Games Art

Games art is the visual and creative discipline that defines the appearance of interactive worlds, from the landscapes and buildings of environment art to the characters, creatures, and interface elements that players encounter throughout a game. It is a field that demands equal facility with artistic vision and technical execution, requiring practitioners who can produce high-quality assets within the constraints of real-time rendering while also contributing creatively to the aesthetic direction of a game. The industry encompasses everything from independent games with distinctive hand-crafted visual styles to large productions with teams of dozens of artists working at the highest technical level.

At Teesside University this part-time programme focuses specifically on the research, planning, and production of environment asset content for games engine integration. You will study architecture research and analysis as a foundation for environment design, work with real-time terrain creation tools, and develop expertise in modelling and texturing for environment assets alongside visual effects and lighting for real-time content. You will adopt industry techniques throughout, developing the professional workflow and toolchain knowledge that employers expect from a games artist entering the industry.

The focus on environment art is a deliberately specific specialisation that reflects where significant demand exists within games production teams.

Graduates from games art programmes work as environment artists, level artists, texture artists, lighting artists, technical artists, and generalist 3D artists in games studios of all sizes. The skills developed are also applicable in virtual reality, architectural visualisation, film and television visual effects, and simulation. Some graduates move into art direction or management roles as they build experience, while others develop freelance practices or contribute to independent game projects.

Postgraduate study in games art or design is available for those who want to develop further specialist expertise.