(Class of ’23)
In this spotlight, MFA student Michael Wolf details his journey from LCAD to Game Director for the atmospheric indie title Waxheart. It’s a concise look at how academic mentorship and collaborative student effort transformed a creative vision into a professional project now headed for Steam.
Game Development
Alumni Spotlight
Gabriel Gonzalez (Class of '15)
Principle Artist | Lead Visual Development
Gabriel Gonzalez is a distinguished artist at Blizzard Entertainment, where he has contributed his expertise for the past decade. A seasoned veteran of the entertainment industry, he is highly skilled in ZBrush, Adobe Photoshop, and the visual arts, with a professional focus on world-building and character design. Gabriel holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Laguna College of Art and Design, in Game Art, and is recognized for his sophisticated ability to translate complex creative visions into immersive digital realities.
Program Highlights
David Gigliello (Class of '20)
Senior Environment Artist at Obsidian Entertainment
David Gigliello has been with Obsidian Entertainment since 2020 working as an Environment Artist and World Builder on Avowed. David is now the Senor I – Environment Artist at Obsidian bringing his passion and skill for building compelling, visually enthralling, fun spaces to more projects.
Andrew Menjivar (Class of '18)
Senior Concept Artist at Blizzard Entertainment
Andrew Menjivar has been a concept artist with Blizzard since 2018, beginning as a freelance concept artist, eventually working his way up to environments. Due to an incredible amount of technical skill and brilliant storytelling, Andrew now works as a Senior Concept Artist on Overwatch.
B.R. Guthrie (Class of '15)
Senior Concept Artist at Obsidian Entertainment
B. R. Guthrie is a 10 year veteran of video game development with Obsidian Entertainment, where they specialize in and oversee 2D concept art, illustration, asset creation, and many other elements that come together to create the visual identity of Obsidian’s games. Guthrie is known for their outstanding versatility in creating characters, creatures, props, weapons, biome guides, promotional materials, merchandise concepts, and beat boards for cinematics.
Nina Modaffari (Class of '15)
Concept Artist for Maxis at EA
Nina Modaffari is a concept artist with 5 years of experience in game development, working for studios like Disney Interactive, Obsidian Entertainment, Riot Games, and Hi-Rez Studios. Nina is known for outstanding work in the concept art space for Maxis, a studio within the EA umbrella, and is currently working on developing and expanding SIMS 4. She has been a vital part of the visual identity of the game and uses inclusivity and diversity as a guiding star in its continued development
Kyle Valentin (Class of '16)
Senior VFX Artist on VALORANT at RIOT Games
Kyle Valentin is a VFX artist with a rich background of working on visual effects in film and video games. He helped create the Real Time VFX for SMITE over at Hi-Rez studios before moving over to RIOT Games to work on League of Legends. Kyle now works on VALORANT for RIOT, using his high level of technical skill to add flair to the visual language of the stylish, tactical shooter.