6 Week Level Design

Course Structure

WEEK 1 – FOUNDATIONS AND DESIGN THINKING

This week focuses on building strong fundamentals. Students learn form language starting from simple shapes and moving into more complex design structures. They explore shape design and silhouette clarity, along with clean line hierarchy for readable drawings. The class also introduces visual library building, the core process of design thinking, and how to create clear, functional thumbnails that communicate ideas effectively. 

WEEK 2 – PERSPECTIVE AND STRUCTURE 

This session covers the full range of perspective skills including one point, two point and three point setups. Students practice constructing hard surface forms accurately in space and learn how to build vehicle block shapes as a foundation for more complex designs. The week ends with set design in perspective and understanding dynamic camera angles that give energy and storytelling to compositions.

WEEK 3 – ENVIRONMENT DESIGN 

This week dives into planning environments from a macro vision to micro details. Students learn how to structure foreground, middle ground and background for depth and clarity. Atmospheric perspective, scale and mood shaping are explored, followed by building functional layout logic. The session closes with creating story driven environments and producing clean, production ready line art environments.

WEEK 4 – HARD SURFACE DESIGN 

Students focus on industrial design thinking and how props, gadgets and machines are constructed with purpose. Line weight techniques are used to bring clarity to complex shapes. The week includes vehicle design across ground, air and science fiction categories, along with understanding mechanisms and mecha logic. It finishes with creating exploded views and cutaway drawings to show internal structure and function.

WEEK 5 – PAINTING AND RENDERING 

This week teaches how to build convincing lighting and shadow structure, along with rendering materials like metal, plastic and leather. Students learn value grouping for readability, followed by practical paint over and clean-up techniques. Texture passes and controlled brushwork are introduced to enhance realism, leading into a solid final rendering workflow that prepares artwork for presentation. 

WEEK 6 – PRESENTATION