Meet Some of Our Game Art Students

For my Computer Arts degree, there were several options in Europe for exchange programs. Champlain was the only one in the USA which was interesting to me. I wanted to go to Champlain because it seemed like a really fun and friendly community. I went to the exchange program presentation led by previous exchange students. I was really excited after the presentation, finding out there were so many clubs and student activities. I had my own club at Abertay but without much engagement. I run one now by the same name of Jukiyo club and the club members are now all my closest friends here.

The OISS office run by Jessa Karki is my first point of contact for any issues or questions that I have as an international student. Jessa is really helpful and is a good advisor for when I'm struggling with anything. I have also found many professors to be understanding of my status as an international student, as well.

I think having professors in the industry has been really helpful in preparing me to choose the right specialization and career path in Game Art after graduation. 

I really enjoyed Game Entrepreneurship, which was a virtual Montreal class. We worked with real industry problems and data in our case studies, which was really interesting.

The Game Studio/Game Art program was one of the biggest reasons why I chose to attend Champlain. Being a local Vermonter, I always heard great things about the program. It seemed like a no-brainer to be a part of the Champlain community, which values hard work and collaboration.

Core allowed me to open up as an individual and be a free thinker. I can see now that before coming to college, I was a very close-minded person, and did not really care to learn more about other perspectives. Core classes completely changed my way of thinking about life, and helped me form my own opinions while doing relevant research on important topics. Without the Core curriculum, I would not feel as prepared to jump headfirst into the real world.

If I could have given myself advice, it would have been to be more involved with the Champlain community, and find a club or extracurricular to join. It always seemed like there was no time to fit these activities into my schedule. Looking back and seeing how quickly four years went by, I wish I did more to find a club or community.

I've always valued the field of animation, and I knew I would pursue that direction when heading to college. I've found game development is full of many more opportunities than I had even known. While I've always valued entertainment—whether that be through film or games—it's even more clear now how necessary it is to humanity moving forward. Entertainment gets people through hard times and helps make our lives better.

In the Game Studio curriculum, our studio classes have had the biggest impact on my understanding of the industry because we were immersed in a real studio environment with team-driven projects. It fostered a sense of community, autonomy, and goal-setting that I hadn't encountered before. It also allowed me to explore different roles in the studio. It's also where I was introduced to being a producer, which is what I'm going to do in my career.

For my entire junior year, I worked as a Game Production Intern at Jam City. I've been able to bring the documentation and planning skills I've learned from my Game Studio classes into a major mobile game development studio. Coming from an interdisciplinary background, I was able to serve the art and narrative teams at work with the previous knowledge of having studied both subjects with my major and minor courses of study.


During my internship with Jam City, I served on the production teams of two games: Panda Pop and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. I dove into production for art and animation, while also dabbling in narrative and localization. I handled various tasks and documentation that supported both teams, and took on solo projects that aided the team's asset archives and reference material that will bring efficiency to future projects. Outside of working and supporting my teams as a Production Intern, I met many great people and made amazing and meaningful connections that I know I'll keep for the rest of my career.

The Game Development classes have prepared me for what it would be like working on a real game development team. As the years have passed, our process has become more industry-level. I believe that if I transitioned into a fulltime position on a real team tomorrow, I would have a strong grasp on the work.

I'm a Game Art & Animation major, with a primary interest in concept art. I love all things 2D and also enjoy storyboarding, comic making, animation, and the collaboration between art and narrative. Ever since I was a child, one of the things I wanted most in my career was to make people feel something in the same way I felt while engaging with movies and games. They have the ability to transform and inspire a person, and that's important to me. 

As a commuter, I think my favorite thing about the Champlain community is its friendly nature. More often than not, people are willing to speak to one another, and help with issues they are experiencing. It's a community that bands together in tough times.

My favorite Core class has been Bodythought with Erik Shonstrom. We learned all about how we experience the world on a subconscious level. It was eye-opening and very fun! In every class, we did something new and exciting—like going swimming in Lake Champlain, learning to waltz, or playing Twister.

The projects in my Game Studio classes are always very rewarding because I get to bring a game's visual direction to life. Helping develop a game from a concept to a finished prototype is a great experience, especially when it's helping me develop skills I'll need for my future job.

I'm part of Social Impact Scholars, a group dedicated to discussing social and political topics on campus, in Burlington, and in the world. I enjoy being able to facilitate discussions with other students and the exposure to new perspectives and opinions in an environment that's dedicated to understanding.

I was at Champlain's open house, and I remember going to the Game Art and Animation presentation. They were very honest about what was to come if I wanted to be a game artist. The professor explained that Game Art was one of the toughest majors on campus, and that there would be very little free time if you chose to go down this path. My dad told me later he was listening to this thinking "oh gosh, that's a tough sell. Grace probably doesn't want this." But when he looked at me, I was inspired. I wanted a major that was challenging, something that pushed me to be better, and in some ways, something that would prove to myself that I could accomplish any task in front of me. I found that environment art combined the two things I love the most: mathematical problem-solving and art.

I was able to create a drag show in my second year for a core class that questioned gender expression and how much confidence and self-worth ties into how one presents themself. I brought a bunch of friends together and had them take a series of surveys before, right after, and a few weeks after the drag show that asked about their mental state and self-worth during those times. It was incredible to see just how much self-worth and confidence can be tied to the way people present themselves and how opening the door to things like drag shows improved many people's self-confidence and self-worth. As an experiment, it also brought to life how dressing certain ways can put you into a box you may not be comfortable with and how, even if you find you like the way you present yourself currently, gender expression and fashion experimentation allow you to find a place where you feel the most confident with yourself.

I have recently accepted a Junior Environment Artist position at a company called Raven, and will be moving out there this summer. I am excited to further my career from this point forward, and I am very grateful for the opportunities and growth I have gained at Champlain College.

I was involved with Champlain College Esports from the first week of my first year to the beginning of my junior year. It was one of the best decisions I ever made because I met so many cool people and really felt like I found a place for myself at Champlain. The connections and friendships I made have been really great, and I did a lot of graphic design work for CCE so I was able to build a portfolio for that. I never expected to get involved with Esports at all when I got to college, but it was one of the best choices I made.

Two positions I really enjoyed having are being a Student Ambassador and being a Game Art Tutor. 

Being a Student Ambassador is such a great way to meet a new group of friends and start feeling more self-confident. SA really focuses on how to talk to people, how to represent yourself and the school professionally, and how to think through situations quickly and handle them with ease. I've become a much better speaker ever since I started giving tours, and that has helped me with so many things from giving better presentations for my classes to being able to communicate more effectively with the people I collaborate with. Game Art tutoring is a super rewarding job because you can do it when you're a senior and actually be able to apply the knowledge you've accumulated over the past three years of college to help other students. It's been great actually learning how to articulate what I do specifically in the programs I'm using so that I can clearly communicate how to fix an issue or show a person how to do something without confusing them. I find that I learn more about the programs I use by teaching others how to use them.

I was surprised with how much I fell in love with the sunsets over the lake. I genuinely would schedule my meetings in the library right around when the sun would set so I could see the sunset over the entire horizon. It's absolutely breathtaking, and I'm so happy I can sit in awe in front of my window every night and watch the sun fade into the mountains that frame Lake Champlain.

I liked Champlain for a multitude of reasons, including the Upside-Down Curriculum, but I ultimately chose Champlain because of the Game Art & Animation* major. Our program is all about creating games with a purpose beyond just entertainment. We consider depth, and what makes a game matter. That's something other schools don't have, and we do it well.

*Program name changed to Game Art in 2019.

No matter what classes you take, your professors care about your success. There have been so many times when our professors stayed hours after class just to work with one student on something, not necessarily because that student was struggling, but because the teacher was inspired to help them. Champlain professors go above and beyond for their students.

My internship was at Tuque Games, a small indie company. During the summer, I was working as a character artist creating monsters for a game I grew up playing. One of the most rewarding memories I have is the first time I got to play against one of the monsters that I made. I learned how to work on a team, practice new art techniques, and manage my time in a professional setting. The experience was amazing.

The Upside-Down Curriculum has been so beneficial to me as a learner that I cannot imagine being in a program that doesn't utilize it. The amount of genuine experience I have received in my field has put me in a position that allows me to develop critical skills every semester starting right away.

My first semester at Champlain, I was given the opportunity to join one of the Champlain College Esports teams, and beyond that I have had a blast participating in student-run events such as Game Jams and movie showings. I enjoy these activities because they are run by students, for students. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to influence these activities and make them exactly how they want them to be.

What surprised me about Champlain was myself. Oftentimes the first years come down with 'imposter syndrome,' and I can say that it hit me hard. I was afraid that I couldn't live up to the expectations. What surprised me was how much potential I had within me, and how these classes could drag that potential out and allow me to do things I didn't think were possible.