Video Game Design

Video game design is the focus of new courses for middle school, high school, college, and adult students throughout the country. The entertainment industry generates billions of dollars through video games. Artists and gamers of all ages seek out information about concept art, character/creature design, level design, weapons/vehicles, environments, etc. My 3D Computer Animation students have been lucky enough to partner with Game-U in Flemington, NJ to learn the basics of Unity and have used that information to complete independent projects incorporating Autodesk Maya and Adobe Photoshop. Students have created side-scroller games incorporating traditional 2D animation (pictured above), racing games with 3D cars modeled in Maya, and concept art in Zbrush. Video game design courses online are easily accessible and free versions of gaming software makes making games a reality at any age.

Character Design

Designing a character begins with a good back story. I encourage my students to think about the personality of a character before beginning the visual part. Students research images and information learning about their subject matter and get ideas from live video and other artists in order to create original artwork themselves. The above character is a female vulture by 3D Computer Animation student Krystina Galvez. It is a digital painting completed in Adobe Photoshop.

Animation Careers

Being an animator is just one job to have in an animation studio. You could be a concept artist, character development artist, storyboard artist, layout artist, animator, inbetweener, background artist, inker, or painter. In the 3D world you could also be a texture artist, rigger, modeler, special effects artist, or lighter, just to name a few. The above image is a character design painted in Adobe Photoshop by student Ellen Strub.

Commercial Arts & Advertising Design

Commercial Arts is any artwork made to be sold in an intended market. Everything you see in life starts with an artist's sketch or a designer's concept. Artists work in a variety of traditional and digital media. In class, students work with charcoal, colored pencils, oil pastels, watercolor, acrylic, etc. to create portfolio pieces. They also learn Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop to incorporate type, graphics, and images into their work. They complete freelance jobs for clients and research options for art schools. The above poster design was created by student Taylor Carhart.