Focused on career outcomes, the Character Design Course takes your character skills to a professional level. Whether you want to freelance as an independent artist, or work at a major film or game studio, you'll learn job skills, master complex techniques and learn to communicate through art, creating compelling work that captivates and inspires.
Why study concept art at CG Spectrum:
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Get your skills to industry standard with advanced concept art training. With a seasoned concept artist as your mentor, you'll gain valuable insights into the film and games industry, build job skills, and graduate with a solid portfolio to impress employers.
Meet your mentor online for weekly classes, get personalized video critiques of your work, and 1-on-1 career support to get you ready to hit the ground running after graduation!
Micro-credential
6 weeks
20 hrs weekly
Advanced
Concept Art Foundations course or portfolio submission
Weekly online classes, feedback and support
Photoshop
Nov 6, 2023
Whether straight out of high school, changing careers, or upgrading skills, our specialized expert-led concept art training helps you build practical job skills and a competitive edge
Plan your studies around your work and family commitments
Learn from mentors who have worked on major films and games
Build practical, relevant job skills that studios are looking for.
Options to help you pursue your passion and start working sooner.
In the character design specialist course, you’ll use anatomy, posing skills, personality, character traits, and the environment to inform your designs. Create backstories for your characters and experiment with color, posing, and lighting to engage your audience in the story.
How to:
To be the best, it helps to learn from the best. All concept art classes are taught by industry mentors who have worked with major game developers, film studios and publishing giants.
Brandon brings almost 20 years of experience as a video game concept artist with a long client list that includes EA, Activision, Capcom, Gree, and Disney Interactive.
Read full bioManager of Digital Painting
Known for Resident Evil
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Battlefield V
Imery's first job out of school was on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 20 years on he's still working as concept designer and art director with top clients like Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Disney.
Read full bioMentor of Concept Art
Known for Warner Bros, Universal, Disney
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Game of Thrones (publication)
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Ghost Force
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Disney Infinity
Humza has worked for EA, Microsoft, Activision, LucasArts, Wargaming, Ubisoft, Fischer Price, Hasbro, Mattel. Credits include: Call of Duty, The Division 2, and the Sims.
Read full bioMentor of Concept Art
Known for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Aeon Must Die
Award-winning artist Mike has worked with clients such as Marvel, Hasbro, Dimension Films, HBO, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Mattel, DC Comics and Cartoon Network.
Read full bioMentor of Concept Art
Known for Black Panther
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Minecraft Dungeons
Award-winning artist Tyler has worked with major clients like Cryptozoic and Blizzard on titles including Heroes of the Storm, Warhammer, Rift, Star Wars, Hex, Warcraft, and RWBY.
Read full bioMentor of Concept Art & Illustration
Known for Hearthstone
Now art director at Phoenix One, Bernie created creatures, characters, weapons and FX concepts for cinematic trailers for World of Warcraft and more while at Blizzard.
Read full bioMentor of Concept Art
Known for World of Warcraft
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Book & Comic Illustration
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Halo Infinite
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Brother in Arms 3
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Illustrations for children's market
Mentor of Concept Art
Known for Wreck it Ralph 2
The most affordable way to learn from top industry mentors in a fun, collaborative environment, while still getting plenty of personalized feedback.
Progress faster and enjoy more flexiblity with private mentorship. Ideal for busy schedules, career-changers, or artists upgrading skills or changing specialties.
(1 x payment)
(1 x payment)
Aside from basic computer skills and a computer that meets the minimum specifications (see next question), this course requires the successful completion of the Concept Art and Illustration Course or portfolio submission demonstrating professional experience and an accompanying reel/resume.
You must know the difference between concept art and illustration and demonstrate competent use of perspective, anatomy, colour and colourization in Photoshop, linework, composition and iterative design. We do not cover any of these skills in the advanced concept art course.
Software:
Photoshop or equivalent software is required.
Hardware:
You will need a computer that meets the minimum system requirements for Photoshop, and a graphics tablet (see digital painting software and equipment).
What concept art careers can I explore post-graduation?
On completion of the Advanced Concept Art Course you will have greater confidence in your abilities and a portfolio to show employers.
You will also have personalized career services with our Career Development Manager which can help when applying for junior concept art jobs such as:
Discover more about these jobs, tips, and salary expectations on our careers page:
With a focus on portfolio preparation, we help students build their competitive edge with high quality work that gets noticed. See what they are creating.
I honestly couldn’t have had a better experience with the classes.
I got an hour each week of dedicated one on one time with the mentor. He would give me critiques and paint overs of my work. The paint overs from a professional are the biggest benefit in my opinion. Not only are the classes immensely helpful, the staff are quick to answer emails and they even went out of their way to send my certificates to colleges here in the USA, which helped me get accepted to some of the top art schools on the east coast.
I have nothing but great memories of CG Spectrum!
I was a bit unsure when I signed up for the concept art course because I had no prior experience, but it changed my life. I had a great mentor, Brandon, who would always push me to do better and I learned valuable things in each class. Now I'm closer to my dream job.
Thank you CG Spectrum for giving me exactly what I needed to get started in this competitive industry.
I started the Concept Art & Illustration Course to create a stunning portfolio to apply for an internship. Without CG Spectrum I would never have been able to create a portfolio on a level that got me an amazing internship in Beijing.