Game Art & Animation Major
As a Game Art & Animation major, you will create the look, the feel, and the textures of the best games—and together with your peers in the Game Studio, you will work together to produce a cohesive, final game project .
Why Game Art & Animation?
What does it take for an artist to succeed in the world of the game industry? How can you translate your artistic talent into the textures, models, animations and backgrounds of the video games that millions of people play every day? Success in the visual design and art production of the gaming industry begins with a passion for extending your art through technology.
While the field of game art and animation represents an exploding industry that is expanding every year, there’s a catch: only the most highly qualified graduates will gain entrance, so getting the right combination of education and experience, will be critical to your success.
Why Game Art & Animation at Champlain?
Now in its eighth year, the Bachelor of Science degree program in Game Art & Animation was among the first in the country, and Champlain appears on GamePro magazine’s list of top 10 institutions for studying game design. Two primary factors allow people to land the most highly prized jobs in the game industry: the right education and a strong portfolio. Champlain’s program delivers both.
The game industry is very team-oriented. Employers are looking for precision, good time management skills, and the ability to take critique, work with other people and manage within the pipeline process that funnels the art assets into the actual game. At Champlain, you experience a collaborative four-year curriculum in which you’ll work side by side with other game artists, designers, programmers and producers to create games in an environment that replicates how the game industry actually operates.
You’ll learn the soft skills and discipline it takes to be a productive creator in the game industry. Meanwhile, you’ll be developing extensive game art and animation skills and building the top-notch portfolio of 2D and 3D artwork that will help you land that first job.
Although the entertainment field of gaming is exciting and attractive, this major is not for the faint of heart. The curriculum is rigorous; it includes a grounding of traditional media and visual design and then moves quickly into 2D and 3D graphics, environments animation and user interface design. But if you are serious about crafting game art, collaborating with other people to make great things, and living a life doing what you love, this major will give you the tools, skills, professional grounding and experience you need to make your dream a reality. ADMISSION PREREQUISITE: PORTFOLIO REVIEW
- Collaborate in Champlain's Game Studio. Work with other students who major in Game Designer, Game Programming and The Management of Creative Media to build games from start to finish. The Game Studio model replicates a professional game development setting and will give you students a superior understanding of how creative teams work together to develop game assets and pull them together into a functional product
- Practice using state-of-the-art technology resources at Champlain’s new, cutting-edge multimedia, 3D art and game production labs.
- Present your finished games at the Annual Game Development Senior Show, attended by recruiters from companies such as 1st Playable, 38 Studios, Gameloft Montreal, Gameloft New York, the Haywire Group and Turbine.
- Study on our campus in Montreal, Canada, the second-largest game development center in the world and home to two of its largest game development firms, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft—just 90 miles north of our Burlington, Vermont, campus.
- Study and create at Champlain's acclaimed Emergent Media Center and use these real-world projects to develop both practical experience and invaluable industry contacts.
- Make crucial connections in the industry before you even graduate through networking with adjunct faculty, guest speakers and industry professionals from Champlain partners like Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), Electronic Arts, Cryptic Studios and America’s Army.
Ask a Question about our Game Art & Animation Degree Program
Ask a question, and someone from our Admission team will put you in touch with the faculty or staff member who can best answer your questions.
Professional Writing work created by student Allison Arbuthnot