Program Overview
Start your career in the field where art and interactivity merge. As gaming and interactive media become increasingly popular, experience with game art has never been more rewarding. Lipscomb’s Game Art program prepares students for careers creating and enhancing the visuals of games.
Unlike the technical game development or design degrees, a bachelor's in game art teaches students the foundational art concepts and prepares them to use these foundations in the creation of game ready assets. Study the art of movement through animation and drawing courses, while developing long-lasting connections with expert professionals in a Christian context. They will help you mature both as a game artist and an individual.
As a graduate of this program, you'll have a full game art portfolio and foundational knowledge for a career as a visual artist. These skills will help secure you a position for a variety of professions, such as a modeler, texture artist, animator or FX artist. Send in your portfolio and apply today.
Program Outcomes
The game art program will shape how you think about animation, game layout and player movement within a game. Beginning with drawing and animation courses, students study critical game graphics like how people and things move as well as how to build the environment with buildings or landscapes. As they progress in the program, students will gain the following skills and experience:
Taught by highly-experienced faculty, this program’s curriculum is designed to give students a well-rounded artistic skill set and hands-on experience with game engines.
We designed our program to give you a solid foundation in drawing, animation, and computer generated, (CG) assets. The upper-level classes allow you to create art/assets different games with specific goals and genres for diverse platforms. We want you to develop a game art portfolio to show to possible employers. Concentrations are available to allow you to dive deeper into a topic you're most interested in — and to be more versatile.
- Concept Artist
- Animation
- Asset Modeling
- Environment Artist
For anyone applying for the BA or BFA in Game Art, you must submit your portfolio as a part of going through the admissions process. The first deadline is December 1st, the second is March 1 of the year you plan to attend. Late submissions will still be considered but, only a limited amount of students will be accepted each fall.
If you are not accepted into either program by fall of the year you are starting, you will have another opportunity to apply after your first year at the University. Speak with your advisor for more information.
Requirements for game art majors:
- Please submit only digital work in the form of digital file images in either .jpg or .png file formats for images and .mov files for movies. Providing links to a personal YouTube or Vimeo channel for movie files is also acceptable.
- Minimum 10 works/ maximum 15 works.*
- Digital slides are accepted on Google Drive or Dropbox. Please provide a link.
- Digital slides must have a corresponding slide list with the following information:
- the title of the piece
- medium
- size of the artwork
- date of completion.
- Letter of intent addressed to the Selection Committee explaining what concentration you wish to study (2D animation or CG animation, who you are, contact information, etc.)
There can be multiple images on a single page, but nothing too small, please. Sketches and exploratory work, along with the final piece are encouraged. Rendered drawings are not as important. Here is a list of what we would like to see in order of importance, specifically, for the B.A. and BFA in Game Art programs:
- Figure drawings/ gesture drawings (or sketches of people doing things around you)
- Animal drawings or sketches
- Sketchbook pages that you like
- CG models (figures or objects)
- Paintings and architectural renderings
- Character designs
- Caricatures or illustrations
- Animation reel or animation tests
Upload these items to your Bison Portal in the portfolio section. You must submit a minimum of 10 pieces.
- Mandatory internship
- Students will have the opportunity to create their own capstone project. Either creating a game or creating concept art for a game pitch.
Why Earn Your Game Art Degree at Lipscomb University?
With state of the art technology and real life commercial projects, Lipscomb’s Game Art degree equips students with the skills they need to lead in the gaming and entertainment industry. Smaller class sizes mean you will have the chance to make strong connections with your peers and receive individual guidance from proven faculty. Program graduates leave with the skills and connections to be entrepreneurs in the gaming field.
