Just before the Thanksgiving Recess, high school students had the opportunity to sign up and virtually meet with Renegade Game Studios Director of Visual Design, Anita Osburn, as part of the High School’s Visiting Artist Series. Meeting with students virtually from Costa Rica, the presentation covered several topics and included a Questions and Answer session for students!
Gaming Club Advisor and High School Building Aide Nicholas Malinowski had the great idea to reach out to Anita and approached High School Art Teachers and Art Club Advisors Christina Wallace and Amber Simmons to put together this informational visiting artist session for students. From there, the planning could begin! They knew it would be a great opportunity for our students to learn directly from the source about a career in art and design through real-life examples. Who better to learn from than a potential boss?
Although there are many perks of meeting an artist in person, the ability for our students to meet with individuals remotely has opened a whole new door of opportunity. Students in Art Club and Gaming Club, as well as anyone interested, could join the talk after school to learn about her job, how it works, and much more. The event was so successful they are planning another visit from Anita in the spring!
“This event was a wonderful experience for our students to participate in. It was both inspirational and informative,” said High School Art Teacher and Art Club Advisor Christina Wallace. “Students were exposed to one of the many careers available in the Visual Arts. They left motivated to create and to learn more about the various careers available in the field of the Visual Arts.”
Renegade Game Studios is an American game company based in Escondido, California, that creates and publishes board games, card games, and role-playing games. In 2020, they also began producing jigsaw puzzles using art from their games. Anita discussed how they find Artists for their designs (game board, cards, game pieces, and box designs), more specifically, how they look for Artists that fit the style of the game they are going for. Their Artists work remotely, so they use the internet to search for portfolios and artwork examples. She went into detail about this process and what they look for specifically.
Anita also explained to students what companies look for when viewing portfolios and how quality is better than quantity. She was able to provide specific advice for any students looking to pursue a career in the creative field and answered a bunch of questions they had. She even shared the “work orders” that were given to specific Artists so they could view real-life examples of the job requirements. She then shared with them the process and progress of the work as it went from sketches to final print for all aspects of the games.
Big thank you to Anita Osburn, High School Art Teachers and Art Club Advisors Christina Wallace and Amber Simmons, and Game Club Advisor and High School Building Aide Nicholas Malinowski for all their hard work in setting up this wonderful opportunity for our students!
