ga me art students

Jenna Ruth is in term 11 out of 12 in the Games Track, with half a year to graduation. We chatted about her experience so far

Can you briefly tell us a bit about your background?

I’m an LA native who studied fine arts in New York. I became interested in 3D art after school. I’ve been playing video games since 1994, so it was an awesome discovery to find out that making them was something I could do.

What first attracted you to taking the Games Track option at Gnomon?

The possibility of being able to tell stories and create worlds. That sense of communication and exploration was something that I loved about art, and felt very strongly about in some of my favourite games. I just begun my demo reel, so hopefully I’ll be able to start posting lots of cool stuff on Art Station soon.

What’s it been like?

So far, it has been an incredibly challenging but also highly rewarding experience. There is so much to learn. It’s exciting but also overwhelming sometimes. A big challenge is just adjusting to how different the workflow is from film. Normal-map baking is quite different from anything else, and the pace of the pipeline is quite different.

There are several aspects that I was surprised to find fun. It’s immensely satisfying to throw a level blockout in-engine and get to run around in it immediately. Also, texturing has become incredibly fun. The combination of physically based shading and projection painting programs give you a solid start and really help to make the process fluid.

What’s next for you?

I honestly can’t wait to get out there and make games. I would love to contribute to a passionate team of people making a game that they care about. The programme is fairly intensive, so there isn’t much time for many outside activities. It’s incredibly rewarding though, so for those just starting, don’t get discouraged! So, I’m excited to get to work on personal projects with the extra time I’ll have after graduating.