Unreal Meetup Denmark invites you to an inspiring evening celebrating the new wave of digital artists.
This edition shines a spotlight on art, creativity and the many paths into the game and media industry. The new generation of digital artists is often multidisciplinary, international, and shaped by voices that have historically been underrepresented in the industry.
You’ll hear from Xinru Liu from Tactile Games, Ava Blixt and Anna Katsouli from Silkroad Studios, and Lora Gao from the Royal Danish Academy. Together, they bring perspectives from 2D art, game art, technical UI design, and game and media education.
Whether you are an artist, developer, designer or simply curious about the people shaping the visual future of games, this meetup offers insight, inspiration, and the chance to connect with others in the community.
After the talks, there will be time for networking, conversations, and meeting fellow developers, artists, and students.
A special thanks to the Royal Danish Academy for hosting, and to Bitfire Games and Unreal Engine for supporting the event.
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Time: 17:30 to 20:00
Place: Royal Danish Academy, AUD 5
Address: Philip De Langes Allé 10, 1435 Copenhagen K
PROGRAM
17:30 Doors opening
18:00 Introduction by Unreal Meetup Denmark
18:10 Building My First Game in Unreal: Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes
by Lora Gao
Sharing about my first attempt at developing a game in Unreal, focusing on the workflow behind Echo of Love.
18:30 Making UI Come to Life: Building Dynamic Interfaces with Shaders
by Anna Katsouli
How shader-based UI and material workflows improve performance and iteration speed, while enabling more reactive interfaces in Unreal Engine.
18:50 Break – Networking & mingling
19:15 HOMING: From Concept to Playable World in Unreal Engine
by Xinru Liu
A breakdown of building HOMING as a solo project — from early sketches and worldbuilding to Unreal Engine implementation, level design, and final environment polish.
19:40 Finding Your Style: Adapting and Growing as a 3D Artist
by Ava Blixt
An overview of adapting to different 3D art styles in a production setting, while developing a personal visual identity and navigating growth as an artist.
20:00 Networking & mingling
21:00 Thank you for tonight
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Lora Gao
Lora is a cross-functional team assistant and generalist who enjoys supporting teammates across different disciplines, with a special focus on 2D art. She thrives in friendly, welcoming environments where people can share knowledge, learn from one another, and grow together.
Anna Katsouli
Anna is a Technical UI Designer specializing in building UI systems and in-engine implementation. She sees UI as the final layer that brings a game together, and her quest is to ensure it gets the attention it deserves. She helps studios add extra juice to their game UIs, while keeping the 'Focus' from mysteriously escaping.
Xinru Liu
Xinru is a concept artist at Tactile Games, working with visual development and environment art for games. She developed HOMING, a personal Unreal Engine project covering a full pipeline from concept to playable environment.
Ava Blixt
Ava is a 3D generalist specializing in stylized characters and props. She focuses on storytelling through shape, color, and atmosphere, and currently works at Silkroad Studios. She has a background in game art from Futuregames Malmö.
Cover art by Xinru Liu
