The Sessions Game Art Certificate Program is a cutting-edge program built to your schedule and learning needs.
Each class is exciting, relevant, and challenging—and developed with projects geared to art and development processes used by leading game studios today. You'll study with outstanding instructors, getting the feedback and mentoring you need to prepare for a professional environment.
Complete the entire program online in 12 months or less. (Extensions available to students that need more time.)
Complete eight (8) classes: Four (4) Required classes and four (4) Electives. All students must complete a minimum of 315 hours of coursework. Program advisors will help you build a learning path that meets your goals.
Required classes focus on modeling, texturing, animation, color and lighting.
Electives broaden your skills in game design, digital imaging, digital photography, fine arts, and 2D and 3D design.
The Game Art Portfolio and Reel class is included in the Sessions Game Art Certificate program at no additional cost.
If you're looking to create video game artwork, look no farther Autodesk Maya. Maya combines powerful tools for the major areas in 3D content creation: modeling, animation, texturing, and rendering. Many of today's top video games are created in Maya, from characters, to models, levels ... more
Tiling textures, the design of repeated textures for 3D environments, is an essential part of any game artist's job. So essential is the task, any game artist who is new on the block is likely to spend the majority of his or her time creating tiling textures ... more
Lightness and darkness are constantly battling for their place in the world. Who'll win? As a lighting artist, you decide. A mastery of lighting and color is the mark of the true game art professional. Lighting can set the mood in a dungeon, help a player notice a hidden power-up, make a character look menacing ... more
Ready to put your creativity in motion? Learn how to apply the classic principles of character animation to 3D models using Autodesk Maya. In six hands-on lessons, character animation phenom Cristin McKee guides you through 14 principles of animation ranging from squash and stretch and anticipated movement to the expression of personality and thought. ... more
Get a realistic overview of the industry career market, learning tips for networking and representing your skills. You'll focus on how to create a public portfolio of work, find and apply for jobs in the game industry, and compile a reel that matches your career aspirations. Learn how to tailor your portfolio for a job ad and create a short animated reel for DVD or the Web that shows off your finest work... more
Certificate students must complete four (4) of the electives listed below. Electives may be selected from any area of concentration. Students may choose to take all electives from a single concentration for a more focused career path.
Game characters like Lara Croft are among the most looked-at art in video games. And why? It's because they're properly set up and convincingly animated.... more
Want to work in the game industry? Great news, it's a fast-expanding field where employers are always looking for talented artists and designers ... more
Video games rely on critics for their success. Between any game developer and the waiting public is an army of analysts writing magazine reviews, game site posts, peer reviews, ESRB ratings, even judicial opinions, you name it ... more
Writing a design document is the single most important skill for a game designer to master. Learn the number one way to show your game design talent to potential employers ... more
Learn tricks of the trade for coloring concept art, creating tiling textures, painting environments, working with texture maps, and even texturing characters using Photoshop ... more
Learn how to model with NURBS and subdivision surfaces and master the essentials of creating a character skeleton and rig, looped animation cycles, characters interacting with their environments, special effects using textures and dynamics, and more... more
Are you getting the most out of your digital photographs? If you're not using your camera's RAW format—and Adobe Photoshop's Camera Raw feature—you're missing a whole world of picture quality ... more
Maya Basics
Tiling Textures
Game Lighting and Color
Character Animation
Intro to Game Development
Game Analysis And Criticism
History of Video Games
Photoshop for Game Artists
Digital Photography I
Digital Photography II
Digital Video Editing I
History of Art
Figure Drawing 
Color Theory 
Design and Composition 
