Game Art Program Student Showcase
We’re back with another Game Art Program Student Showcase! We love sharing what our students are able to accomplish during their time with us.
Here at Vertex School, our 9 month Game Art Program currently consists of three terms.
Term 1 is Intro to Game Art (Skill Building). During this term you will create a Prop Capstone to be used in your portfolio.
Term 2 is when you choose between the Environment Art Track and the Character Art Track. During this term you will get an intro to your chosen track and learn the essential skills that all environment artists or character artists need to master. During this term you will complete your first Environment Art or Character Art Capstone Project!
Term 3 is when you go bigger, get more involved, and explore more advanced features. With both more experience and more project time, you will be creating your second Environment Art or Character Art Capstone Project – A professional looking real time environment or character 🙂
We hope our student showcase leaves you feeling driven to take the leap and jump start your own game art career. Learn more about our Programs now!
TERM 1 Artwork
Old Cannon
Luciano Nunes
For this game ready prop I use Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter and UE5. This is my Capstone project for the Term 1 Game Art Program at Vertex School. Special thanks to my mentor, Andrew Baker, for all guidance while I study.
Nintendo DS Lite
Eyal First
Term 1 Capstone Project for Vertex School.
For this game asset, I used mainly Blender, Substance Painter, and Unreal Engine 5.
I chose to make a Nintendo DS Lite because I loved playing it when I was young and I wanted to do a few different materials like the plastics and the screens.
I really enjoyed this one, especially working on the textures.
I learned a lot of new things and techniques.
Huge thanks to my mentors at Vertex School-
Andrew Baker and Paul Layton for all their guidance, help, and availability during the first term.
Special thanks to a friend and colleague- Ofek Abo
Victorian Apothecary Cabinet
Justina Silinikaite
This prop was inspired by love of alchemy and victorian era in general. My goal was to work with as many different materials as possible, in order to achieve the look I wanted in Unreal Engine. While doing it learned a lot specifically working with glass. It was modeled in Maya, textured in Substance Painter and rendered in Unreal Engine 4. I’d like to give a huge thanks to my mentor, Andrew Baker and Paul Layton for all of the weekly feedback and guidance. Reference source: https://www.eldreds.com/auction-lot/traveling-apothecary-chest-in-mahogany-with-reces_8A94E6F95D
Wishing Well
Media Mirra
Wishing Well Capstone project. Made by me. Background environment from Unreal Megascans assets. Rendered in Unreal Engine.
Old Payphone
Gabriel Gray
An old payphone made for my Term 1 capstone at Vertex School! Payphones have been interesting to me as a cultural artefact perspective, something seen often in media without seeing it often personally. I had a lot of fun creating wear and grime, just adding life to this prop. Modelled in Maya and ZBrush, textured in Substance Painter and presented in Marmoset.
Cecilia’s Grand Piano
Kenneth Lee
This is my Capstone project for the Vertex School’s game art program. I was developing Cecilia’s story as part of a first-person horror game concept and decided I would build her beloved piano. I used Maya for the Piano’s mesh and Cecilia’s stage, Substance Painter for the textures, and rendered in Unreal Engine 5.
The background is adorned with borrowed bird cages and a lamp. Special thanks to the developers of ???? ??????? ?? ????? ????? for publishing their assets to the Unreal marketplace.
“Cecilia didn’t really figure out she was dead.
She started the day with a recital for her beloved servants, like she did every day before her cold.
But to her surprise, what once used to be applause was replaced with shrieks of terror and the shattering of porcelain
“Oh dear, I must be out of practice to produce such a dreadful response,” she said.
And so, she got to practicing.
Until the first key soured, and then the next. She realized then… that she was alone. ”
Nautical Vandal
Christian Solis
This is my game-ready capstone prop for Term 1 at Vertex School. I chose to make a gun for my prop because I really wanted to create a weapon from one of my favorite games, ‘VALORANT.’ The gun is based on a fan skin made by RivalRudra. Even though the game it’s based on is stylized, my prop had to be realistic for the project. So this is my take on the gun with a realistic skin. I really enjoyed making this and learned so much from the process. I just wanted to give a big thanks to my mentor Andrew Baker who gave me feedback along the way.
Bowl Lyre
Đại Lê
My Term 1 Capstone Project for Vertex School. Originally inspired by the lyre in W Peppin, An Oriental Love Song 1900 After Nathaniel Sichel (1842-1907), and then decided to add in more ornaments based off other references I stumbled upon. Modelled in Maya and Zbrush, textured in Substance Painter, and rendered in Unreal Engine 5. Shoutout to my mentor, Andrew Baker, for helping me out along the way. I hope you guys enjoy it
Vintage Suitcase
Ashley Tran
This was my term one capstone for vertex school! I decided that I wanted to create a vintage suitcase to show off my texturing skills. I included many stickers from Japan all the way to New York City. I made sure to add scratches and rips on the stickers and the leather of the suitcase. I added lots of dirt and grime to the corners that weren’t cleaned quite as well. The prop as first made in Maya. After I added minimal variation through Zbrush and went on to texturing. I found that texturing is definitely the hardest part, due to the fact that details are so important. Afterwards, I rendered the prop through Unreal Engine and edited the shots in Photoshop. I really enjoyed creating a little story for this prop. Thank you to Andrew Baker and Paul Layton for guiding me through the process for the first time. Hope you enjoy!
Gramophone
Ilenia Di Maria
This is my capstone project for term 1 at Vertex School. I chose this gramophone prop because I thought its modeling and texturing complexity would help me improve my skills while creating something very elegant. It’s been an incredible learning experience, and I’m very happy and proud of the outcome.
I modeled it in Maya and created the high poly in Zbrush, then I followed the High Poly to Low Poly process. After that, I baked and textured the prop in substance painter, and finally, rendered it in marmoset.
Thanks to all supportive mentors, teachers and colleagues for their support.
I hope you guys enjoy it.
Commodore Drive 1541
Jon Sharratt
Prop created for Term 1 capstone project of the Vertex School Game Artist Program. Had a lot of fun creating this, start of a portfolio refresh to hopefully be proud of in 2023.
Thanks to Quixel Megascans, was able to set dress and present the prop in fun little environment using Unreal Engine.
Thanks to our mentor Paul Layton for Term 1 on all the tips and tricks:
TERM 2 Artwork
A Night in New York
kshama daftary
I created this project for my Term 2 at Vertex school. I would like to thank my tutors Ben Merrick and Salvador Sánchez for guiding at every step. This street corner imbibes in it the characteristics of a typical New York neighborhood . A diner which is found on almost every corner of New York is inviting the New Yorkers’ by blaring its neon signs. In New York, the city is your canvas and art can be found in unknown corners. I used a series of modular pieces for the buildings and arranged – re arranged them to achieve variations. A combination of trim sheets (rendered in substance painter) and individual materials(created in substance designer) were used to achieve the desired textures. In addition i used vertex painting and decals to add variations to those textures. The variations in lighting the windows were achieved by speed tree variations added to the parallax materials.
Traveler’s Rest
Liam Mynhardt
Traveler’s Rest a place for exhausted travelers to grab a beer or whiskey on their journey. I rendered this scene in Unreal Engine 5 and built the scene with modular pieces and props including the wagon I modelled in Maya. I created textures using Substance Painter and the Unreal Engine’s material graph. I added a vertex paint setup to my hero asset where I could blend the material between peeling paint and raw wood by painting the vertices for extra detail and to breaking up the tiling pattern.
I populated the background using Megascans.
Maddy’s Tavern
Madeline Rosa
This is my Term 2 project for Vertex School. A street corner modern tavern in a hot summer sunset evening. In this tavern you will not only find drinks and excellent food but you also will be able to play games such as billiards, bowling, cards, ping pong. People from all over the world gather here for an amazing social evening/night.
It’s located at the center of Hills Road and it’s surrounded by fashion stores as well as convenience stores.
I created this project because I was inspired by the way foliage and architecture mix together for a realistic look. I used vertex painting, decals and trim sheet to add extra texture variations.
Special thanks to Vlad Vanzariuc, Salvador Sánchez and Paul Layton! Thank you for all the support!
Namiya General Store
Ryan Matias
Created with Vertex School during term 2 with the instruction of some really amazing mentors Jacob Claussen, Salvador Sánchez and Andrew Baker.
Based on concept by pixel cat.
Modular Colonial Building
Manuel O
This is my project for Vertex School term 2 under the mentorship of Robin Kårlin and help/advice from Salvador Sanchez. We were assigned to make a building with modular pieces and trim sheets. I modeled the pieces in Maya, created a tillable texture in designer following a tutorial and adjusted it to fit my building better. I made the building dirtier with decals. The two trim sheet pieces I textured in substance painter. The environment around the building was created using a mix of megascans, free assets and a tropical beach pack I got on the unreal marketplace .
Portrait Look Dev Work
Davíð Einar Ingólfsson
Here is my Look Dev Work that I worked on during Term 2 in Vertex school. Thank you David Kong and Ivan for working together with me on this project.
Château
Scene created for Term 2 of Vertex School game art course. The project was based of Château de la Mothe-Chandeniers in France. Huge thank you to Jacob Claussen for all the help during the project!
Mack’s Mini Market
Haamid Eure
This project was created for my Term 2 project at Vertex School. This project is based on a mini market in London. Thank you to Jacob Claussen for all the feedback on this project!
Forest Home – Unreal Engine 5
Justin Hien
80Level Article: https://80.lv/articles/designing-a-scene-with-horror-vibes-in-unreal-engine-5/
My Term 2 Capstone Project for Vertex School, Forest Home. I wanted to create an abandoned forest home, with a slight touch of horror. This is my first spin on building a landscape within a night scene. The entire home was modeled and UV’d within Maya and texturing done in Substance Painter. Various small props and foliage were created with the use of Megascans. Huge thanks to my classmates and mentor, Cairo Goodbrand, for the guidance throughout this project.
Vertex School Old Man Study
Rico Buehler
Study I did at Vertex School.
Featured in an 80 lvl article.
https://80.lv/articles/making-an-old-man-s-face-sculpt-in-zbrush-maya/
Bonus old man head drawing
U5 Hotel Diorama
Luke Chayo
A project I made during my second term of the game artist program at Vertex School. The focus was to build a diorama out of modular pieces.
Huge shoutout to Johnny Renquist for mentoring me throughout the project. Special thanks to Salvador Sánchez and Ben Merrick for their weekly feedback.
Palm Trees and Daisy Flowers made by Felipe V. (3D Hobbyist)
Music – Domovoi Prelude by Marc Van Der Meulen
The Corner Deli
Sara Miller
For my term 2 capstone project with Vertex School, we were tasked with creating an environment with modular pieces. I chose to make a New York Deli diorama. I’d like to give a huge thank you to Johnny Renquist for mentoring me throughout this project and to Salvador Sánchez for weekly feedback. I used Unreal Engine 4 and modular pieces and props were modeled in Maya, textures made in Substance Painter and Substance Designer. Wood, ceramic tile, and asphalt materials are from Megascans.
Corner In Japan (Rain)
Tony Kelly
Submitted to my second term at Vertex School, decided to recreate a photo I saw of a Japanese corner shop. This photo had a SiFi / Cyberpunk post editing effect I wanted to try to capture. The scene is set during a light rain. I wanted to try to recreate a Rain / Wetness system created using materials in Unreal. Using UE 5’s Niagara Particle system I was able to recreate a light rain and add some sound effects. The scene is built with a modular kit I modeled in Blender, and textured with textures I created in substance designer. Foliage was downloaded for Quixel Megascans. Huge thanks to my mentor Ben Merrick for the techniques and tips given during this process. (Credit goes to Ben Cloward on YouTube for the techniques used in the rain/wetness material.)
Le Pt’it Coin’s Café
Loiseau Ronaldo
This is my Term 2 project at Vertex School. A street corner cafe scene at the beginning of fall at night, come to give it a visit we have beer sandwiches and wifi. My inspiration for it was The Little Owl restaurant at New-York from the Friends series.
All the assets are made by me, exept for the foliages who comes from Megascan, i only do the trees on Speedtree. on this project, i use Vertex Paint on the meshes, Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Decals, Mesh Decals techniques, Trimsheet and i also experiment with Lumen.
A special thanks to my mentor Mohamed El Bouhy, who helps me a lot with this project, i learn a lot with him, to Salvador Sánchez who was always here to give me good advices to go to good direction, and my collegues who are always here to help me! Thank you all a lot for the support!
The Ruins of Rosental Manor
Aurelia Maxima Häcker
“The Ruins of Rosental Manor” – Term 2 Project for the Vertex School Game Art Program.
I‘m incredibly happy with how my first environment turned out!
It was an incredibly fun process to dive into creating a place that had been a part of me for a good 5 years now.
To finally bring that vision to life is amazing.
„Rosental manor was the former family estate of the Rosental dynasty until mysterious circumstances devastated the once paradisical residence.“
Huge thanks to Kem Yaralioglu for being an amazing mentor during this term and providing direction and tips on how to navigate the project.
Created in Unreal Engine 5, using Maya, Blende, Substance Painter & Designer, ZBrush, Photoshop and SpeedTree.
What if Cooper chose to settle down on Brand’s planet?
Krishna Lokanadham
This scene was inspired by the ending of Interstellar and what might have happened if Cooper chose to lead a quiet life on Brand’s planet.
This is my first portfolio piece for the Game Environment Artist course at Vertex School. Rendered in Unreal Engine 4 based on a Cyberpunk aesthetic.
A special thanks to my mentors John Waynick and Daniel Stok at Vertex School for guiding me through this project, learning from their process and looking at a scene through their eyes has helped me cultivate the mindset of an Environment Artist when approaching a project and helped me grow as an artist!
Goro Takemura Clay Render
Titan Peakon
Hello Guys, Here My version of Goro Takemura Clay Render From Cyberpunk 2077!
Inspired By my Mentor Legend Sensei Marcin Klicki.
Abandoned Yakuza Building
Adam Samson
My term 2 project from Vertex school. An abandoned version of a building from the Yakuza series.
Dark Alleyway
Volodymyr Malaydakh
The Dark Alleyway is the project I worked on during my second term at Vertex. It was an ambitious take for me, as most of my previous experience was the hard surface prop modeling. All modular pieces and props are made by me. Used megascans to get decals and tileable materials. Huge thanks to my mentor Jake Dunlop.
TERM 3 Artwork
The Swamps
Jeronimo Canale
Hey!!
I can finally post this amazing personal project i’ve been working on for my term 3 on Vertex School. I had an amazing time doing it. As always with each new project, new goals come for me to achieve and learn from. I owe a very special thanks to Jacob Claussen. He was an amazing mentor and teacher.
As you can see it’s very inspired in a lot of AAA games like the Red Dead Redemption 2, Hunt Showdown, The Witcher.. etc. Achieving this AAA look wasn’t easy, but using the right tools, and workflows, like RGB masks, Photogrammetry, Trimsheets, Decals, really helped the scene come to life.
I had a blast creating photoscanned tree trunks, and with those tileable materials. This, with creating a natural exterior scene, were the main goals with this project. And i can say that i’m very happy with the result. It’s not perfect, but i really like the end result.
Disclaimer : I know the title is very lame… but who cares right?… right?!
Wandering Mariel
Sacha Gaffney
The original concept for this character was done by the amazing Nature San
Sector 48 – Unreal Engine 5
Salvador Sánchez
Hello once again,
New scene made as a submission for The Weekends Projects annual challenge. Part of the challenge was not to use any external resources, so everything you see in the scene was made by myself. Approached this project in order to learn more about normal decals, trim sheets and how to use parallax occlusion mapping in unreal. I also dived into Second UV Channels in order to use RGB masks for the meshes inside of the scene. All meshes are using a mid poly approach, and little to no baking info, only for the RGB masks and trims. This project also encompasses everything I learned in my 3 terms at Vertex School.
And big thanks to Cairo for the feedback session at vertex. And to Johnny for all the cool stuff you taught me in my last term.
See you around.
Villa Maurogordato winter garden
Elena Maciulaityte
This is greenhouse based on villa Maurogordato winter garden located in Livorno, Italy. Its my final project for Vertex School’s Environment Art course. With this project I tried to encompass everything I learned in last 9 months and deepen my knowledge in vegetation modelling.
Vegetation was created by mixture of following Chico Spans workflow from his foliage course on Vertex School’s website and free Megascans Trees: European Black Alder pack. Props modelled in blender, some pieces sculpted in zbrush and textured in substance painter, except some of tileable textures taken from Quixel Bridge.
I would like to thank my mentor, Jacob Claussen, https://www.artstation.com/jacobclaussen for his support and advice through the whole project.
The Final Ascent
Aakarsh Gupta
This is my term 3 project for Vertex School, based on this great artwork by EattingShark. I have always been in awe of Japanese History and culture and this fit right in. I had a great time creating this project.
This project was created in Unreal Engine 5, modeling was done in Maya and Zbrush and Substance painter was textures. I used a couple of megascans assets for foliage and the landscape material.
I wanted to learn new things through this project especially sculpting rocks, and Speedtree for creating trees.
I also learned about Splines(for the waterfalls) and some fx (falling leaves, fireflies, water splashes).
I would like to thank my mentor Jake Dunlop, he helped me a lot throughout this and I learned quite a bit from him.
I am proud of the Final result and hope people like it.
RuneStone Diorama
Krishna Lokanadham
This is my Term 3 portfolio piece for the Game Environment Artist course at Vertex School. Rendered in Unreal Engine 5 based on a concept art found online.
Credits to the original concept artist Ayhan Aydogan
I chose to add my own variation to this piece, it was sculpted in Zbrush, textured in Substance Painter and rendered in Unreal Engine 5.
The foliage is from Quixel Megascans and the Ivy Generator is from the Unreal Engine Marketplace.
A special thanks to my mentor Daniel Stok at Vertex School for guiding me through this project and for always helping me push my boundaries as an artist!
Abandoned Church
Daehan Adams
This is for my final Term for Vertex School. This was based off Jean-Pierre Lapointe (https://www.artstation.com/jplapointe) concept art I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. I’m very proud with this piece. I’ve learned so much this term and all thanks to some great people like Jake Dunlop (https://www.artstation.com/jakedunlop) and Robin Kårlin (https://www.artstation.com/robinkarlin) they are honestly amazing artist and amazing teachers as well.
special thanks to the many people who gave me feedback and advice for future projects.
Linus Alstergren
Cat Yang (https://www.artstation.com/goodbyekitty137)
Jacob Provo (https://www.artstation.com/jacobprovo)
Aadil Sharif (https://www.artstation.com/aadil)
VillZen Temple
Manuel O
This is my Term 3 project for Vertex School under the mentorship of Jake Dunlop based on Max Hays “Garden Temple ” https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6byow5
Foliage was grabbed from Megascans.
Mythic Island
Toby Christmas
Upon that island a hermit lives. Beware the old sage….
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Third term project at Vertex School. Want to thank Ben Merrick and Salvador Sánchez for their mentorship.
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All assets other than the vegetation were created by myself, including the shaders. The Vegetation was sourced from megascans.
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Based on a concept image by Grady Frederick (Linked below): https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1nLrlG
Waste punk – 3D environment Inspired by Lok Du
Joel Gambleton
Based on and inspired by the concept piece “Waste Punk” by Lok Du.
Many thanks to the tutors at #Vertex school, thanks so much to Johnny Renquist for mentoring me during this term!
Cirilla Fiona The Witcher Wild Hunt Fan Art
Titan Peakon
Hi Guys,
It has been a enlightening journey for me working on my dream character Ciri from my power of sight, from The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt Game. A lot of of Hard work I put into this game ready character. This Artwork is very close to my heart I’ve been playing this game and inspired by , Also If you mentored by someone who works in the same studio its created then it’s a cherry on the top, Very much grateful to Super Sensei ‘Marcin Klicki‘ for giving extreme guidance throughout the process. Final character done of Game art Program at Vertex School.
I’ve a lot to tell you about this in my upcoming short tutorial on how I did the game hair. Kindly stay in touch and follow for more updates.
Thanks y’all.
Maddy’s Fruits Farm
Madeline Rosa
My term 3 project for Vertex School. Inspired by Assassin’s Creed Origins – Kyrenaika Olive Farm.
For this project I felt inspired by this colorful scene and its lighting and I also wanted to add my personal touch and mood to it.
Special thanks to my mentors Jake Dunlop and Salvador Sánchez.
Blizzard
Liam Mynhardt
Here’s my latest environment I created based off Astrid Cao’s Snow Storm. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/J9WW8n. Big thanks to my mentor Chris for guiding me through my last 2 projects
https://www.artstation.com/chrisvogelsang.
I modeled everything in the scene in Maya, textured in substance painter and unreal engines material graph. The weather is a mix of fog cards and Niagara FX.
I grabbed some snow piles from megascans to create the landscape. Gaea was used to generate some mountains for the background.
Marauder’s Port
António Lucas
This is my final project for Vertex School. It’s based from Maeve’s Marauder’s Port concept she did for Paladins.
My idea for this project was, inspired by World of Warcraft, to completely handpaint the scene, no normals, no roughness maps, etc.
I used a lot of symmetry in the UV maps to optimize the texture maps and speed up the painting process.
This project made me learn a lot and I’m quite proud of it. It was only possible because of the help I had from my a mentor Jacob Claussen.
