Game Art Program Student Showcase

Guess what time it is?! It’s time for our 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

British K6 Telephone Box

John Dempsey

This is a game-ready British model K6 telephone box created for my Term 1 capstone project on Vertex School’s Game Art Program. Many thanks to my industry mentor Andrew Baker for his guidance. Modelled in Maya, sculpting in ZBrush, UVs in Rizom VS, baking and textures using Marmoset Toolbag 4, Photoshop and Substance Painter, staging, lighting and beauty renders all in Unreal Engine 5.1.

john dempsey mainpage

Vintage Manual Coffee Grinder

Paris Constantinou

Prop created for Term 1 capstone project of the Vertex School Game Artist Program. It’s been 3 months since I started the Game Artist program at Vertex school and I already learned so much. I cant wait for the next project.

paris constantinou bs together

Currently somewhere inside Abstergo facilities…

Félix Velaz Ramos

I created this Hidden Blade for my Term 1. Capstone project on Vertex School’s Game Art Program.
As a huge fan of Assassin’s Creed saga.
I used my first shot to create the Hidden Blade from Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Modelled in Maya, Sculpted in Zbrush, I used Substance 3D Painter for texturing and Unreal Engine 5 for rendering and prop presentation.
Thanks a lot for the guidance and feedback to my mentor Lewis Ryan Hewison.

felix velaz 02

Stylized Alien Axe

Sean Love
Vertex School Game Development Program Sean Love

1992 Tiger Deluxe Talkboy

Jorge Clavijo
jorge clavijo ue beautyshot

M314 Motion Tracker

Michael Fairchild

M314 Motion Tracker Fan Art created for my Term 1 Capstone project in the Game Artist Bootcamp through Vertex School. Thank you very much to my Term 1 mentor Andrey Agafonov for his guidance and pushing me to be better.
Blender: High Poly, Low Poly, UVs
Zbrush: Sculpted details
Substance Painter: Bakes and Textures
Marmoset Toolbag 4: Renders
Photoshop: Scene Assembly

michael fairchild render1

Vintage Nuremberg Chest

Archana Iyer

This is a game ready Nuremberg Chest Prop model created for my Term 1 Capstone Project at Vertex School. Modeled in Maya, Sculpted in Zbrush, UV’s done in Maya ,Textured and baked in Adobe Substance Painter. Thanks to Quixel Megascans , I was able to set dress my Chest Prop and present it in a Beauty Shot rendered in Unreal Engine. Marmoset Toolbag was used for other render shots and compositing done inside Photoshop.
Nuremberg chest is a 17th century money chest made in the city of Nuremberg, Germany. They were used by army treasurers as mobile safes. What inspired me to do this prop was the intricate hand painted designs and intricate metal ornate cover to hide the chest’s locking mechanism.
Many thanks to my mentor Paul Layton and Vertex School for all the guidance.

archana iyer beauty shotue5

Shinobi Prosthetic Fan Art

Chanrady Kul

Fan Art of the Shinobi Prosthetic used by Wolf/Sekiro in one of my favorite video games, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This was made for my Term 1 Capstone project in the Game Artist Bootcamp at Vertex School. Thanks to Andrey Agafonov for being my Term 1 mentor and providing guidance and feedback.

chanrady kul sp main

Sweetheart Toaster

Sandy Ev

My prop capstone project for Vertex Course’s term 1, based on the original 1929 Universal Sweetheart Toaster. Huge shoutout to my mentor Lewis Ryan Hewison! Modeled, sculpted, and rendered using Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, and Marmoset Toolbag.

khatantitem evsanaa artstation presentation 1

Rotary Phone

Ariana Tranumn

My capstone project for term one at Vertex School, using references of old rotary phones smiley. Thanks to Ryan Kingslien, Andrew Baker, and Paul Layton for all of the help!

ariana tranumn 3

Real time – Folding knife – Buck 285 Bantam

Felix Roberge

Pocket knife – Buck 285 Bantam – First person shooter game ready asset. Realised during the Vertex Games Art Program capstone 1 where I’ve learn a lot of new technique to enhance my workflow. A special thanks to Paul Layton and Rex Lucila for their feedback over those weeks.

felix roberge 5

Worn Milk Carrier

Jaheim Andrews

Here is my game-ready prop for term one at Vertex School, as well as my very first finished project. I decided to go with a milk carrier considering how fairly simple it is. I managed to learn a lot from this project, and I can’t wait for the next challenge!

jaheim andrews post1

DJI RC

David DeVries

A DJI Drone RC, Created for my term 1 capstone project for Vertex Schools Game Art Program.
This model was made in Maya, textured in Substance painter, and rendered in Marmoset toolbag 4.
A big thank you to my mentors Andrew Baker, for helping me out, and Paul Layton, for putting up with constant questions.

david devries beauty shot 6

High and Low Poly Lamp

Shaun Repp

Completed for Vertex School assignment.

shaun repp lamplowandhighpolycount

TERM 2 Artwork

Restaurant at Close

Gabriel Gray

The restaurant may have closed, but there’s still work to be done.
This scene is heavily inspired by my own time working in food service (dishwashing was my favorite part, because you can listen to music the whole time) and was also an opportunity to try out some new techniques, especially for textures. I used RGB masks, curve atlas’ and actor position to create variations in Unreal for the metal pots and pans that fill most of the scene. More on how I made the scene here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EaAG64
Thanks to Jacob Claussen for his help on this project!
The trash bags, brick and brick walls are Megascans assets.

gabriel gray highresscreenshot00128

A passageway long forgotten

Justina Silinikaite

This is my 2nd term project for Vertex School, which was created in Unreal Engine 5. Modular Pieces and props were modeled in Maya, afterwards they were sculpted in Zbrush. The cloth in particular was simulated in Marvelous Designer. Textures were made in Substance Painter and Substance Designer. Unreal Engine’s Niagara visual effects system was used to create particle effects for fire, smoke and candle flames. I’d like to give a huge thank you to my mentor Jacob Claussen for mentoring, motivating and inspiring me throughout this whole project.

justina silinikaite main passageway

The Southwark Tavern

Ofek Abo

Inspired by “The Southwark Tavern” in London this was my 2nd term project for Vertex School. Created with the aim of game ready, most of the assets are low-midpoly (except for the brick wall using nanite) and using shared texture sets/tileables & trimsheets, had the chance to experiment with a lot of stuff during the process and learn a lot.

Thanks to all the people that shared feedback and gave ideas and made this journey of knowledge possible for me

Big thanks to my mentor Cairo Goodbrand who made this entire project possible for me by providing amazing feedback and ways to overcome the challenges I had and also to two people that I know it wouldn’t have been the same outcome without their advice Salvador Sánchez and Ben Merrick.

ofek abo singleshots 0001

Red Note Pub

Ilenia Di Maria

In London, between Marylebone and Wigmore street, in a not-too-crowded street, there is a pub that catapults you to the beginning of 1900, making you revive the first notes of jazz.

Inspired by London architecture, especially the Golden Eagle building.

This is a project I did during my studies at Vertex’s School. I would like to thank my tutors Salvador Sánchez and Cairo Goodbrand for their guidance and good pieces of advice.

I modelled everything myself with the exception of the building and assets in the background, which I got from the megascans library.

ilenia di maria reder01 v2 hightreso

The Belgariad – Unreal Engine 5

This is my finished environment for term 2 at Vertex School. I built everything from the ground up, based one of my favourite concepts by Yunny Wong. The creation of the various assets and foliage was a lot of fun, as well as setting up the whole scene in UE5. I learned a lot about creating modular kits, making tileable textures in Designer and the set dressing/composition for environmental presentation. This project also improved my skills on building materials in Unreal. One of the more difficult parts within this project was the lighting but in the end it worked out quite well.
I cannot thank my Mentor Kem Yaralioglu enough for guiding me through this entire project and helping me with getting my environment to the next level! Also, i want to thank Ben Merrick and Salvador Sánchez a lot for their support and valuable feedback in the labs. Last but not least, I also want to thank Cairo Goodbrand for helping me out with the lighting.

julia 02

TERM 3 Artwork

Hong Kong Street

Sarah Yung

This is my first modular 3d environment that I created during my second and third term at Vertex. The focus was to build modular pieces. The project was later expanded to entire street during my third term.
I decided make this because this is one of the most memorable street corners that I remember growing up in Hong Kong. The original shop in real life was demolished, and rebuilding the scene revives some of the memories left in history.
The models, textures and materials from this environment were made from scratch in Maya, zBrush, Substance Painter and Substance Designer, with a few exceptions for vehicles, vegetations and pedestrians that dressed up this scene. While some of the decals used on buildings (dirt) are from Quixel, some were created in Substance Designer or Photoshop.
After finishing the scene, I decided to go further into blueprints to generate some of the side building meshes procedurally. I also tried out geometry script to bend meshes.
Thank you Jake Dunlop and all mentors at Vertex for your feedback. Thank you Amit Ginni Patpatia @LightingBot for the feedback on lighting, and special thanks to Yi Kai for your support and encouragement along this journey. smiley

sarah yung hkbuilding2

[UE4] Hong Kong Kowloon Walled City Shop

Merrick Wong

Hi everyone, I am so glad that I can share my latest project Hong Kong Kowloon Walled City Shop. For this project, I am focusing on professional development and creating exciting game art.
During the early phase, I found out I need a mentor to guide me to finish and critique my work to achieve a professional standard. That means giving me the right direction, the right vision of being an environment artist also how to make things into a job-ready portoflio. Every Sunday, I have a mentorship with Justin Rodriguez. Taking his critique humbly, I do as much work before we meet and ask as many questions as possible. All of this because of the desire in my deep heart to become better every day, and his help made me improve significate during this year. (You can compare it to my old work.)
In this project, I had learnt and master every step to finishing an environment. From picking concept art, Block out, High low poly, Sculpting, Hand Painting, the details of props and the story you should give, creating textures, Vision of Colour and Roughness map, lighting, decals, Trim sheet, modular kit, localisation etc. I have no regret working on this project every day and achieving as high quality as it can produce. I am really appreciated Justin walking with me in this project. Thank you.
At last, I am already started to create my second project. It is going to be an exterior scene. I hope everyone will be excited as me. See you soon.

merrick wong 1st screenshot 90

Dilapidated Waterway

Ryan Matias

Remains of a degrading gothic sluiceway, major inspiration taken from Bloodborne.
My final project during my mentorship at Vertex School. Wouldn’t have been possible with the help of both my mentors and other students whom inspired me to push this as far as I could. Special Shout out to my mentor Jacob Claussen for guiding me to be able to get this done.
Concept by myself

ryan matias bbsluice bottom

Shrine in an Infrastructure Forest| UE5

Rainy Wu

Finally, it comes to an end. This is my Term 3 project at Vertex School. It is a shrine located in an infrastructure forest. The original concept art is by the amazing Adrien Girod https://www.artstation.com/artwork/nEQP06 It grabbed my attention at first glance so I decided to make it.
While I was creating the environment, the game “Stray” was just out. Its atmosphere and style really are what I was looking for, therefore, lots of reference is taken from it to create this piece of work. Thanks for the good timing of game launching!
The shrine was texturing with mask, it’s my first time using mask for texturing. Trimsheet and tileable texture were used in the big pipes and cables. Vertex paint was used for the wall and floor. All models made in Maya, texturing in Substance Painter and Quixel Mixer, rendering in UE5.
Lastly, a BIG THANKS to my mentor Jacob Claussen!!!  I’m truly grateful for having him as my mentor. He gave lots of useful advice for the work and lots of support throughout the whole process!!! He really pushes me and the work to the limit. Thanks Jacob again for all the comments and support!!!

rainy wu 3 1

Desolation of loneliness

Joao Viegas

Hi everyone, this project was inspired by the Dark Souls, series. My goal with this one was to create an original captivating composition where I could guide the viewer through an eerie forgotten place into a place that felt out of reach. I aimed to create a cold desolate place that conveyed loneliness and used that to name this piece as a tongue-in-cheek wink to the Castlevania series.
I built and textured all the assets in the scene aside from the sword, fog, vines, and thinner grass. It was a rewarding experience to be able to research medieval ruins and create an amalgamation of those pieces into something that has a dream-like coherence. I hope you enjoy it.

joao viegas highresscreenshot00004

God of War Resurrection Fan Art

Titan Peakon

Hello Everyone,
Finally, my vision comes to an end, Which I developed During Vertex School Game Art Program as a Personal Side Quest. I Really Pushed Hard to make this a God of War E3 First Reveal glimpse of Kratos which grabbed my attention. I also wanted to give thanks to my Amazing mentor Marcin Klicki who gave me next level feedback along the way.

titan peakon untitled main camera 3 001

Ascension

Adam Samson

Final project for my term 3 at Vertex school’s Game art course, environment artist track. It is a temple from Shurima, the desert area of Runeterra from League of Legends. Huge thanks to Ben Merrick and Salvador Sanchez who helped me with learning unreal engine 5 and getting the scene set up as well as helping me learn Substance Designer.

adam samson thronescenerenders 0004

Dishonored Hall

Joe Bates

This is my 3rd term and final project for Vertex School. Once again a huge thank you to my mentor Jacob Claussen for all of his help on the project!

joe bates main

Forgotten Train Station | U5 Environment

Luke Chayo

The final project for my last term of the game artist program at Vertex School. This scene was a great learning experience and came with its own hurdles to overcome. A massive thank you to Kem Yaralioglu for mentoring me throughout the project. Special thanks to Salvador Sánchez and Ben Merrick for their weekly feedback in labs.
-Ivy sourced from SilverTm’s Ivy Pack
-Megascans sourced from Quixel Megascans

luke chayo maina

Forbidden Temple

Sara Miller

For my final project of the game art program at Vertex School, I modeled a temple inspired by a Lost Temple concept by Shubham Parte.

My focus on this project was learning how to make a bigger scale environment. I learned a lot about texturing and adding detail to larger environment assets by using detail normals, mesh decals, and RGBA masks, thanks to Cairo Goodbrand’s tutorial on using second UV channels inside Unreal.

I’d like to give a special thanks to my mentor, Kem Yaralioglu, for all of the guidance, knowledge, and feedback given through each step of the process. I’d also like to give a huge thank you to Salvador Sánchez and Ben Merrick for their weekly feedback.
I modeled everything in Maya, textures were made in Substance Designer and Painter, and the scene was made in UE5. Spanish moss is from Megascans.

sara miller render 1 1

Lost Gear Up

Pranave

Fan of The last of us Would never change anything from it, absolute masterpiece. I got a chance to make fan Art. Big thanks to Vertex mentor Jacob Claussen.

pranave main

Learn more about the Vertex School Game Art Program now!