[Update: Thrilled & honored to report my submission was named winner for this year's contest! Thanks again to all my friends and mentors for their critique and guidance on this project, it's meant the world to me! :) ]
"You encounter the personal garden chamber of an ancient immortal, glowing with life yet it remains undisturbed. Crystallized magic encourages the foliage to grow, yet the garden remains tame and tranquil. The waterline remains high, yet the structure of the ancient fortress commands all and refuses to be drowned. "
Wrapped up my WoW Student Art Contest submission this year! Went with a concept based on the 9.2 update, and I had a lot of fun mixing in interior & exterior elements to create something rather unique! I wanted to create a garden atmosphere flooded with lots of water and vines, fueled by magical crystals. With this project I also experimented with Niagara in UE4, and tested out a couple of new techniques to create tiling materials utilizing Substance Designer. All textures, save for handpainted foliage, went through Designer at one point or another, and I was really happy to start to utilize it more regularly to strengthen my workflow.

Special thanks to Bryce Evans, an awesome professor, for feedback on this project! https://www.artstation.com/bevans/profile
Music by ShadyDave: https://freesound.org/people/ShadyDave/sounds/325108/
"Wind Chimes, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
"Lake Waves 2" by Benboncan: https://freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/67884/