3D Digital Game Art

WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)

Occupation description and WSOS

The name of the skill competition is

3D Digital Game Art

Description of the associated work role(s) or occupation(s)

The games development sector comprises three occupations or work roles: the designer, the artist, and the programmer. The 3D Digital Game Artist takes a designer’s brief and, through a combination of conceptualization, creativity, selectivity, technical, and specialist skills, and delivers results that meet and exceed clients' expectations. The 3D Digital Game Artist receives, conceptualizes, and interprets design briefs on the basis of their market knowledge and skill sets, and the given scope and limits of the briefs. The skills required of the 3D Digital Game Artist can be broken down further into 2D concept art, texture painting, 3D modelling, rigging, and animating.

After interpreting a brief, the 3D Digital Game Artist must produce a 2D digital concept of the required assets for the game, which could include objects, characters, and environments. This requires the development of good silhouettes, so that the designs can be immediately recognised even without the fine detail, with greyscale values that highlight the important details of an asset, in order to define a colour scheme based on the Artist’s knowledge of colour balance, saturation, and mixing.

The 3D Digital Game Artist must then produce a 3D mesh of the asset, making decisions for geometry, triangle count, symmetry, and silhouette, and modelling the edgeflow. UV unwrapping is used to flatten a 3D model into a 2D set of shells that a texture can be painted onto. This requires the ability to assign enough 3D mesh from the model for the model to render sufficient detail. The placement of the UV shells is a meticulous job. Artists must account for the bleeding effect of colour on smaller versions of textures, depending on hardware capabilities, so these UV shells should be grouped by base colour.

Textures are then produced to create materials that may be applied to the 3D model, taking into account the colours, specularity, and opacity of various parts of a model. Some textures are painted by hand; some require the use of photographic references and others require a digital process to calculate ambient occlusion and normal maps for shadows and detail. Next, the model may be rigged with bones in the 3D software in order to animate it either in the 3D software or the games engines.

An artist may work in a team led by an Art Lead or Director, or in small companies with a programmer and designer. Artists may work in open areas for creative sharing, or in isolation on a strictly confidential basis.

With the tremendous growth in the sector, and the evolution and splitting of the role into specialisms,the 3D Digital Game Artist’s role has evolved but otherwise remained constant, with an ongoing appreciation of aesthetics, colour, structure, and form as well as movement. The most accomplished artists are able to lead art teams, resolve visual challenges, and produce assets that push thr limits of available technology, creating the most immersive experiences possible in a video game..

The WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)

General notes on the WSOS

The WSOS specifies the knowledge, understanding, skills, and capabilities that underpin international best practice in technical and vocational performance. These are both specific to an occupational role and also transversal. Together they should reflect a shared global understanding of what the associated work role(s) or occupation(s) represent for industry and business (www.worldskills.org/WSOS).

The skill competition is intended to reflect international best practice as described by the WSOS, to the extent that it can. The Standard is therefore a guide to the required training and preparation for the skill competition.

In the skill competition the assessment of knowledge and understanding will take place through the assessment of performance. There will only be separate tests of knowledge and understanding where there is an overwhelming reason for these.

The Standard is divided into distinct sections with headings and reference numbers added.

Each section is assigned a percentage of the total marks to indicate its relative importance within the Standards. This is often referred to as the “weighting”. The sum of all the percentage marks is 100. The weightings determine the distribution of marks within the Marking Scheme.

Through the Test Project, the Marking Scheme will assess only those skills and capabilities that are set out in the WorldSkills Occupational Standards. They will reflect the Standards as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of the skill competition.

The Marking Scheme will follow the allocation of marks within the Standards to the extent practically possible. A variation of up to five percent is allowed, if this does not distort the weightings assigned by the Standards.

WorldSkills Occupational Standards

Section		Relative importance (%)
1	Work Organization and Management	5
	The individual needs to know and understand: Regulations and requirements for safe working practices Terminology specific to the sector and role How to plan for and manage time and tasks The importance of making regular backups of work to avoid file corruption File management and structure for interpretation by the team and for optimal use when transferring between hardware.
	The individual shall be able to: Conform to professional standards at all times Take responsibility for all production processes Set up and maintain file structures and naming conventions Manage workload under pressure and within time constraints Recover from setbacks Communicate and work with others for the collective benefit.
2	Communication and Interpersonal Skills	5
	The individual needs to know and understand: The importance of active listening skills and seeking clarification when in doubt Strategies for interpreting game design briefs and technical guidelines (such as game platform specifications, restrictions, and opportunity to afford polygon counts and texture sizes) Sustainable strategies for prioritising game assets by evaluating their reusability to minimise resource wastage (polycounts, texture and sizes) and energy consumption. The importance of building and maintaining productive working relationships The importance of resolving misunderstandings and conflicting demands.
	The individual shall be able to: Listen, reflect, and respond positively and constructively to feedback from stakeholders Adhere to game design briefs and technical guidelines, transforming them into sustainable deliverables (as defined in the asset list), and present outcomes to stakeholders Professionally present creative ideas or concepts Manage effective verbal, and written communications with stakeholders Reflect on and respond appropriately to questions and ideas from stakeholders.
3	Concept Art	15
	The individual needs to know and understand: Innovative approaches to generating original creative ideas Strategies for visualising to create and adapt artwork in a specific, defined art style The creation of silhouettes of objects and characters to portray shape, mood, mass, and movement Values of greyscale to draw viewers’ attention to important aspects of the asset Colour theory for choosing base colours, secondary, mixing, and balance.
	The individual shall be able to: Use imagination and inspiration to generate original visuals Conform to the defined art style, colours, and themes Digitally paint to demonstrate form, line, shading, perspective, proportion, light, and shadow Use digital techniques to produce appropriate effects and make efficient use of time Choose appropriate software to paint concept art pieces with maximum production in the swiftest time Review and select each piece of concept art to inform the look of finished 3D models.
4	3D Modelling	25
	The individual needs to know and understand: The impact of creating highly optimised and efficient 3D game models which can result in reduced energy consumption of computer software and minimise resource waste Geometrical principles in determining how to build the assets Symmetry in creating a base model that allows for efficient use of materials later on in the process Polygon counts that are proportional to detail and focus on the asset/s. Edgeflow that evenly distributes vertex points over models for a balanced texel density and even silhouette.
	The individual shall be able to: Use innovative and optimisation techniques on the 3D game models to ensure the scalability and sustainability of the game production Select appropriate 3D modelling software to begin models, e.g., 3DS Max or Maya for hard surface modelling, or a sculpting tool for organic sculpts Utilise skills in sculpting, edge modelling, or box modelling to produce the basic form of models Use tools and modifiers to create further details on models Constantly review models from all angles to determine refinements, improvements, and additional detail.
5	UV Unwrapping	10
	The individual needs to know and understand: The impact of re-using UVs to gain efficiency whichreduces energy consumption of computer software Mirroring shells to maximize texture space and texel density Equitable proportions for important sections of assets The spacing of shells that maximizes the usage of texture sheets while avoiding colour bleeding between shells The grouping of shells by colour to further avoid colour bleeding.
	The individual shall be able to: Use innovative and optimisation techniques on the UVs to increase productivity of the game production Use UV unwrapping tools to project maps onto all the surfaces of 3D assets Separate surfaces into appropriate shells to flatten them over the UV space Organize shells to make the most of space Group shells with similar colours together Export UV coordinates to texture tools or painting software Bake UV from 3D assets.
6	Texturing	18
	The individual needs to know and understand: The impact of creating highly optimised and efficient game textures which can reduce energy consumption of computer software and minimise resource waste How to paint colours and details to represent a variety of physical materials such as wood, plastic, metal, and fabrics Diffuse colour maps that represent the base colours of materials Specular maps that represent shine to produce realistic metal, plastic, or wet and oily surfaces Opacity maps that use alpha maps to produce complex objects on a 3D flat plane, e.g., grass, hair, branches, or wire Normal maps and the production of high-resolution models, projected using cages onto low resolution models Ambient occlusion that uses the 3D data to render shadows onto flat textures based on the proximity of polygons.
	The individual shall be able to: Use innovative and optimisation techniques on the game textures to ensure the scalability and sustainability of the game production Select appropriate software to produce textures and materials Paint a variety of physical materials and adapt to the art style set out in the brief (e.g., hand-painted and/or PBR) Paint or engineer specular maps to control shine and glossiness of surfaces Paint opacity maps, as required, to handle complex objects or sections of assets Export a variety of maps (normal, specular, ambient occlusion, etc.) from appropriate pieces of software and import into the preferred 3D software.
7	Rigging and Animation	12
	The individual needs to know and understand: The purpose and construction of bones to move 3D models in a game engine Forward kinematics (FK) and inverse kinematics (IK) The tool and methods to set up appropriate IK chains with relevant constraints The purpose of skinning, and methods for skinning a model The purpose and principles of keyframe animation How to create and apply animation to an asset.
	The individual shall be able to: Create an appropriate bone structure to form a functional rig for the in-game asset Set up a parent-child structure for FK or IK chains Skin the mesh and paint weights to define how the bones influence the 3D model Set keyframes to test and refine the motion of the asset in a game engine.
8	Mastery of the Game Engine	10
	The individual needs to know and understand: Concepts and processes involved in the life cycle development of game assets, including ideation, assets creation, testing, and deploying the assets within a game engine to ensure the scalability, sustainability and maintainability of a game Principles of real‑time rendering in modern game engines to optimise asset performance, visual quality, and interactivity How to utilise material shaders and lighting to represent assets and their most important aspects The correct set up for export files to import them into game engines The options for importing files, based on the selected game engines User interface (UI) and user experience (UX) considerations, along with the use of visual scripting tools in game engines to simulate interactive gameplay.
	The individual shall be able to: Conduct performance testing and performance tuning of game assets Choose and use a renderer, pose the object, and select appropriate lighting and settings to highlight the best qualities of the asset Export 3D models and rig/animation into a game engine Select an appropriate game engine and stress test the asset for model, UV, and deformation errors Integrate and refine assets within a real‑time environment, ensuring they respond smoothly and effectively during gameplay or interaction Develop and implement interactive elements and behaviours by creating and managing them through visual scripting systems in the game engines.
	Total	100

References for industry consultation

General notes

WorldSkills is committed to ensuring that the WorldSkills Occupational Standards fully reflect the dynamism of internationally recognized best practice in industry and business. To do this WorldSkills approaches a number of organizations across the world that can offer feedback on the draft Description of the Associated Role and WorldSkills Occupational Standards on a two-yearly cycle.

In parallel to this, WSI consults three international occupational classifications and databases:

ISCO-08: (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/isco/isco08/)
ESCO: (https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/home )
O*NET OnLine (www.onetonline.org/)

References

This WSOS (Section 2) is closest to Multimedia Artists and Animators:
https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/27-1014.00

and also to Digital Artist:
http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/d5c4ab26-c293-4f4d-ad89-fe776f49a67f.

These links can also be used to review adjacent occupations.

Junior version of ILO 2166

The following table indicates which organizations were approached and provided valuable feedback for the Description of the Associated Role and WorldSkills Occupational Standards in place for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026.

Organization	Contact name
IADGE - International Alliance for Digital Game Education	Shadow Hong, Board Member – Competitions
Autodesk	Dorothee Anne Schmid, Strategic Partnership Manager