The Art of Fortnite: An Evening with Epic Games

Grab your pickaxe and get ready to boogie down on Thursday, August 30th, as Gnomon proudly presents The Art of Fortnite: An Evening with Epic Games. Join for a night of exploration as they delve deep into the design and workflows that go into creating Fortnite’s iconic look with top artistic talents from the team behind the award-winning and immensely popular battle royale game.

Artists and video game industry professionals of all levels will have something to look forward to as our presenters walk through the evolution and development of Fortnite’s art style, discuss the processes and challenges of creating environments for a stylized and incredibly destructible world, and illuminate the workflow and pipeline solutions required for texturing Fortnite’s kooky cast of characters.

Seating is limited. Be sure to RSVP and arrive in good time to secure a place in line. For those unable to attend, Gnomon will be streaming the live presentations on Gnomon’s official Twitch channel from 7:15 PM PT.

Schedule

7:30 – 8:05 PM: Concept Art and Designing the World of Fortnite with Ben Shafer
8:10 – 8:45 PM: Character Texturing with a Focus on Process Improvement with Bradford Smith
8:50 – 9:25 PM: Creating Destructible Environments in a Stylized Universe with Scott Homer
9:30 – 10:00 PM: Audience Questions

Guest Speakers

Ben Shafer – Senior Concept Artist, Epic Games

Ben Shafer is a senior concept artist at Epic Games and has contributed to the likes of Fortnite, the Gears of War franchise, Paragon, and Infinity Blade: Dungeons, and real-time showcase shorts for the Unreal Engine. With 15 years in the video game industry as a concept artist, vis-dev artist, and illustrator, Ben has also created art for titles including Tomb Raider: Underworld, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Hellgate: London, as well as games for Marvel movies, such as X-Men 3 and Iron Man.

Scott Homer – Environment Artist, Epic Games

Scott Homer is a British-born Environment Artist. Originally starting out as a Counterstrike modder in his early teens, Scott joined Crytek after completing a BA at the University of Hertfordshire. Scott’s credits include: Crysis 3, Crysis 3: The Lost Island, Homefront: The Revolution, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Paragon, Robo Recall and most recently, Epic Games’ hit title Fortnite.

Bradford Smith – Senior Texture/Shader Artist, Epic Games

Brad Smith has over 14 years experience across Epic Games, Naughty Dog, and Electronic Arts and has contributed to AAA titles including: Fortnite, Paragon, Uncharted 3 and 4, and the Madden NFL and NCAA Football series. With a diverse development background and credits including art team leadership, modeling, texturing, and lighting, Brad has always been highly active in creative process improvement, pipeline development, and training.

Luis Cataldi – Global Education Evangelist, Epic Games

Luis Cataldi has been working in the computer graphics industry for over 20 years in roles including character TD, animator, lighter, environment artist, FX TD, and art director. His work has appeared in TV, music videos, theme parks rides, animated feature films, and AAA video games. In 2014, Luis joined Epic Games to build and promote an educational community around the Unreal Engine and currently serves as the Global Education Evangelist.