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andy johnston

Andy Johnston

CV

Lighting artist working in Unreal Engine 5. Key, practicals, camera and grade, from greybox to finished plate.

email
andystone720@gmail.com
based
Tapitallee NSW 2540
arrangement
Remote / Hybrid
status
Open to work

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Profile

I light real-time environments in Unreal Engine 5.

The work is key and fill, practicals, post-process volumes, camera and final grade, taken from greybox through to the finished plate. Composition sits underneath all of it, because lighting only works if you already know where you want the eye to go.

Around the lighting I do environment work, concept art and art direction across original IP: environments, characters, faction identity, vehicle design, key art. Those are not separate skills so much as the reason the lighting lands.

Before this I spent twelve years in operations, nine of them running a distribution depot on my own. That is where the delivery habits come from. Working to a fixed schedule, calm when it tightens, used to being the person responsible.

Everything technical I know, I taught myself from documentation. I am based on the NSW South Coast and available now.

Experience

Founder & Lead

2023 / present

Black Dingo Studios, independent studio, Remote

  • Run an independent studio end to end: art direction, real-time pipeline, web and operations.
  • Own visual direction on original titles in development across character, environment, faction and brand design.
  • Build and light real-time environments in Unreal Engine 5, managing the production pipeline.
  • Direct AI tooling to ship production software. Four live React and Next.js sites, all hosted on Vercel, all still maintained.
  • Kept the studio delivering through team changes, continuing as sole operator across every function.

Systems & IT Lead

Oct 2024 / present

More Than Milk Co., Shellharbour NSW

  • Sole responsibility for the company's IT infrastructure and systems across daily operations.
  • Delivered the customer facing website through Black Dingo Studios. It is the entry point that routes every customer to the ordering portal.
  • Set up automated email marketing from nothing for a business with no marketing function.
  • Wrote all stakeholder documentation and operational handbooks, turning undocumented process into systems staff could follow.

Freelance Graphic Designer

2014 / 2017

Self-employed, Remote

  • Built brand and logo systems end to end for apparel labels across motocross and streetwear.
  • UI, texture and advertisement design for independent clients.

earlier roles

  • Distribution Subcontractor, Mar 2023 – Oct 2024. More Than Milk Co., Shellharbour NSW: daily route optimisation and delivery operations across an established territory, client relations on the ground.
  • Driver & Warehouse Manager, Jan 2014 – Mar 2023. More Than Milk Co., Shellharbour NSW: warehouse and forklift operations, inventory control and stock management, sole responsibility for the depot, part time to full time.

Capability

Lighting. Real-time lighting in Unreal Engine 5. Key and fill, practicals, post-process volumes, time of day states, final grade. Composition and camera sit underneath all of it, from greybox through to the finished plate.

Environment art. Scene assembly, landscape sculpting, foliage scatter, set dressing and grade in Unreal Engine 5.

Concept art. Digital painting across environments, characters and key art.

Art direction. Visual direction on original IP: character design, faction identity, vehicle design, brand and logo systems.

Build and delivery. Web design and delivery in React and Next.js, deployment and hosting. AI-directed development, prompt engineering, generative image work, workflow design.

Tools

Unreal Engine 5 · Adobe CC · Affinity · Substance · Figma · React / Next.js · Vercel · Claude / Leonardo

Method and authorship

Real-time. Built in Unreal Engine 5 using licensed marketplace and library assets from KitBash3D, Leartes, Brushify and Quixel Megascans. What I do is the scene assembly, lighting, camera, set dressing, composition and grade. I do not model the assets.

Concept. Leonardo for exploration, always under image guidance from my own renders, sketches or licensed photo reference, and every final plate is painted over and photobashed by hand in Photoshop.

No generative AI. The Task Force 5-1 character was drawn by hand from start to finish. Its unit insignia was designed digitally, sketched and photobashed to a final concept. No generative AI on either.

Licences and education

Licences

Class C (car) · Class R (motorcycle) · TLILIC0003 Forklift

Education

Record of School Achievement

Open to work · Tapitallee NSW · Remote / Hybrid