Concept Art for Game Design for 15 - 17 Year Olds

Monday to Friday 10 am - 4 pm, one week

On this practical course you’ll have the opportunity to engage with the latest concept art techniques and create successful characters and environments for game design using Adobe Creative Suite and Wacom tablets.

You’ll be creating a world of your own, developing a personal approach to either real-life, fantasy, sci-fi or cartoon concept art.

You can have little or no previous knowledge to attend and you can have any drawing ability – you will still achieve great results!

Course Description

This course is ideal for anyone who’d like some fun, hands-on experience turning their ideas into creative, original artworks for game design.

You’ll start by learning how to combine traditional art techniques with digital drawing skills and have a go with some more advanced software in 3D modelling.

On this course you will:

• use a combination of hand drawing, collage and digital drawing techniques
• develop your drawing skills from observation and imagination
• explore perspective drawing and sketching quickly to get ideas down on paper
• undertake visual research and create mood boards
• explore different design styles and the inspirations behind characters and their environment
• discuss the work of industry-level concept artists
• visualise your character and setting to create a convincing game concept.

To bring your concept to life you will then:

• make your character 3D on the screen to show all angles of their appearance
• use Adobe Photoshop to draw and paint your concept
• learn how lighting affects your drawings and makes a character seem real
• look at existing games to understand gameplay and appreciate how an artwork will be experienced by those playing the game
• learn effective ways to communicate your ideas from initial idea to presentation.

What will I gain?

By the end of the course you’ll have developed a compelling character and generated an engaging concept for a game.

You’ll also leave with a range of work for your portfolio including development sketches and finished images, and technical notes to continue working on your software skills.

You'll have gained experience of what it's like to be a design student at university, and an understanding of what admissions tutors are looking for.

Level: Beginner

Entry requirement: You should have an enthusiasm for gaming and design and an interest in developing your creative and technical skills.

Where you’ll learn: You will be based in the School of Art and Design on the City Campus.

You’ll find collaborative working spaces where you develop your sketches and concepts, and Mac suites equipped with industry standard software and hardware including Autodesk suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, Wacom Cintiq Touch Tablets and Pro Creative Pens.

You’ll also have access to our library to use outside of your short course; whilst you can’t reserve or take away books, you are welcome to use them as a resource for research and referencing.

Here's what our previous attendees have said:

'This is exactly what I want to do in the future so the course was perfect. Lots of good real industry advise and critiques, with work to show at the end of it and put in my portfolio. Enjoyed the whole process in digital, from idea making to the final render' JV

'This will help me in my career, it gave a good idea of how to use software, experimenting with various different editing techniques creatively' WR

'Everything was so good, I learnt from someone with experience on how to use Photoshop in a way that is useful for digital painting, and I enjoyed the modelling and character design the most' MC

'I have learnt a wide range of valuable skills such as rendering, perspectives and lighting, gaining skills to show in my portfolio' CE

'We had the freedom to design whatever we wanted and learnt proper techniques and got guides for drawing digitally and creating concepts. I want to do concept art in the future as my career now'

'I gained an insight into what university courses in concept art would be like, learnt how to create a visually appealing character and enjoyed researching and developing my character'

'I have learned new artistic skills such as how to improve my illustrative backgrounds and enjoyed doing the background renders. This will benefit my future career in the games industry'

Tutor profile: Adam Horsepool is a freelance illustrator and animator with several years’ experience in the design industry.

He studied animation at Lincoln University, specialising in visual development and character design.

Adam first started as a professional animator producing work for marketing campaigns, e-learning courses and character design for large companies; this is where his interest in illustration began.

He has illustrated a number of children's books for various studios such as Warner Brothers, Igloo Books and Kevin the Carrot for Aldi.

Adam is currently working as a lecturer in the animation department at NTU, teaching storyboarding and visual development.

Need accommodation?

If you're aged 16 or 17 then you can stay unaccompanied with agreement from a parent/guardian.

To support safeguarding, all guests aged 16 and 17 will be accommodated together in the same halls of residence.

The reception and security team are available 24 hours, and there will be a dedicated supervisor(s) during the evenings and mornings, outside of class times.

Guests will be provided with a mobile number for the supervisor(s) during their stay.

If you're aged 15 then you can stay as long as you are accompanied by a parent/guardian.

Find out more at www.ntu.ac.uk/summeraccommodation

Doing your Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award?

This course can count as your Gold DofE Residential.

DofE participants must book both the course and accommodation on campus for this to count towards your Gold Award.

Looking to turn your one-week course into a two-week experience?

If you can match this with any second course, you’ll receive a 10% refund on your course fees.

You might be interested in:

Animation for 15 – 17 Year Olds

Digital Fine Art for 15 - 17 Year Olds

Graphic Design Portfolio for 15 – 17 Year Olds

Any questions?

Contact the short course team:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)115 848 2813