GAMES ART
The Games Art degree has been developed for those who want to learn the artistic side of videogames.
We have teamed up our industry and academic experts to bring you a course which will provide you with all the necessary skills required for a career as an artist in the games industry. We use only the latest industry standard software and have access to a vast amount of hardware such as dual monitor setups and graphics tablets to give you the perfect learning environment.
The focus of the course modules are:
- concept work
- modelling – environments/characters/vehicles
- texturing
- lighting
- rendering
- level creation
- animation
There is a huge amount of art in videogames; this can range from producing concept art to creating characters and vehicles for use in game. Most studios even have an art team to design the menu systems! At the University of Bolton we have current industry experts teaching on the course who know exactly what is required for all games artist’s roles.
The Games Art degree is structured to help you learn the fundamentals required for each of these roles and then lets you develop your ability to an professional level in the area you want to specialise, for instance if you wanted to specialise in character design we would expect you to design your final project to be aimed at this skill.
You will create a portfolio of work over the 3 year program which will show you are not only artistically talented but you can also deal with all aspects of games art production.
It is not only digital art techniques you learn on this degree, there are also several traditional art based modules to help you with your understanding of subjects like anatomy, form and texture and we have teamed up with our art department to help bring this to you.
EXPERIENCE
Here at the university we have over 8 years experience in the delivery of undergraduate subject specific games courses and over 12 years in the leisure computing industry. Our experience covers games programming, games design and games art. We are also currently implementing plans for postgraduate MSc in all of our courses. Our programmes are taught by industrial experts from games companies such as Juice, (Juiced 2) Evolution (Motorstorm 2)and Team 17 (Worms franchise) as well as many experienced academic staff.
MODULE STRUCTURE
LEVEL 1:
Games Art 1, Art for Handheld Games, Games Design 1, Games History and Context, Visualisation 1
LEVEL 2:
Games Art 2 – Character Creation, Concept Painting for Games, Games Portfolio 2, Level Design 2, Project Skills, Environment Modelling For Games
LEVEL 3:
Games Art 3, Advanced Art Techniques, Games Art Major Project, Business of Computer Games
UCAS INFORMATION
UCAS Code: GH46 BA/GA (3 years full-time)
UCAS Points: 240 UCAS points including at least one creative subject which includes some art. Candidates must submit a portfolio of work for review and may be asked to attend for interview.
WORK PLACEMENTS
You can choose to go on a work experience placement either during the third year or through the summer break. We are in touch with a number of companies but mainly encourage the student to pursue this themselves, however you will receive the support of the University should you secure a placement.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
We would expect graduates of the Games Art degree to not only be ready for an artist position in the games industry but also ready to find work in many other different CG industries due to the wide variety of graphics techniques covered on the course as well as the crossover of software in film/visualisation and videogames.