feedback that made it all come together!

see many of my contributions between 1:19 and 2:30 including
the Noir Office
Playboi Carti Arena
Hatsune Miku Concert
Underwater Scene
Comic Book Scene
Fire Scene

I was given the directive to create a Noir style office. Short on time and provided with no concept art or design specs, I just went for it.

I was given the directive to create a Noir style office. Short on time and provided with no concept art or design specs, I just went for it.

Drawing from previous experience creating replicas of such iconic noir environments as Sam Spade's office from the Maltese Falcon, the work went quickly.

Drawing from previous experience creating replicas of such iconic noir environments as Sam Spade's office from the Maltese Falcon, the work went quickly.

top down layout of the Noir office space. Players would be warped into the space at random, so a closed loop hallway made sure they could explore but not get lost.

top down layout of the Noir office space. Players would be warped into the space at random, so a closed loop hallway made sure they could explore but not get lost.

I contributed the hoop, lighting, wood flooring, and stands. Lots of polish was provided by my lead and art director on this one.

I contributed the hoop, lighting, wood flooring, and stands. Lots of polish was provided by my lead and art director on this one.

I was tasked with cobbling together the concert arena and background buildings from previous Hatsune Miku appearances.

I was tasked with cobbling together the concert arena and background buildings from previous Hatsune Miku appearances.

I created this original underwater scene from existing assets with no other art direction than "an underwater scene" amazing VFX people on the Epic side made it pop with the caustics and god rays. Teamwork!

I created this original underwater scene from existing assets with no other art direction than "an underwater scene" amazing VFX people on the Epic side made it pop with the caustics and god rays. Teamwork!

I created this original liminal toon-shaded space from existing assets, again with no other art direction than "liminal toon-shaded space"

I created this original liminal toon-shaded space from existing assets, again with no other art direction than "liminal toon-shaded space"

And finally I created this burning hellscape from existing assets with, you guess it, no art direction other than "fire". Honestly it was great to wow Epic leads who knew we had very little to go on with a very tight turnaround.

And finally I created this burning hellscape from existing assets with, you guess it, no art direction other than "fire". Honestly it was great to wow Epic leads who knew we had very little to go on with a very tight turnaround.

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