dBs Institute student Clara spent her summer as a game artist intern at UK-based game studio Ground Shatter. Find out what the experience was like for her here!
At dBs Institute, we encourage our students to engage with the creative industries from an early stage of their degree programmes. Whether they are studying one of our music production courses, game art, development or design courses or our technical sound and audio courses, intersecting with the creative industries is essential for their careers.
While participating in the Global Game Jam hosted at our Bristol campus, BA (Hons) Game Art student Clara Uhlendorf found herself on the same team as James Parker, the Founder of Bristol-based game studio Ground Shatter.
That experience led to an internship with the game studio as a game artist, giving Clara her very first taste of working a game art job in the industry. Find out how she got on during the internship and how studying at dBs has helped her sharpen her technical skills here.
Hi Clara! Please introduce yourself and how you got into game art
Hi, my name is Clara. I'm 26 years old, I'm currently studying Game Art here at dBs, and I'll be starting my second year soon. I've never studied art, but I've always done art in my free time. After I graduated high school in Germany, I studied fashion, but I realised that was not really my passion, so I found myself getting into game art instead.
How was your game artist internship at Ground Shatter recently?
My game artist internship at Ground Shatter was an amazing experience. I had so much fun. It taught me a lot about the industry in general, and it's just made me more confident that this is really what I want to do, and I'm doing the right thing for myself right now.
What were some of the game art jobs and projects you were involved with during the internship?
So at the internship, I was working on their new game called Knights in Tight Spaces. I spoke to the lead artist, Dave, and he introduced me to all the programs they use, which was very intimidating. After the first week of being introduced to everything, Dave said, “Okay, these are all the weapons that we need for the game. Start with this one, do a sketch and speak to me. We'll chat and do adjustments, and then you're gonna model it, texture it and implement it into the game engine.” That was very scary, but I got more confident as time went on, and I think I ended up making about eight weapons.
What were some of the most memorable moments from the experience?
There was one moment that stuck in my mind, which was when we were working in the office and suddenly the two animators got up, stood in the middle of the room and started to get into a fake sword fight. Nobody said anything about it. Nobody looked up. It was like it was just the most normal thing to ever happen!
Then I chatted to one of the animators and they said, “Oh yeah, we obviously have to see what movements look most realistic when we're animating the characters.” She also told me that both of them went on a two-day workshop to learn traditional sword fighting so that they knew how to animate the characters properly. I thought that was really, really cool and very fun.
How did this opportunity come about during your game art course at dBs?
The opportunity came about because I joined the Global Game Jam at the beginning of the year, and it was hosted here at dBs. I was only half a year into my game art course, so I was very scared that I didn't have the right skills for it. I was quite nervous, and I ended up in a group where our team leader was James Parker, who I found out later was the owner or the founder of Ground Shatter. We had a group on Discord, so I messaged him saying, “Hey, James. I want to do an internship, is there any chance I could come to you?” And then he got back to me and said, “Can you send me a portfolio to show to my lead artist and I'll get back to you?” I sent him a portfolio and he agreed and then we arranged dates!
What’s your experience at dBs on the Game Art degree been like so far?
My experience at dBs so far has been really great. I've learnt so many new things. There are so many opportunities to network. I've met amazing people already that I now count as my friends. Our lecturers are incredibly supportive and encourage you to be the person that you are, come out of your shell and put yourself out there. They are the ones that push us to go to things like the Game Jam.
What are you looking forward to after you finish your game art course?
I'm really excited to see what comes after dBs; to live my life and work in the industry. Wherever I end up, if it's a little bit like the experience I've had at Ground Shatter, I'll be fine!
We help game artists, designers and developers like Clara start their careers in the game industry. Want to join her? Check out our unique game design courses at dBs Institute today!
