Since the start of July, we have been running this bootcamp completely for free for students from low income backgrounds. Guiding them through the programme are our team of mentors, providing feedback and encouragement every step of the way. Our very own Rose Tan took some time with our mentors to get to know them more, and share their stories about the world of technical art!

Rose: Hi everyone! Can you introduce yourselves for us, and your journey so far in the games industry?

Luna: I started out with a background in 3D art, but always wanted to continue programming, and realised I didn't have to choose when I discovered what Technical Art is. I specialise in the more "T" side of tech art these days.

Malika: My background is full on art. I finished art degree, and then I became tech artist. So as a technical artist, I'm more art leaning, and I really closely work with environment art team. When something breaks, I’m the one that jumps in and either makes a tool, researches existing tools or talks to people and tell them how to do certain things.

Jad: I'm a technical director. I own my own place called Jin and Jaw. We're tech art outsourcers. I'm a generalist. On Tomb Raider, I was doing VFX, and then hopped on other cinematics to do tooling and now I'm doing pipeline for another company, and then I'm doing tech UI.

Morag: I am a tech artist, like Luna. I'm slightly more technical than an artist. At university, I started on an art course in Bournemouth, but I realised I loved programming and maths, so I switched to the technical art side. These days I'm mostly pipeline and tools-side.

Euan: I'm a bit more arty tech artist. I had my start with a programming degree and then I realised, I didn't want to do it all day. It turns out as a tech artist, you can program and do art, and I enjoy getting to do both. I started out doing loads of work with environment teams doing procedural content. But in my current job, which is a quite small indie studio, I do a bit of everything.

Rose: Thank you, and welcome! Let’s dive into the role of technical artists a little more. They’re often described as the bridge between the worlds of tech and art, but why is it important for studios to have that bridge?

Malika: People can really struggle to convey their thoughts. So, sometimes, you take an artist and an engineer, you sit there with them and translate, literally. You try to convey peoples thought in a more plain way. Our job is to find that a middle ground so that the output of the work is manageable and achievable. We need to understand lots of topics to do this.

Luna: You'll often get art asking for features that are at odds at what the programming team is trying to do which is trying to get the game to run performantly. It's the job of the technical artist to communicate those needs back and forth. You are that person who is able to kind of do both, and sometimes it crosses into other areas, and it can become quite blurry as a result. I would say I think a lot of the industry still doesn't understand what technical art is. Especially in the last 5 years, I think we've become more important because games have become incredibly complex to make.

Euan: Tech artists often have the widest overview of art, programming, and even some design, which lets them spot when someone is heading in the wrong direction. Artists and programmers may misdiagnose issues from their own perspective, but a tech artist can triangulate the real cause instead of letting people waste days chasing the wrong problem.

Rose: What are some of the common misconceptions you see around tech art?

Luna: One misconception is that tech artists aren’t that technical; at one studio we weren’t allowed to write code, even when it was needed. Coding shouldn’t always be required, but basic scripting is useful.

Jad: That’s there’s one way of being a tech artist. You don't need to be a programmer to be a technical artist. You don't need to be an artist to be a technical artist. Knowing a bit of both helps, but curiosity and a willingness to bend the tech to your needs matter more.

Morag: You might not realise that tech art roles differ hugely across studios. Some teams want artists who lean technical; others want tech artists who work almost like engineers. Big studios tend to have structured departments, while small ones rely on scrappier, generalist teams.

Malika: Job descriptions vary so much that one “tech artist” listing might actually be for VFX, animation, rigging, or something else entirely. It makes it hard to know which roles truly match your skill set.

Euan: People sometimes assume tech artists are wizards who can disappear for months and return with a magic button that fixes everything. Because the role is misunderstood, expectations can become unrealistic.

Rose: A lot of folks may have focused on just the one discipline - art or tech. What advice do you have for artists wanting to learn the tech side, and programmers wanting to learn the art side?

Malika: You should know at least some scripting, and Python is the best place to start. It’s easy to learn, widely supported, and there's so many cool things for Python. From the art side, you don’t need to be great at math; shader graphs let you see results visually, which makes the concepts easier to understand. If you’re coming from the tech side, learn how the art pipeline works. It doesn’t need to be perfect; just understanding the workflow will make you a stronger technical artist.

Luna: If you're coming from the art side, don’t be intimidated by the tech; many modern tools like Material Editor, Niagara, and PCG are designed to empower artists and help them grow into technical artists. Graph‑based tools are great for that. Even though I’m more technical, I still think visually, even when writing C++.

Jad: In production you end up wasting a lot of money by not knowing something isn't efficient. So take off your tech art hat and go try other peoples workflows to see what is too manual, or not working right, and then offer a fix. That's a big part of at least being a tooling technical artist, or a pipeline technical artist.

Rose: We’re onto our last question! What is the benefit from other game dev disciplines learning tech art skills?

Malika: If you're an artist and have a baseline of understanding on performance optimization that would be really appreciated, because, it's really sad to have amazing environment, and then remove 50% of it because it wouldn’t ship on Xbox Series S.

Euan: My ideal studio is where everyone is part tech artist. I think it's so, so important to know how your work goes into the game, and how that affects the game itself. Today, if a studio is hiring someone, they want an artist that can also do a basic rig. Knowing more than one skill helps you become a more attractive candidate. So yeah, so I do feel everyone should be a secret tech artist.

Luna: Currently the industry is shrinking in order to survive. Especially in a role which has probably been hit the most, which I would say is art, we need to adapt. Understanding tech art and having those skills is really valuable. I think the best environment artists I've worked with are the ones who are more technical.

The 5 key takeaways from this session:

1: Technical Artists are the bridge between Art and Tech, and can translate for each side.
2: Communication and Problem solving are crucial soft skills.
3: The role description is blurry and differs from studio to studio, and there’s no singular route to becoming a tech artist because of this.
4: Tech Art is about learning a wide range of skills across both disciplines and filling knowledge gaps as they appear.
5: Tech Art matters because games are becoming larger and more complicated.

A huge thank you to all our mentors: Luna Simpson, Jad Deeb, Morag Taylor, Malika Omarova, and Euan McKay for their time answering all our questions, and for mentoring our next generation of Tech Artists. We’ll be back very soon with more tech art content when our West Sussex Bootcamp concludes in October 2026.