Buck by Vertex School Mentor Ashley Sparling
Mentor Spotlight: Ashley Sparling
From Ubisoft to Co-Founder
Today we introduce you to Game Art Program Character Art Mentor Ashley Sparling!
Ashley is based in the United Kingdom and is the Character Art Director as well as Co-Founder at K9 Digital. At K9 Digital they work on a wide range of projects from animated films, to VR games, and AAA games.
Orangutan by Ashley Sparling
Ashley has over 15 years of experience in the video games industry, specializing in character art for console and mobile development.
Before K9 Digital, Ashley worked at Splash Damage, Ubisoft, Jagex, Lionhead Studios, NaturalMotion, and more!
Some projects Ashley has worked on include Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Cinematic World Premiere, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Remnant 2, and Fable Legends.
Vertex School Student Words About Ashley
Game Art Program alumni Étienne Cardona Plourde was mentored by Ashley, read what Étienne had to say about being mentored by Ashley below.
Artwork by Étienne Cardona Plourde under Ashley’s mentorship
“I’ve learned character art under the mentorship of Ashley Sparling. He was an enthusiastic and pleasant teacher. His classes were always a positive experience and I always looked forward to them.
He provided meaningful feedback and critique with clean and concise explanations. Ashley always took the time to propose tools and techniques to help achieve better results. Showing the workflow with examples when required and sharing knowledge relevant to the current pipeline of the videogame industry.
Ashley’s mentorship allowed me to understand the foundation of character arts and better my skills. It was a pleasure learning from him, I would be happy to repeat the experience or work with him on a project…
Thanks to Vertex School and a recommendation from Ashley Sparling, I’ve been hired by Ubisoft as a 3D Character Artist.” -Étienne Cardona Plourde
At Vertex School, you get mentoring from experienced industry professionals like Ashley! We are so grateful to have Ashley as a Vertex School mentor.
Check out Ashley’s ArtStation here.
Learn more about our career-ready programs!
Recommended next read: Getting a Career As a Game Artist