Overview
With a passion for both games and art, you'll thrive on our 3D game art course, where you'll craft 3D art for various purposes and areas. You'll be supported by an industry-focused curriculum that could lead to a successful career in the expanding games industry. Join our proud tradition of originality and quality. By the end of the course, you'll not only be playing a game you've developed but following in the footsteps of UEL graduates who've left their mark in the gaming world.
Dive into the world of 3D game art in your first year. Explore core game development areas, develop 3D modelling and sculpting skills, and master texturing and material creation within the 3D game art pipeline.
Specialise in character and environment creation in your second year. Gain hands-on experience through simulated studio environments, work as a multidisciplinary team, and improve your online presence for future career opportunities. This phase will help you refine your craft and prepare you for the professional 3D game art industry.
In your final year, experiment and explore your chosen field while studying technical 3D game art, including scripting language use. Finish your journey by polishing (refining and improving) a medium-scale game project, developing a personal portfolio, and preparing to enter the 3D game art industry.
This course is in Clearing
Our LLM course is a top choice
UEL’s LLM programme has been recognised as a top choice in the latest PTES survey, achieving 1st place rankings for satisfaction, teaching and more.
What makes this course different

Align with industry demands
You'll be taught by a mixture of academics and industry professionals with experience in game design and development. Be inspired by industry speakers who will give talks on various topics in gaming.

Practical output
Create 3D games for simulated real-world briefs, developing them for targeted demographics, marketplaces and player types allowing you a real sense of what designing a game would be like in a studio.

Promoting creativity among students
Explore your creative aspirations. Give a video game a creative direction from paper to screen in an environment that mirrors the multi-disciplinary ecosystem of the game industry.

Ranked 2nd nationally
Our media courses rank 2nd nationally for media and film studies and career prospects in the Guardian University Guide 2025.
Guardian University Guide 2025Course modules
If you don't meet the entry requirements for a BA, you can study this 3D game art course as an extended, four-year programme. You'll begin by taking a foundation year which prepares you for a successful transition to the BA degree.
In your first term of the first year, you will explore the three core areas of game development. This is to allow you to get an idea of each field and make an informed decision, about an area that interests you. Within the second term, the course branches off and will develop your fundamental programming skills by introducing you to C++ (the primary language used within game programming), you will also learn and develop your understanding of maths and physics and their application within programming for games. Alongside this, you work within a simulated studio environment to help develop your soft skills such as working in a diverse team, introducing you to project management methods and working towards a creative vision.
In your second year, you will explore specialised areas within game programming such as AI programming and graphics programming. Exploring these will give you an informed decision on what area you wish to pursue when progressing further within the 3D game art course. In the second term, you will have another simulated studio environment experience, with an emphasis on completing and publishing a small-to-medium scale game project as a multidisciplinary team but working within a specialised role. You will begin to develop your online presence and identity, learn how to market yourself for potential internship and employment opportunities, and start to develop your portfolio in the area of game programming you wish to enter upon finishing the course.
In your final year, you’ll do a final project that will allow you to further explore and experiment within your chosen field in gaming. You will explore advanced programming practices which include using modern C++ features. Spanning both the first and second term, you will have your simulated studio environment experience, with an emphasis on completing and publishing a polished medium-scale game project as a multidisciplinary team. In a separate module, you will develop items for your portfolio that will showcase your skills and experiences within your chosen specialism, tailored towards the area of game programming you wish to enter when you graduate.
NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.
Download course specification
Your future career
Our BA 3D game art course has been created to provide skilled workers for the UK's creative industry. The UK game market alone was worth more than 7 billion in 2021 (source UKIE). The skills that you gain on the 3D game art course can be applied to other industries including architecture, immersive media, medical visualisation, fashion visualisation, VFX, virtual production and XR visualisation. We focus on developing your artistic skills and creativity as preparation for a career in the games industry, from building your first simple model to dealing with complex datasets in photogrammetry workflows. Our gaming students have gone on to work in both AAA and indie game development inside and outside the UK and continue to play a key role in the shaping of the interactive entertainment and games industry. Let’s explore the possible!
Industry links
We have links with Women in Games, UKIE, Tranzfuser and more.
Graduate employers
Employers our game art graduates have gone on to work for are nDreams, Electric Square, Playground Games, Interior Night, Outplay Entertainment, Spilt Milk Studios, Lively Studio, PlayStation, Sumo Digital and others.
Job roles
Typical roles which our graduates have gone on to include: 3D generalist, 3D game artist, environment artist, character artist, technical artist, lighting artist, sandbox artist, concept artist, 3D visualisation artist, architectural visualisation artist, storyboard artist and XR visualisation artist. The 3D game art skills you develop in this degree are in demand across the industry.
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.
Further study
You could enhance your skills further by studying a master's with us, such as MA Filmmaking.

We work closely with the game development team to look for opportunities for game development students, including visits, industry speakers and internships."Career Zone team
Career Zone
How you'll learn
You'll be taught by a range of academics, many of whom are practitioners in the area they teach. Some of the assessments focus on practical skills and are presented as 'live or simulated briefs'. This ensures that practice-led teaching is relevant to the industry. Our staff are well placed to take advantage of a range of professional networks and industry contacts. Each module is designed with practical components informed by theoretical underpinnings, with the intention that students develop an informed approach when designing their practical assignments.
Guided independent study
When not attending timetabled lectures or workshops, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve skills development through online study, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects and preparing coursework assignments and presentations. Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, and specialist facilities, such as game labs, the library, the full Microsoft Office software, including MS Teams, and Moodle: our Virtual Learning Environment.
Academic support
Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support.
Dedicated personal tutor
When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of staff who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.
Whether you're navigating the challenges of your 3D game art modules or planning your future career in the games industry, your tutor will be there to assist.
Workload
Each year you will spend around 276 hours of timetabled learning and teaching activities. These may be lectures, workshops, seminars and individual and group tutorials. Contact hours may vary depending on each module.
The approximate workload hours for this course are:
- Scheduled teaching - 276 hours
- Guided independent study - 924 hours
Your timetable
Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.
Class sizes
To give you an indication of class sizes, the 3D game art course normally attracts 30-40 students a year. Lecture sizes are normally 30 plus students. In the classroom, you will be taught in groups of 18-30+ students. However, this can vary by academic year.
How you'll be assessed
Coursework will include practical outcomes, e.g. individual or group-based games, artefacts, presentations, and written assignments.
We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 15 working days, although you will receive immediate feedback following many of our face-to-face assessments.
Campus and facilities
Our campus and the surrounding area
Our waterfront campus in the historic Royal Docks provides a modern, well-equipped learning environment.
Join us and you'll be able to make the most of our facilities including contemporary lecture theatres and seminar rooms, art studios and exhibition spaces, audio and visual labs and a multimedia production centre.
Features include our 24/7 Docklands library, our £21m SportsDock centre, a campus shop and bookstore, the Children's Garden Nursery, cafés, eateries, a late bar, plus Student Union facilities, including a student lounge.
The University of East London is one of the few London universities to provide on-campus accommodation. Our Docklands Campus Student Village houses close to 1,200 students from around the world. We are well connected to central London and London City Airport is just across the water. We also run a free bus service that connects Docklands with Stratford campuses.
Who teaches this course
This course is delivered by School of Arts and Creative Industries
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
- Course leader
Dan Welsh
Department of Media, Fashion & Communications, School Of Arts And Creative Industries - Course leader
Imraan Younas
Department of Media, Fashion & Communications, School Of Arts And Creative Industries - Course leader
Patrick Girard Quinnell
Department of Media, Fashion & Communications, School Of Arts And Creative Industries - Course leader
Milly Rose Gunn
Department of Media and MWP, School Of Arts And Creative Industries
What our students and staff say

In the world of 3D game art, every pixel holds the power to shape the extraordinary. Embrace polygons, materials, and light, as with digital canvas, imagination dances with skills that you will learn. If you can dream it, we can build it!"
Dan Welsh
3D Game Art course leader

I don't think I've ever been made to feel more welcome. Being surrounded by people who are friendly, social, and share your interests has to be one of the best things I can say about my university experience."
Ben Nizan
BA (Hons) Computer Games Design