Game Art

Course Summary

Join our game art degree and develop your creative capabilities while honing the skills you’ll need to make it as a successful artist in the games industry. You’ll study game art principles alongside traditional art practice, building your expertise to contribute to a major game development project in your second and third year. As a game artist, you'll be joining one of the fastest growing sectors of the games industry, and be in higher demand than ever before. On this course, you'll work within game development teams and graduate as a skilled, industry-ready game artist. You will: Learn about concept art, character art and environment art as well as the pipelines and processes used to make games. Work in an industry-standard environment with access to Cintiqs. Make complete games by working in multidisciplinary teams and collaborating in engines like Unreal and Unity. Acquire the skills you need to make a successful career from your artistic talent. Be surrounded by people who live and breathe games. Master a range of industry-standard tools used to produce game art including ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter and Marmoset.

Course Details - Modules

You'll explore the principles of game art in the context of traditional art practice, combining subjects like landscape painting with advanced Photoshop, concept art with critical analysis, and life drawing with 3D modelling. We'll also build your expertise in concept, character and environment art, agile project management, and development pipelines and processes. Focused on industry practices, much of your learning will come from working in game development teams – devising and developing real games using real-world practices. Year one During the first year of your Game Art degree, you'll build the basic skills demanded by the industry, and learn about game artists' major roles and techniques. Working with industry-standard software, methods and pipelines, you'll develop your drawing skills, better understand anatomy, and apply these abilities to 3D modelling and related elements. You'll learn traditional and digital art skills – both 2D and 3D – alongside concept, environment and character art. Modules Concept Art 1 Character Art 1 Environment Art 1 Concept Art 2 Character Art 2 Environment Art 2 Year two You'll grow your confidence in game art and your skills in professional tools. You'll then provide art assets to a collaborative project with game development students, giving you valuable experience in the development pipeline. An additional specialist practice project lets you hone your skills in a particular area of game art, and create high quality work for your portfolio. Modules Developing Concept Art Vocabularies Developing Character Art Vocabularies Developing Environment Art Vocabularies World Creation Project : Production Developing Specialist Art Practice Year three With specialism, independence and professional practice at the front and centre of this year, you'll join a multi-skilled team on a game development project. Working in a studio, you'll contribute art assets using industry-standard methods and pipelines. You'll also create distinctive and polished work for your growing portfolio by working on specialist game art. We'll then help you commercialise this work and prepare you for the transition to professional life. Modules Major Game Development Project: Pre-Production Professional Practice Major Game Development Project: Production Preparing for the Future The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

Course Details – Assessment Method

Continuous assessment with no formal examinations. Visual, verbal and written assignments. A portfolio of personal and group project work is developed over the course of the degree to boost your employability.

Course Details – Professional Bodies

Professional Bodies are not listed for this Course.

How to Apply

26 January This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application Codes

Course code: W280

Institution code: F33

Campus Name: Penryn Campus

Campus code:

Points of Entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry (Year 2 and Beyond)

Entry Requirements for Advanced Entry are not listed for this Course.

International applicants

Standard Qualification Requirements

We welcome A Levels in a wide range of subjects, especially in those relevant to the course for which you apply.

A typical offer is between 104 and 120 UCAS points, primarily from Level 3 equivalent qualifications, such as A levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma, or current, relevant experience. Grade 4 (or C) or above in GCSE English Language, or equivalent, is a minimum language requirement for all applicants. Due to the creative nature of our courses, you will be considered on your own individual merit and potential to succeed on your chosen course. Please contact the Applicant Services team for advice if you are predicted UCAS points below this range, or if you have questions about the qualifications or experience you have.