Artist Shares Backstory of Work for Substance 3D Painter's 2026 Splash Screen

For 3D artists, the splash screen of their favorite software is more than just a loading image. It's a badge of honor – and Lucrezia Romeo just earned it.

The artist shared that one of her works, a character model named Wastepunk, became the splash screen of Substance 3D Painter for 2026, following the release of the software's 12.0 version, which introduced a wide range of improvements across layer stack, projection, rendering, and project setup, and more. Lucrezia Romeo also presented the texturing process during Substance Days at GDC on March 9.

Earlier, we had an interview with Lucrezia about creating the Wastepunk girl, in which the artist explained each step in detail, from modeling to texturing and lighting, sharing tips for how to make the eyes deep and realistic, create natural-looking hair, and tell a story through texturing. "Texturing is hands down my favorite part of the process," Lucrezia shared.

The artist revisited the piece and made deliberate updates, replacing the gun with an antenna and reworking a number of costume elements.

Have a look at the renders of the renewed version:

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