Vertex Program Student Experience – Brigitte Fuker

Today we introduce you to Game Art Program graduate, Brigitte Fuker. In this blog post, Brigitte shares her Vertex Program student experience. She also shares the process of creating her term II project, Arguments Yard.

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Term II Project by Brigitte Fuker, Arguments Yard

Introduction

Hey, my name is Brigitte, I’m from Vienna, Austria and I started my 3D journey a bit over two years ago at the SAE Institute for 3D Animation and Game Art. I always liked video games and wanted to do something creative for my career, so I gave those studies a go while working part-time as a kitchen assistant to stay stable.

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Joining Vertex

Before joining Vertex School I had 1.5 years of experience in 3D art.

After finishing my diploma at SAE Institute I really wanted to focus on environment art and spend more time on building portfolio pieces. I felt as if I had a lot more to learn before I could enter the industry. A friend of mine had just completed the Game Art Environment Art Program at Vertex School and when listening to her talk about the benefits and mentorships, I knew quickly that it sounded like a good route to take.

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Term II Project – Arguments Yard

My capstone project is called “Arguments Yard”, which I made during my second term with Cairo Goodbrand as my mentor.

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For my main inspiration and concept, I used an old photograph of the actual “Arguments Yard” in Whitby, England. I really liked the composition, different surfaces, and overall feeling of the place. I started with creating the modular pieces out of a blockout, and categorized what type of set dressing assets I needed. As well as how many unique, tileable, and trimsheet materials would be appropriate.

3D Materials

Professional Mentorship

The weekly check-ins with my mentor Cairo motivated me to hold myself accountable. I also really appreciated getting regular feedback and answers to questions that arose during the week. Cairo was very good at explaining different processes and doing little “workshops” on software that was new to us.

3D Set Props

The Most & Least Challenging Parts of the Project

The most challenging part was learning Substance Designer and trying out ways of creating variety like vertex painting and RGB masks for the first time. All of that was also the most fun since it’s so rewarding to go from struggle to success. You always end up more knowledgeable after a hard task.

The Vertex School Experience

Overall, my experience at Vertex School was very rewarding. I learned so much about different workflows, techniques, and software. I also really enjoyed getting to know many awesome and talented people 🙂

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Student Links

Check out Brigitte’s ArtStation here: https://www.artstation.com/zoora6

Check out Brigitte’s LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brigitte-fuker-66919026a/

Recommended next read: Getting a Career as a Game Artist