Polygon Academy

07/03/2020

A deep dive into something many artists struggle with...Impostor syndrome! Tips on how to overcome it👉 https://youtu.be/VOPKR8EYgCU

Today we are doing a deep dive into my own personal struggle with impostor syndrome and some tips to overcome it. This happens to a LOT of artists, you are n...

26/10/2019

New free tutorial is up! Lighting with emissive in unreal. There is only 1 small spotlight placed in this scene. Link: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OyloVg

23/10/2019

New tutorial coming soon 😉

03/10/2019

New 4 part tutorial is out! Link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBi3xvwvY3dk09fNSd7jrnEscXS_6_1p2

26/06/2019

Part 2 of this series is up! https://youtu.be/LNKce3QMBs8
we go into how to find internships, tips for indie developers, studio interview advice and some of the WOW moments from our careers. Enjoy!

13/06/2019

A deep dive into artistic development and marketing yourself like it's 2019. enjoy https://youtu.be/HBKEEK-KxYI

Today on the Student Art Podcast Tim Simpson creator of Polygon Academy and i discuss the pro's and con's of student education. We go into depth about money ...

12/06/2019

New video is up: https://youtu.be/hF0bVWcyDFs
Tips for networking at events like GDC, freelancing $$ tips and portfolio advice for those looking to get into the game industry.

06/06/2019

Back in action with a new video: https://youtu.be/CmJuzetQTvE

This is the start of a new series where I go in depth on your questions from twitter and youtube 🙂 the first episode is packed with info for environment artists, take a watch and let me know what you think!

04/05/2019

This is CRAZY! when I first started this little project I never expected to reach this number, let alone this fast! Huge thank you to everyone who takes the time to watch the videos, you are the reason I do it :) And we are just gettin' started.....

12/04/2019

New tutorial is up: https://youtu.be/IziIY674NAw

11/04/2019

Another podcast is in the bag! lots of tips for students/junior artists in here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbCVcsLYG1Y

Episode #2 with Tim Simpson, we talk about a variety of things such as gaining popularity in the online art community, how learning resource should be suppli...

31/03/2019

An hour long interview with tons of tips for students, thoughts on ArtStation and how artists should be building audiences and side hustles in 2019. https://youtu.be/ibAviIFhAls

Turns out i'm just bad at uploading but god dammit i can do better!! Anyway i finally got to talk to Tim Simpson someone I've been keen to talk to since the ...

28/03/2019

How I got my 1st job in the game industry: https://youtu.be/apoVKOKzRwA
Story time! A quick overview of how I broke in to the gamedev scene, some tips and pointers for any students or self taugh artists like me...

Dont miss my free UE4 Lighting Presets: https://youtu.be/_bqpw5sOwr4 Today I go into how I broke into the video game industry and got my first job as an envi...

21/03/2019

UE4 Lighting presets FREE DOWNLOAD: https://gum.co/ue4light
Quickly add a sunny day, moody night, or lazy sunset vibe to your scenes with these 3 lighting presets. No plug-ins or installation required, just copy paste! Link to a tutorial on how to use them included in the download. Let me know if you enjoy them and want more!

The example scenes were created by Epic Games and are not included in the download, but you can get them easily on the unreal marketplace for free, or in the learn tab on the UE4 Launcher, just search for Epic Zen or Paragon Monolith.

09/03/2019

Back in action with another tutorial! https://youtu.be/y1iV1D4M_pI
A postmortem on my feudal japan scene. If you are not subbed to the Polygon Academy youtube channel you are killin me softly! ;) enjoy!

My scene managed to snag 2nd place! In this video I do a postmortem and examine what when right and what I would improve on in future, for a deeper look at e...

05/12/2018

Wow! just saw I was nominated for an 80.lv award in the environment category! So many great artists on that list, it's an honor to be among them :) go vote for some badass artists and read some in depth articles! Thanks Kirill Tokarev and the crew over there for putting this together and spotlighting a ton of talented folks across every discipline.
https://awards.80.lv/projects/tim-simpson

We invite you all to take a part in the first annual 80 Level Awards

01/12/2018

A quick walkthrough of how I am lighting my scene and some tips to get great looking fog inside unreal engine 4
The book I recommend in the intro: https://amzn.to/2SoQu9g

24/11/2018

If you guys want to learn some crazy high level theory that should impact everything you create in future...my best friend and absolutely phenomenal senior artist/art director Lincoln Hughes put out one of his talks. Do yourself a favor, an give it a watch. some super senior level tips in here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sux-2HRRIEI

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lincoln.hughes2d/ Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artoflincolnhughes/ Business enquiries: l...

21/11/2018

This might be the most important piece of content I have put out to date. No pretty pictures in this one, but I think it will help more artists/students than any "how to" tutorial.

Failure is a part of any artist's journey, even the pro's you look up to on ArtStation or Instagram started out struggling at first. 3 big tips that help me move forward and embrace failure whenever it happens. 11 years in the game industry and it is still a part of the daily grind. If this helped you, share it with a fellow creative, you never know what they might be going through.

19/11/2018

In EP 5 we dive into creating trees with 3DS Max, Zbrush and UE4. A quick update on the overall scene and then a demo on creating tree and foliage assets for games. Big thanks to Rudy Lamotte for his tips and advice on this challenging process!

07/11/2018

In this video I give a quick update on the status of the scene and also go over one of the biggest ways I save time during environment production. I can't recommend using prefabs and blueprints in unreal enough!

I also highly recommend checking out the Japan reference packs from Jonas Ronnegard, I found them extremely useful for creating assets for this scene: https://gumroad.com/environmentdesign

03/11/2018

A Free Mini tutorial on sculpting wood in Zbrush! Find this useful?! let me know in the comments below :D Happy sculpting!

31/10/2018

In this video I break down how you can use a few simple pieces built in 3ds max to quickly flesh out modular environments in unreal engine 4. I go into down my asset creation process and give an update on the scene, which is now past the old greybox layout.

29/10/2018

Little preview of the artstation challenge scene progress. Vlog coming weds about the modeling of this 🙂 hit me up with questions below if you got ‘em!

26/10/2018

A quick preview of some of the content coming next week, the vlog will be about modular pieces/modeling and then a second juicy mini tutorial on sculpting wood in zbrush 💪. What kind of content do you guys wanna see moving forward?!

23/10/2018

Having a solid greybox or block out is CRITICAL to the success of a 3D environment. If you want to be a level designer or environment artists, this is an important skill to master. Love it or hate it, if you want to be a professional artist, you will have to deal with greyboxing at some point ;)

In this second episode of the artstation challenge vlog I break down my simple method for creating an interesting layout that will be the foundation of my final scene. I have loved your feedback so far, so keep asking any questions you have about environment art or the game industry in the comments below.

22/10/2018

Do you make the mistake of skipping your blockouts?! Confess your art sins in the comments below 😂

A quick peek at the blockout process for my artstation challenge. So many artists undervalue the importance of investing time in a solid blockout, and jump into making random assets too soon. This is literally the foundation you are building from, make sure it’s solid!

Invest a fee hours hammering out initial composition and scene layout, it allows you to prioritize your asset creation and know where to really focus your time and energy! Full vlog on the process coming soon!

17/10/2018

Want to learn environment art?! I decided to vlog the whole process of creating my ArtStation feudal japan challenge. This series is designed to help anyone struggling to get into the video game industry as an environment artist.

Basically, I want to create the content I wish I had access to 10 years ago when I was learning to create 3d art in my parents basement! Feel free to follow along as I give away all the "Secrets" of my game environment production process!

This first video highlights the importance of planning when it comes to producing art. I can't stress this enough, and not thoroughly planning my scenes, rushing to make art and then getting lost was one of my biggest mistakes as a junior artist!

Let me know what you want to learn in the comments below!

28/09/2018

What's your biggest struggle when it comes to finishing your art projects?? Reaching the finish line is so important if you want to be taken seriously and become a professional artist.

It can be a long, hard grind to get into the CG industry and it is something many artists struggle with. How to keep going when you feel unmotivated and seemingly not making much progress towards your dream job. How do professional artists keep pumping out awesome new work all the time!?

In this piece, I outline some heavy hitting tips that helped me go from a broke basement dwelling artist grinding away on my first game art portfolio to an Industry pro with 10+ years of experience and multiple shipped titles under my belt.

If you get some sliver of value from this, let me know below and share it with a friend who could use a kick in the pants :)

https://www.polygon-academy.com/tips-for-artists-struggling-with-motivation/

8 Hard hitting tips for those artists not "feeling" their current projects. How I went from a broke basement artist to an industry pro with 10+ years experience.

02/06/2018

An awesome video on improving your scifi designs by Alex Senechal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2376&v=AkYnoaSB5xw

This video is something I've wanted to make for a awhile. It's my goal to help people who are getting into scifi some quick ways to start changing how they t...

13/05/2018

really awesome set of UE4 shaders available for free, super powerful set of tools from Lincoln Hughes

11/03/2018

An awesome scifi concept art tutorial from Lincoln Hughes. Free to download on his gumroad 👍

https://www.facebook.com/artoflincolnhughes/videos/171935986791295/

08/03/2018

Creatives tend to be awesome at making art, but not so great at marketing themselves. Here is how to stay relevant in 2018 and beyond.

In this weeks article, we look at why using ArtStation for your portfolio can create a ton of opportunity for you. From getting job offers for positions that have not even been posted yet, to building an audience of fans eager to consume your art.

https://www.polygon-academy.com/why-your-portfolio-needs-to-be-on-artstation/

A look at the WHY behind the reason every digital artist needs to be using ArtStation for their portfolio. Hands on tactics to help making getting job much easier by building an audience of dedicated fans.

08/03/2018

Giving away some environment art "secrets". My chat with 80.lv on how I built this scifi UE4 environment with only a few materials and a limited set of modular pieces.

https://80.lv/articles/tricks-for-faster-environment-production/

Tim Simpson did a detailed talk about the way he created this wonderful sci-fi installation, relying on a limited number of assets, and clever UE4 tricks.

28/02/2018

I consistently see game art students struggling with the process of getting their first job at a video game studio. Here is 10 tips from someone who has been on both sides of the hiring process for over 10 years.

I really hope it gives some actionable tips for anyone currently feeling frustrated at the lack of replies to their applications. I was there when I first started out, learn from my mistakes!

I think there are so many smaller pieces of the puzzle that people miss out when trying to break into the game industry. Your portfolio is always going to be king for art positions, but there is so much more you need to be aware of.

Applying 1 or 2 of these tips could help make the process smoother for everyone involved!

I hope you get a ton of value and insight from this, if you do, please share it with a friend and leave a comment below! The less "starving artists" the better! - Tim

https://www.polygon-academy.com/10-insider-tips-for-artists-applying-to-game-studios/

Want to be an artist in the video game industry? Here are 10 tips from a senior artist for your next studio application. Avoid some of the common pitfalls and mistakes!