Skip the Art School Circus

With Vertex School’s Online Game Art Program

Curious how one can build creative skills that help them go from being a night security guard to working at Epic Games? Well, our 9-month online Game Art Program is known to do just that. 

This 9-month program not only creates job-ready candidates for games, film, and the metaverse, but it also arms students with the confidence and mindset necessary to achieve their goals. Students receive small group or one-on-one mentoring from top industry professionals. This acts as an easy networking opportunity as well as access to up-to-date information and hard-to-get industry knowledge.

One of the first things students are told when joining Vertex School is that there is no labor shortage in the game arts industry. There is a talent shortage. Ryan, the founder, will likely pause there for a second to see if he can gather what meaning the word talent might have for the student.

For many, talent is a judgment, perhaps, a judgment on our entire being. For some, it might mean… Do I have what it takes?

At Vertex School, talent is just a word and often only useful in the eye of the beholder. It’s a word business execs use to say, “He checks all of our boxes.” That’s it… They don’t know the depths of you. They don’t want to know the depth of all 1,000 people who applied for the job. All they want to know is if you can do the job.

For them, talent is just a word that says, “Yes, I think she can do the job and she can probably do it better than these other people in the queue.”

But how do they come to this decision? How do HR, business execs, and other artists come to a decision that you have the potential… the talent… to do this job just by looking at a portfolio?

That’s been Ryan Kingslien’s job, the founder, for the last decade of his life. He’s been devoted to figuring out how one can build creative skills that help someone go from being a night restocker at Costco to working at places like Bungie Studios.

It starts with their amazing mentors who all work in the industry and, more importantly, who are devoted to students’ growth. Mentors like Jacob Claussen:

“I’m a person who went the four-year school route and left without the knowledge needed to join the industry. Getting to know and being mentored by professionals working in the industry allows for up-to-date training, a clear perspective and helps build those first steps in networking which are extremely important.” – Jacob Claussen, Vertex mentor and Environment Art Director at Fall Damage

Add into that a belief that mastery is not magic, it is just process. Learn the process of the masters and you will become the master as well, and we’re all starting to get somewhere.

One of the last pieces of the puzzle is the school’s belief that people are generally overeducated and underworked. Vertex School, they’ve stated, believes that you come in armed with much more than you know and part of their job is to unlock that in you and give you a path to build on it.

Here’s Kamala Atakishiyeva:

“I found Vertex during a time when I was again changing careers and didn’t want to invest the time or money on going back to school. After doing a lot of research, I could see that Vertex was exactly the type of learning I needed to get me job-ready without losing time. I was right. With the close guidance of my mentors and well-structured curriculum, the school has helped me get incredible results by just the end of the first term.” – Kamala Atakishiyeva, Vertex School graduate

The battle-tested curriculum that Kamala references above is the work you are asked to do from day one. Theory is covered but weekly work is expected, with 20 hours a week considered to be the minimum.

Want to learn more about how to build your skills and become job-ready in games, the metaverse, and film?

Check out the 9-month online Game Art Program at Vertex School.

Recommended next read: Getting a Career as a Game Artist