Game ART Master - Certification RNCP level 7

Game
Art

Become a Game artist

Create the worlds of tomorrow

For 20 years, ARTFX has been training top-tier digital artists who build international careers in the world’s leading studios.

Throughout the program, you will learn to design immersive visual worlds that provide captivating gaming experiences.

From concept art to character and environment creation, props, animations, and integrating 3D assets into a real-time engine, you will master the entire video game production pipeline.

Just like in a professional studio, you will collaborate each year on projects with Game Design and Programming students. In your final year, you will develop a graduation project, which you will present to a professional jury.

High School Diploma or Equivalent (Outside Parcoursup)

Outside Parcoursup: Apply directly to the school.

Tests + Creative Portfolio + Interview

Candidater
MontpElliEr

One class of 25 students for Game Art.

One class of 25 students for Game Design & Development.

Voir le campus
IntErnationAl

French courses 🇫🇷
& English courses 🇬🇧

En savoir plus
A State-Recognized Professional Title

Awards the title of Digital Director (Level 7, equivalent to Bac +5), registered in the RNCP on September 14, 2020.

Profile

Prerequisites

The game artist designs and creates all the visual elements that enhance the gaming experience.

Creativity, imagination, passion, and a strong artistic culture will help you bring your ideas to life and transform them into unique and immersive graphic worlds.

The game artist works closely with game designers and programmers, who define game mechanics and functionalities. They collaborate to ensure that visual elements support the gameplay, integrate logically into the game world, and meet the performance constraints of the game engine.

To learn more about ARTFX’s admission process

 

Fiche metier

What is Game Art?

Game Art is essential for creating atmosphere, enhancing immersion, and conveying emotions.

A visually well-constructed world attracts players, aids in visual storytelling, and enriches gameplay by offering a cohesive sensory experience. Additionally, game art contributes to the identity of the game, making it memorable for players and easily identifiable in the video game market.

This includes creating 3D models of environments, characters, and props, detailed textures, fluid and dynamic animations, natural or supernatural special effects, interfaces, and also involves technical aspects such as graphics performance optimization and integrating visual elements into real-time game engines like Unity or Unreal Engine.

Our training prepares artists to meet the aesthetic challenges of the industry while adapting to the constant evolution of technologies and creative trends.

Inside
Game
aRT

DIVE INTO THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR GAME ART STUDENTS.

Game artists explore and refine essential skills such as 2D drawing, 3D modeling, animation, and texturing.

In workshops and hands-on classes, they collaborate with other future professionals, including game designers and programmers, simulating real studio conditions.

Between group projects and personal creative exercises, their schedule is filled with constructive critiques and feedback from their instructors. These exchanges help them develop their artistic sense, discipline, and ability to bring immersive worlds to life.

Program

game art training content

objectives

The first year has the main objective of laying a solid foundation for a creative career by developing students’ technical, artistic, and personal skills. It is a year focused on consolidating their abilities.

program

Mastery of Artistic Fundamentals:

  • Drawing Fundamentals: Observation, perspective, proportions, anatomy, light & shadow, color theory.
  • Understanding visual aesthetics, composition, and framing.

Exploration of Creativity:

  • Stimulating imagination and the ability to create original concepts.
  • Developing artistic expression through concept art, working on both personal and collective projects to explore different visual styles.

Development of Artistic Culture:

  • Studying major art movements and key artistic elements to build a strong reference base.
  • Analyzing and studying different types of video games to acquire industry knowledge.

Introduction to VFX, Animation, and Video Game Careers:

  • Practicing 3D modeling, 3D animation, 2D animation, and discovering Unreal Engine for real-time game development.
  • Training on filming equipment and applying skills in a short film project.
  • Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.
    These workshops also help refine and solidify future career direction choices.

Soft Skills Development:

  • Learning time management and how to meet deadlines.
  • Developing critical thinking and the ability to receive and integrate feedback.
  • Promoting teamwork and visual communication.
  • Practicing professional English for the industry.
Provided softwares* :

* As the industry is constantly evolving, the content of our program is also subject to change.

objectives

Year 2 is the year in which you choose your field of study. It’s a specific year, and the program is entirely focused on game art. The main objective is to acquire the fundamentals of the creative workflow, exploring the key stages in the artistic process, from concept to integration into a game engine.

program

Development of Video Game Culture and Analysis

Through game analysis, develop an understanding of the industry, grasp key challenges, decision-making processes, and production stages.

Development of Artistic Skills

Master the fundamentals of drawing, including observation, perspective, proportions, anatomy, light and shadow, and color. Gain an in-depth understanding of visual aesthetics, composition, and framing. Continue to expand knowledge of visual culture and image aesthetics.

Creativity and Concept Art

Stimulate imagination and the ability to create original concepts. Develop artistic expression through concept art and work on both personal and collaborative projects to explore various visual styles. Learn a pre-production methodology to bring projects to life using industry-standard processes and tools. Introduction to the use of artificial intelligence tools.

3D Asset Creation and Introduction to Organic 3D Modeling (3D Sculpting)

Learn 3D modeling techniques for complex objects, from blockout to high-resolution models, while understanding optimized topology for video games, UV unwrapping, texturing, and baking. Explore modular modeling to create fully assembled and textured environments. Develop 3D sculpting skills for character modeling, including body and facial features. Learn how to present work effectively by showcasing 3D renders.

Environment Creation and Real-Time Engine Practice (Unreal Engine)

Master the graphical functionalities of Unreal Engine, including asset integration, level design, shaders, lighting, and animation integration.

Introduction to 3D Animation (Optional)

For students aiming to become 3D animators, gain hands-on experience with the fundamental principles of animation through dedicated workshops.

Collaborative Projects

Work closely with game designers and programmers on video game projects. Learn production workflows, teamwork dynamics, and interdepartmental collaboration.

Professionalism and Demo Reel

Develop essential soft skills such as teamwork, anticipation, reliability, and commitment. Practice professional English and create a demo reel showcasing the best works and demonstrating both technical and artistic expertise.

Provided softwares* :

* As the industry constantly evolves, our program content is also subject to change.

objectives

The 3rd year is a skills enhancement year. By the end of the program, each student should be able to produce high-quality 3D assets, ready for integration into a game engine, while respecting the technical and artistic constraints imposed by industry standards. They will also have the necessary foundations to evolve in a variety of roles, and will have acquired a general understanding of all the stages in a video game production pipeline.

program

Development of Artistic and Video Game Culture

Deepen artistic culture and video game knowledge, exploring both its history and current trends.

Creativity and Concept Art

Refine creative abilities. Students will design worlds, environments, characters, props, and interfaces through concept art workshops (digital illustration). They will enhance their design methodology by developing the artistic direction of their projects.

3D Characters & Creatures

Focus on organic modeling, ensuring accurate proportions and anatomy for both stylized and realistic characters adapted to different game styles and contexts. Master the full technical workflow, including blockout, high-resolution modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, and baking, with an emphasis on topology.

3D Environments & Props

Develop expertise in creating high-quality, optimized 3D assets for immersive environments. Master the full technical workflow (blockout, high-resolution modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, and baking) with a focus on topology and optimization. Learn procedural tools within Houdini.

Mastering Unreal Engine for Real-Time Development

Advance Unreal Engine skills as a tool for integrating graphical assets and real-time rendering. Create complex game levels, shaders, lighting setups, optimizations, and post-processing effects. Develop atmospheric and gameplay-related special effects. Integrate menus and user interfaces.

Rigging & 3D Animation

Introduction to rigging and animation integration within Unreal Engine.
Students specializing in 3D animation will continue refining body mechanics and movement.

Collaborative & Professional Projects

Students will work in teams on projects commissioned by institutional partners, designed for a broad audience. They will develop problem-solving skills, learn to propose creative solutions, present their work professionally, follow project guidelines, and deliver high-quality, playable projects. They will also gain experience in task planning, workload estimation, and troubleshooting production challenges.

Professionalism & Demo Reel

Develop essential soft skills, including teamwork, anticipation, reliability, and commitment.
Practice professional English.
By the end of the year, students will have a complete and cohesive demo reel showcasing their technical skills and creativity. This demo reel will be a key tool for securing internships in the industry.

Provided softwares* :

* As the industry constantly evolves, our program content is also subject to change.

objectives

Year 4 is dedicated to :

  • Advanced practice in various specialization modules/workshops. Students can choose to practice more than one discipline, or to pursue a particular specialization.
  • Design and pre-production of the final project. In collaboration with the game designers, game artists will define the artistic direction and organization of the production pipeline for their future project.

program

Advanced workshops:
Students can attend the full range of advanced modules and assert themselves in the following specialties:

Possible careers :
/ Environment Artist
/ Props Artist
/ Texture Painter
/ Look Dev Artist
/ Modeler
/ Lighting Artist for Games
/ Materials Artist for Games
/ Level architect

You’ll focus on the creation of high-level modular 3D assets, procedural systems or 3D accessories that will enable you to design rich and varied game levels by assembling them in the real-time engine.

Learn all the workflow specific to video games: blockout – Lowpoly – Highpoly – Cleanup – UV unwrap – baking / texturing , with a focus on topology and specific techniques such as vertex painting / trim sheets

Fiche metier

Possible careers :
/ Character Artist
/ Creature Artist
/ Texture Painter
/ Look Dev Artist
/ Modeler for Games
/ Weapons artist

You develop your skills in morphology, anatomy, sculpting and the ability to work with references and transform them into realistic or stylized 3D characters. Credible, meaningful and charismatic characters.

Learn workflows specific to video games: blockout – Lowpoly shaping – Highpoly – Cleanup – UV Unwrap – baking / texturing , with a focus on topology, sculpting, texturing, haircards, clothing…

Integrate character(s) into a real-time engine to bring your creations to life.

Fiche metier

Possible careers :
/ Tech artist

You’ll develop both artistic and technical skills, which will enable you to work in collaboration with all departments to solve problems or ensure that game artists have the tools they need to produce the game.

You’ll learn to analyze requirements and software, understand real-time rendering workflows and procedural tools. Your role will be to ensure feasibility by developing effective tools and solutions, and act as a link between artists and programmers.

FICHE METIER

Possible careers :

/ 3D animator
/ Rigger
/ Cinematic director

You’ll join the character animation department and focus on bringing game characters to life. You’ll work mainly on body mechanics and matching animations to gameplay.

You’ll learn how to integrate Maya’s animations into the real-time engine, and you’ll also be able to specialize in acting and facial animation for in-game cinematics.

FICHE METIER

Possible careers :

/ Gameplay FX artist
/ Atmosphere FX artist
/ Fx director

You develop both artistic and technical skills to create special effects (liquids, explosions, fire, destruction, crowds, etc.) that will enhance the gameplay and readability of the game.

The FX Artist must mobilize a whole range of skills and master the various simulation techniques on several software packages, as well as in the real-time engine. They must also work in collaboration with game designers and animators for gameplay-related effects. Programming is an essential part of becoming a Fx artist.

Fiche metier

objectives

Year 5 is the culmination of learning and practice, which students transform into a genuine professional project. They produce their video game as a team, and experience the complete video game creation cycle.

program

Professional Project Supervision

Throughout the production process, students are guided by industry professionals in each discipline.

Professionalism

Development of essential soft skills, including the ability to conceptualize, organize, solve problems, collaborate, anticipate, and demonstrate reliability and commitment.
Participation in masterclasses with professionals from the video game industry.

Job Market Preparation

  • Industry insights: trends, projects, and developments
  • Personal branding strategies
  • Coaching on CV writing, cover letters, and interview techniques
  • Information on professional statuses, legal and administrative frameworks in Europe and abroad

Demo Reel & Portfolio

Students will finalize a professional demo reel and portfolio, highlighting their technical, artistic, and creative skills in a visually compelling and engaging format.
They will also learn how to showcase their work effectively across various platforms to attract recruiters.

Final Jury Presentation

Students will present their projects before a jury of industry professionals and participate in a job dating event organized by the school.

Festivals, Awards & Recognition

Student projects will be submitted to major video game industry competitions such as the Pégases and BAFTA awards, offering opportunities to earn prestigious accolades.

Provided softwares* :

* As the industry constantly evolves, our program content is also subject to change.

The main
trades prepared

  • 3d Environment artist
  • 3d Character artist
  • lighting artist
  • technical game artist
  • 3d animator
  • surfacing artist
  • props artist
  • fx artist
  • technical artist

Our alumni
share Their Experiences

Following the job dating event, I accepted a position at Virtuos Game. I now work as a Technical Artist on an unannounced game, where I program HLSL shaders and create textures. At ARTFX, I gained a solid understanding of the overall video game production pipeline, which was incredibly valuable when joining a major studio. The lessons on texturing, shaders, and optimization were perfectly aligned with the work I do today.

juliàn macias Junior Environment Artist - Ubisoft Montpellier - 2022

Access to
the major
studioS.

These studios are recruiting at ArtFX

Our alumni in production

artfx
Inside

Join a community of passionate designers

Join a community that shares your vision, evolve in an environment that fosters exchange and inspiration, and learn to master the skills sought by the industry thanks to hands-on training focused on creativity, innovation and personal development.

Take the first step towards the future of video games!

⚡ Votre navigateur est obslète ! ⚡

Mettez-le à jour pour voir ce site correctement.

Mettre à jour
Come and meet us! Come and visit our campuses and meet our teams and students!