What degree should I go for to become a character artist?

Hello everyone,
My mother has started to ask me about university and what courses I would like to do, and I want to pursue a career in 3D character art however I’ve been told that a BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design course is useless so I don’t know what to do. Has anybody got an idea on what course there is that I could possibly do?

Reply 1

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Anonymous

Hello everyone,
My mother has started to ask me about university and what courses I would like to do, and I want to pursue a career in 3D character art however I’ve been told that a BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design course is useless so I don’t know what to do. Has anybody got an idea on what course there is that I could possibly do?

Contact the sorts of businesses that you would like to work for and ask them the sorts of courses/universities that they recommend.

Reply 2

Ravensbourne

13

Original post by Anonymous

Hello everyone,
My mother has started to ask me about university and what courses I would like to do, and I want to pursue a career in 3D character art however I’ve been told that a BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design course is useless so I don’t know what to do. Has anybody got an idea on what course there is that I could possibly do?

Hi there,

My personal recommendation for you would be to consider Animation and Games Design courses. They both partially specialise in character development, which you can then focus on later in your second and third year of university education, once you have learnt the necessary tools and knowledge about the industry and other elements of the course. As PQ rightly pointed out, in the other comment, you should ask some of the companies you are interested in where some of their employees' studied before being employed there. However, my recommendation would be to also go to a university open day that has some of these courses and asking the tutors/lecturers what type of skills you would learn there, hopefully, "3D character art" being an option (look out for the term "Asset Creation"). Then ask about the 3 year course structure and the flexibility it has for you to develop your skills towards character creation.

You might be interested in hearing about Ravensbsourne University. We are a specialist design and media University based in North Greenwich, London. Ravensbourne is an open space building, so there is a lot of opportunities to be collaborative between different courses but it is also just a good environment to be in. We are industry focused and our courses are taught by industry professionals. Our BA Animation course is a mixture of practice and theory-based learning. You will be able to work on live briefs set by industry as well as working on competition briefs. Similar methods also apply to our new Games Design course, which might be better suited to you if you would like to go into the games development industry, due to Animation being used in a broad variety of other applications, such as SFX, Motion Graphics, Environment Building, Cartoon and TV production (Pixar as an example) that might spread you thin.

If you are interested to find out more about the courses, speak to some of the tutors and student ambassadors on your next visit to Ravensbourne University's open day or taster event. We also have summer schools and portfolio workshops you can attend. It is a good opportunity to help you build your portfolio for future interviews.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
Michail :biggrin:

Reply 3

PQ

Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

https://www.screenskills.com/education-training/job-profiles/animation-games-and-vfx/computer-generated-animation/ is worth a read particularly the links towards the bottom to skwigley/AWN etc

https://www.screenskills.com/courses/search/#/?q=&industries=Animation&coursetypes=Tick%20Undergraduate&modeoflearning=&accreditations=Ticked%20Degree%20Courses&careerstages=&skills=&postcode=&distance=15&orderby=rel&pageindex=1 lists all the UK industry accredited animation degrees.

Be very wary of games art/concept art specialist degrees. Unfortunately they're both popular with applicants and so there's a lot of degrees available but those degrees will not always provide the best preparation for the industry (and the industry jobs are often in slightly different areas so often a more general illustration/animation degree will provide a better preparation). The sort of work you're interested in is available - but not to recent graduates. You would be expected to build up your experience and skills in other roles before moving sideways/upwards into character design.

Reply 4

moid

9

A BSc in Computer Games Design might be fine as long as it teaches a lot of art as well as the science side of the subject... but you might find that that a BSc is much more maths / programming focused. You might be better off looking at a BA course because Character design and modelling is much more of an art skill than a science one. Obviously you need to do some research here. If you want to see examples of the characters that my students have made (many of whom have gone on to work as character artists in the industry) have a look here: University of Hertfordshire Animation Showreel

The main skills to be practicing at the moment are a knowledge of anatomy - so draw, draw, draw people and animals. Not just the living forms, draw skeletons and muscles too (ecorché drawings if you can find them). Then take the drawing into 3D using a digital sculpting package (ZBrush is the industry standard, but you can start with free software like Sculptris). Make the forms correct in terms of large volumes and masses first before getting excited about modelling every skin pore and wrinkle. You also need to learn about retopologisation and UVing and texturing and UDIMs and shaders and lot of technical things, so make sure you ask the degrees you are interested if they cover these areas. Good luck (and really get drawing!)

What degree should I go for to become a character artist?

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