SWAMP SHELL INDUSTRIES

Environment Art · Illustration · Software

The studio of Steve Nelson II — twenty-five years building game worlds from the ground up, fifteen of them in AAA. Now a one-man studio making art, illustration, and tools.

WHAT THE STUDIO DOES

THREE TRADES, ONE PAIR OF HANDS.

Swamp Shell Industries LLC is a one-man studio in Bel Air, Maryland. No account managers, no handoffs — the work below is the work Steve does.

ENVIRONMENT ART & ART DIRECTION

Worlds built from the ground level — modular kits, city architecture, set dressing, and the material storytelling that makes a place feel lived in. Fifteen years of it on Elder Scrolls Online alone.

ILLUSTRATION

Creatures, characters, and dark little worlds — all digital, all drawn by hand. Covers, interiors, and concept work for publishing, including illustration for the Extinction Cycle.

SOFTWARE

Tools built the way an artist would build them. Cadence, the scheduling platform for Warren County Summer Music School, and SwampShell Prime, the studio's own production system.

THE GAMES

25 YEARS IN THE TRENCHES.

Fifteen years at ZeniMax Online Studios — on Elder Scrolls Online he built Vivec City and its palace, the Imperial City, the Seyda Neen arrival, and every structure across Summerset. Before that, city architecture on Warhammer Online at Mythic. He finished his studio years as an Art Director at Microsoft.

ABOUT

GET TO KNOW ME.

I'm Steve. Twenty-five years in games — starting in military simulation, fifteen of them inside AAA studios, finishing as an art director at Microsoft. My specialty was always materials and texture: the way a surface tells you its history.

These days I run Swamp Shell Industries, drawing the creatures, characters, and dark little worlds in my head — and building the software that keeps the studio running.