Department Head
A welcome from Todd Gantzler, Game Art Certificate program department head
Todd Gantzler is a game artist, educator, and writer who has worked on top game title. He serves as the Game Art Certificate program department head and teaches courses on 2D and 3D game art techniques. His introduction to prospective certificate students discusses turning a love of video games into an exciting career. Read his bio of professional experience.
A Message to Students from Todd Gantzler
Everyone from anthropologists to zoologists is interested in games these days. Academics are exploring the applications of games in education and training. Organizations like Games For Change are using game art to change the world for the better. And talented artists, programmers, and writers are flocking to a flourishing game development industry.
The attractions of a career in game development are obvious: a job in a creative field, in a fast-growing industry, creating something as fun as computer games. At one time, game lovers or "gamers" may have not even considered the possibility of pursuing a career as a game artist. Nowadays an artist can prepare for a career with formal training, earning a professional certificate or even a college degree as they develop the skills game developers are looking for.
The Sessions College Game Art Certificate program gives you a head start in your game art career. Studying online, you'll learn how to build, texture, light, and animate the 3D objects, characters, and environments that are used in today's video games. In-depth lectures, projects, and video tutorials guide you through the technical challenges of creating artwork, helping you develop proficiency in Autodesk Maya and Adobe Photoshop.
As you work, you'll get critique and expert advice from a faculty of working professional game artists. Our instructors have many years of experience in the industry, with scores of shipped game credits to their names. So you're receiving input and mentoring that helps you shape a body of work as you move through the program. Becoming a game artist requires many hours of detail and devotion. With creativity and diligence, however, you'll graduate with a nice portfolio or reel to take to first your job interview.
Then what? The future is bright for the game industry. Hit game series like Halo, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto have been outgrossing films for years. Artists regularly move between film and game industries. The art of graphics for games isn't at the same level as the art of graphics for film; the need for games to render in real time means that polygons budgets, although expanding rapidly, are likely to keep efficiency a greater consideration in games than in film for some time. Nevertheless, the processing power behind games today does mean that modern game graphics are visually stunning and extremely satisfying to today's game artists, as well as to players of games.
Artists should also remember that games are interactive media, something quite different from film, and a very new medium with tremendous room for innovation. If you have a creative mind, you might become the Louis Armstrong of interactive media—and define for the world what these media are and will be in the future. Whatever you choose, Sessions College can provide the training and skills to get you started.
– Todd Gantzler, Game Art Certificate program department head
Game Art Certificate program department head 
Contact us | 800-258-4115 