Game Art

Our Game Art degree is a practical skills-based course tailored to meet the demands of creating professional art and assets for the games industry. The course utilises a mix of lectures, hands-on workshops, tutorial classes, and practical exercises, to give you a rounded education in the creative arts.

We start by focusing on your existing traditional artistic abilities, covering areas such as still life, life drawing and other observational art, including essential concepts such as proportion, anatomy, and composition. This involves classes, projects, lectures, and field trips and helps you to develop these non-digital aspects of your creative work.

At the same time, we start to bring your work into the digital realm, working with industry standard hardware and software. You will explore 2D concept art, 2D design, 3D art, Digital sculpting, digital painting, and game engines which including lighting.

There is a heavy emphasis on professional workflows, collaborative feedback and foundational knowledge, this programme covers a wide range of subjects from fundamentals such as drawing, perspective, shape language, colour theory digital painting and 3D modelling, to complex subjects such as anatomical sculpting, PBR texturing, game engine integration and transferable skills such as self-promotion, networking, and C.V. writing.

By the time you reach your third year, you will be ready for the challenge of your honours project. You will work with your tutor to define a project that will make the most of the abilities you have developed, while keeping it focussed on the career and specialisms that you hope to pursue

HE Level 4 (Year 1):
Art Fundamentals (40 credits)
Visual Design 1 (20 credits)
Introduction to 3D Modelling for Games (40 credits)
Historical Contextual Studies (20 credits)

HE Level 5 (Year 2):
3D Character Art (40 credits)
3D Environment Art (40 credits)
Intermediate Visual Design (20 credits)
Game Art Specialism (20 credits)

HE Level 6 (Year 3):
Major Project (40 credits)
Practical Research (20 credits)
Advanced Visual Design (20 credits)
Personal Set Brief (20 credits)
Professional Development (20 credits)

As a guide, 20 credits typically represents around 52 hours of tutor contact time (e.g. lectures/workshops/feedback) and 148 hours of self-study time (usually over the course of a semester). These numbers may increase or decrease depending on the nature, length and level of the module, especially towards the end of the course.

We want to do everything we can to prepare you for working within the creative industries, and this is reflected in the way we teach and assess you. The course is mostly coursework based, which means your tutors will be able to give you constant, constructive feedback. Presentation techniques will give you valuable experience of how to present your thoughts and ideas successfully and enthusiastically, so you are better at selling your ideas to prospective employers.

The written work is an important part of assessment and will improve your communication skills. A combination of lectures, tutorials, peer reviews, discussions and observations will ensure that you’re industry ready. External trips will present you with a wider range of topics and the opportunity to expand your portfolio, whilst guest speakers will help you to understand the world of games, how it works and how you can make your mark on it.