Art, Modeling, & Animation for 3D Games

3D modeling and animation allows aspiring young artists to create characters and bring them to life in video games. All of the great 3D game characters you know, and love are made with the process we learn in this 1-week course. You’ll start your journey by learning the fundamentals of creating 3D props and characters. You’ll also be introduced to texturing basics, UVing, rigging, and the principles of animation. Every great character needs a game. You’ll learn how to integrate your art into the Unity 3D game engine and hookup some basic gameplay.

Example talks and experiences: Life as Game Artist, Careers in the Serious Game Industry, The Digital Art and Animator Entrepreneur, The Management of a Game Art Team, Inside the Mind of an Art Director.

3D Modeling with Blender

In this class, students will learn how to use Blender, a free and open-source 3D software used by both beginners and experts in the 3D animation/modeling industry. This class introduces students to the process involved with creating 3D models, building up to creating a 3D character from scratch. The students will then add materials to their models, learning about the different shader and nodes within the engine. Students will bring their character to life by learning Blender’s powerful rigging tools, which can then be used to create animation for their character. Finally, the students will learn how to light and render out their character and animation to create high quality photos/videos of their projects.

2D Digital Art for Games

This in-person class introduces elements and principles of two-dimensional design in the digital game context. Digital painting programs will be used to create 2D game assets, including textures, dungeon maps, pixel art, and box art. Students will use drawing tablets and traditional techniques to develop their digital drawing skills. More than just “the Photoshop class”, we’ll look at how the art elements of line, color, shape, and texture have been used in games and how we can use them in our own game and game-adjacent projects.