Concept Art in Unreal Engine 5 + (GBC Bonus Unreal Engine 5 Basics) [Learn Squared, Ellie Cooper]
- Publisher
- Learn Squared
- Product Type
- Video Course
- Author
- Ellie Cooper
- Language
- English
- Duration
- 15:00
- Release date
- May 1, 2024
- Skill level
- Project Files
- Yes
- Product Price
- $149
Concept Art in Unreal Engine 5
Concept Art in Unreal Engine 5 is an intermediate course that teaches artists how to use Unreal Engine 5 as a powerful tool for creating cinematic concept art and portfolio-ready images.
Led by concept artist Ellie Cooper, this course guides students through a complete real-time concept art workflow, from the earliest idea and blockout stage to building a scene, lighting, rendering, and creating a final Photoshop paintover. Students will learn how to take advantage of Unreal Engine 5’s modern features, including real-time lighting, landscape tools, Nanite, Lumen, post-processing, cameras, and cinematic rendering.
The course is designed for artists who want to speed up their concept art process, build complex scenes using 3D assets, and create polished final images with a mix of real-time 3D and 2D painting techniques. Alongside the main course, students also receive access to Unreal Engine 5 Basics, a beginner-friendly companion course that introduces the core tools and workflows needed to work comfortably inside Unreal.
By the end of the course, students will have created a complete environment concept piece, including a blockout, dressed scene, rendered still frame, cinematic render, and final paintover.
What You’ll Learn
- How to use Unreal Engine 5 for concept art
- How to plan a project and build a strong visual direction
- How to create mood boards and use reference effectively
- How to block out an environment scene
- How to sculpt and shape landscapes inside Unreal Engine
- How to use 3D asset packs and models in a concept art workflow
- How to decorate environments with trees, rocks, grass, terrain, and pathways
- How to set up basic lighting, HDRI, fog, and post-processing
- How to create and refine a hero element
- How to render still frames and cinematic shots
- How to bring Unreal renders into Photoshop for paintover
- How to use 2D techniques, photobashing, colour correction, and final polish
- How to reduce the “3D look” and push an image toward a finished concept art piece
- How to use Unreal Engine tools such as cameras, materials, landscapes, Nanite, Lumen, Sequencer, and MetaHumans through the included basics course
Course Curriculum
Lesson 1 - Blockout
Students begin by learning how to conceptualise and plan their project. This lesson covers the early creative stage, including project goals, reference gathering, mood board creation, 3D packs and models, and planning the scene.Students then move into the earliest blockout stage, setting up the initial Unreal scene, creating a basic castle blockout, sculpting landscapes, blocking in large shapes, and establishing the faraway landscape. By the end of this lesson, students will have a finished blockout that forms the foundation of their concept artwork.
Lesson 2 - Building the Scene
This lesson focuses on filling out the blockout with 3D assets from different sources. Students learn how to manually place trees and rocks, create landscape materials, add grass and terrain, build pathways, and begin decorating the environment.The lesson also introduces basic lighting and effects, including HDRI, post-processing, and exponential height fog. Students then continue with set dressing, foreground details, village layout, pathways, characters, and extra storytelling elements to bring the scene closer to the intended creative vision.
Lesson 3 - Rendering
Students refine the scene by creating the main hero element and adding final environmental details. This lesson covers castle walls, the main castle, complementary hero assets, farmland, animals, clouds, post-processing updates, boats, extra foliage, and final scene adjustments.The lesson concludes with rendering workflows, including rendering a still frame, creating a cinematic, and adjusting cinematic render settings. By the end of this stage, students will have polished renders ready for final paintover.
Lesson 4 - Paintover
In this lesson, students take the still frame render into Photoshop and transform it into a final concept art image. The lesson explains why paintovers are useful and how 2D techniques can improve a 3D render.Students learn how to bring the render into Photoshop, make basic colour corrections, adjust the landscape and sky, enhance light and shadow, use photobashing techniques, add foreground details, remove the overly 3D appearance, adjust saturation, and apply final post-processing. The lesson ends with a final artwork review.
Lesson 5 - Unreal Engine 5 Basics
As a bonus, students receive the full Unreal Engine 5 Basics course. This beginner-friendly companion course covers essential Unreal workflows, including installation, project setup, interface navigation, scene organisation, importing assets, Quixel Bridge, lighting, Lumen, cameras, Nanite, post-processing, landscapes, foliage, Sequencer, HDRI, material customisation, MetaHumans, and further learning resources.This bonus course is especially useful for students who are new to Unreal Engine and want a stronger technical foundation before or while working through the main concept art project.
Course Features
- 11+ hours of main course content
- 188 videos
- 2+ hours of bonus content
- Downloadable project files
- Lifetime access
- Exclusive community access
- Unreal Engine 5 Basics course included for free
- Progress tracking
- Access to student work and community learning
- Real-time concept art workflow using Unreal Engine 5 and Photoshop
Requirements
This is an intermediate-level course. Students should have some experience with digital art, concept art, or 3D workflows.Recommended tools and software:
- Unreal Engine 5
- Photoshop or equivalent painting software
- A computer capable of running Unreal Engine
- Drawing tablet for paintover work
- Internet connection for downloading assets and project files
Helpful prior knowledge:
- Basic digital painting experience
- Basic understanding of 3D space
- Some familiarity with environment design
- Unreal Engine 5 basics, or willingness to complete the included companion course
Who This Course Is For
This course is ideal for artists who want to use Unreal Engine 5 as part of their concept art workflow.It is especially useful for:
- Concept artists
- Environment artists
- Visual development artists
- Digital painters
- 3D artists moving into concept art
- Artists interested in real-time workflows
- Portfolio-focused students
- Artists who want to create cinematic scenes faster using Unreal Engine
- Anyone who wants to combine 3D blockouts, real-time rendering, and 2D paintover techniques
About the Instructor
The course is taught by Ellie Cooper, a digital artist and Unreal Engine specialist known for creating immersive environments and cinematic visuals.Ellie has worked with major studios and clients including MPC, Goodbye Kansas Studios, Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Bandai Namco. She also leads Athena Productions, where her work sits at the intersection of games, film, television, and digital production.
Through this course, Ellie shares her full Unreal Engine 5 concept art workflow, helping students understand how to use real-time tools to create polished and professional visual development work.
Final Result
By the end of the course, students will have created a complete Unreal Engine 5 concept art project, moving from initial idea and blockout to scene building, lighting, rendering, and final Photoshop paintover.The final result will be a polished portfolio-ready environment concept piece, supported by still renders, cinematic output, and a practical workflow that students can reuse for future personal, professional, or client projects.
Unreal Engine 5 Basics
Course Description
Unreal Engine 5 Basics is a beginner-friendly course designed to help students confidently take their first steps inside Unreal Engine 5.Led by digital artist Ellie Cooper, this course introduces the essential tools, workflows, and concepts needed to start creating scenes in Unreal Engine. Students will learn how to navigate the interface, organise projects, move and manipulate objects, import assets, set up lighting, work with cameras, apply post-processing, create landscapes, customise materials, render still frames and cinematics, and even add MetaHumans to their scenes.
The course is built around practical demonstrations and interactive challenges, making it ideal for artists who want to learn by doing. Instead of overwhelming beginners with every feature in Unreal, the course focuses on the most important tools needed to start building scenes and understanding how Unreal Engine fits into creative workflows.
By the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation in Unreal Engine 5 and be ready to move into larger projects for games, concept art, cinematics, virtual production, or immersive experiences.
What You’ll Learn
- How to install and set up Unreal Engine 5
- How to create a new project
- How to navigate the Unreal Engine interface
- How to organise your scene using the Outliner
- How to move, focus, and manipulate objects
- How to apply basic materials
- How to import assets from Quixel, Epic Marketplace, and custom sources
- How to use Lumen and different light types
- How to set up cameras and frame shots
- How to use Nanite for high-detail assets
- How to add post-processing effects such as bloom, lens flare, vignette, and colour grading
- How to create and sculpt landscapes
- How to add landscape materials and foliage
- How to render still frames and cinematics
- How to use HDRI lighting
- How to create and customise materials
- How to work with material instances
- How to create and pose MetaHumans
- How to continue learning Unreal Engine after the course
Course Curriculum
Lesson 1 - Absolute Basics
Students begin with the foundations of Unreal Engine 5. This lesson covers installation, Epic Launcher sections, creating a new project, navigating the Unreal interface, organising the Outliner, moving around the scene, moving objects, focusing on objects, and setting materials.The lesson ends with a basic scene challenge where students design a simple scene using basic objects.
Lesson 2 - Assets and Lighting
This lesson introduces asset importing and lighting workflows. Students learn how to bring in assets from Quixel Bridge, the Epic Marketplace, personal vaults, and custom sources.The second half of the lesson focuses on lighting, including simple lights, mobility settings, spotlights, point lights, rectangular lights, Lumen, and sky lighting. Students then complete a basic lighting challenge to apply what they have learned.
Lesson 3 - Cameras
Students learn the tools needed to create stronger shots inside Unreal Engine 5. This lesson covers Nanite, when to use it, how to enable it, camera bookmarks, camera setup, locking the camera, and adjusting camera settings.The lesson concludes with a camera challenge focused on framing a shot.
Lesson 4 - Post-Processing
This lesson focuses on improving the look and mood of a scene through post-processing. Students learn how to use Post-Process Volumes, bloom, chromatic aberration, dirt masks, lens flare, vignette effects, temperature controls, colour grading, film settings, global illumination, and reflections.By the end of the lesson, students understand how post-processing can push a basic scene closer to a polished final image.
Lesson 5 - Landscapes
Students learn how to create natural environments inside Unreal Engine 5. This lesson covers creating a landscape, using the Manage tab, sculpting with alpha brushes, sculpting basic terrain, applying landscape materials, and adding foliage.The lesson includes project files and gives students a practical challenge using the included landscape material.
Lesson 6 - Rendering
This lesson introduces rendering still frames and cinematics. Students learn the basics of Sequencer, camera cuts, keyframes, and final render settings.By the end of the lesson, students understand how to output imagery from Unreal Engine and prepare simple cinematic shots.
Lesson 7 - HDRI
Students learn how to add and set up HDRI lighting inside a scene. This lesson covers adding an HDRI, changing the HDRI, adjusting initial settings, and using HDRIs effectively for better lighting and presentation.Lesson 8 - Customising Materials
This lesson focuses on applying, creating, and customising materials in Unreal Engine 5. Students learn how to create new materials, use the preview mesh, add nodes, connect textures, update materials in the scene, adjust roughness, and create material instances.The lesson ends with a material customisation challenge where students alter a scene through material changes.
Lesson 9 - MetaHumans
Students learn how to create and use MetaHumans in Unreal Engine. This lesson covers installing MetaHuman Creator, creating a MetaHuman, importing MetaHumans into Unreal, posing the body, posing the face, and adding a MetaHuman into a scene.Lesson 10 - Expanding Your Horizons
The final lesson gives students direction for continuing their Unreal Engine journey. Ellie covers official Unreal resources, recommended learning materials, companion courses, personal projects, portfolio setup, and how to keep developing as an Unreal artist.Course Features
- Beginner-friendly Unreal Engine 5 training
- 4+ hours of lectures
- 108 videos
- Downloadable project files
- Lifetime access
- Exclusive community access
- Practical homework challenges
- Progress tracking
- Access to student work
- Designed for artists, concept artists, and beginners
- No prior Unreal Engine experience required
Requirements
This course is designed for beginners, so no previous Unreal Engine experience is required.Recommended tools and hardware:
- Unreal Engine 5
- A computer capable of running Unreal Engine
- Internet connection for downloading Unreal, assets, and project files
- Basic comfort using a computer
- Optional drawing tablet if students plan to use Unreal alongside concept art or paintover workflows
Who This Course Is For
This course is ideal for absolute beginners who want to understand Unreal Engine 5 from the ground up.It is especially useful for:
- Beginner Unreal Engine users
- Concept artists interested in real-time workflows
- Environment artists
- 3D artists
- Digital artists
- Game art students
- Filmmakers and virtual production beginners
- Artists who want to create scenes, renders, and cinematics
- Anyone who wants a clear starting point for learning Unreal Engine 5
About the Instructor
The course is taught by Ellie Cooper, a digital artist and Unreal Engine specialist known for creating immersive environments and cinematic visuals.Ellie has worked with major studios and clients including MPC, Goodbye Kansas Studios, Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Bandai Namco. She also leads Athena Productions, working across video games, film, television, and digital production.
Through this course, Ellie introduces Unreal Engine 5 in a clear, approachable way, helping beginners build confidence and understand the tools needed to begin creating their own real-time scenes.
Final Result
By the end of the course, students will have a strong beginner foundation in Unreal Engine 5.They will understand how to create and organise projects, import assets, light scenes, set up cameras, use post-processing, create landscapes, customise materials, render images and cinematics, and work with MetaHumans.
The final result is a practical Unreal Engine skill set that prepares students for larger creative projects in games, concept art, cinematics, virtual production, and immersive media.
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