Stylized VFX Class in UE5
Feb 25, 2026
Are you an intermediate or advanced VFX artist searching for a class that is tailored to your needs? Do you want to dive deeper into the realm of stylized effects while staying in a professional environment? Then we have the class for you! The VFX Apprentice Stylized Class for Unreal Engine is our newest eight-week guided experience!
And this one is packed! Meet our most ambitious project so far. We are talking boss fight level stylized VFX, a project environment mimicking a real production with supplied assets, animations and customizable gameplay option. Dive into our industry-standard project pipeline, apply advanced theory, and refine your work to a top-tier quality by observing and studying with masters of their craft!
This 8-week guided class refines the experience from years of our studio training program, teaching you what studios are looking for. This class has everything. From insights to game and art direction for stylized projects to detailed breakdowns of all the components you need to create world-class VFX.
The first class starts March 23rd, 2026. There are a limited number of seats, and they are already going fast, so don't miss your chance to reserve a spot. They will sell out. If you miss your chance, you can join the waitlist for the next session when announced.
Workshops include a variety of perks:
- Nine live lectures each Monday at 7:00 PM CDT (GMT-5)
- Supplemental review sessions each Thursday at 7:00 PM CDT
- Additional written feedback in our exclusive Discord channels
- 24+ hours of exclusive lesson content
- New Project Files, Assets & Assignments
- The GD-Studio Texture Library (educational use only!)
- One year of access to all curriculum materials
- 3 free months of the VFX-A All Access course, starting immediately!
- Permanent Discord Community Access
Check out the class page for more details!
Stylized VFX Class
for Mid-level VFX Artists in UE5
This class unlocks the tools and techniques used in production to create AAA-grade, stylized VFX in Unreal. From art direction and animated concepts, to building blocks of VFX, to dynamic implementation best practices. Get ready to join our next 8-week guided course and refine your work to a top-tier quality.
-
Week 1 - Kitbashing Stylized VFX
Dive into your new professional project Environment. Kitbash effects with the help of the GD-Studio Texture library, as well as all available VFX Apprentice assets. Utilize the custom spell system to create gameplay-oriented effects with custom animations and create Stylized VFX in UE5.
-
Week 2 - Art Directing Stylized VFX
Learn what games all over the world struggle with. Discover the best ways to art-direct your work, learn what sets stylized VFX apart, and how to maintain visual balance. This week guides you into the heart of game design, and focuses on your role in it as a VFX artist.
-
Week 3 - 2D FX Animated Concepts
Study the amazing animated VFX concepts from Duc Vu and learn how to present your ideas in the early stages of VFX development. Learn what sets the different elements apart, and practice advanced tools to communicate with your team clearly!
-
Week 4 - Flipbook Creation
2D animations for film can be quite different from the ones used inside games. Learn the differences to ensure an optimized implementation, avoid wasting texture space, and ensure optimal use of your time. Learn to create flipbooks from scratch, as well as the best ways to import your animation as a flipbook or a spritesheet into your game.
-
Week 5 - Creating Stylized Textures
Textures are what makes or breaks a style. Learn how to make the perfect ground cracks, dissolve maps, tiling noises, and more. While Flipbooks are a great way to nail down the exact motion of an effect, they are costly and time-intensive. We found that a mixture of texture tricks can give you a similar result in a fraction of time.
-
Week 6 - Materials for Stylized VFX
Discover optimised material setups and explore applied techniques specifically for stylized VFX production. We are covering all advanced shader techniques you might encounter. From parallax effects for ground cracks, cell-shaded style shine effects, distance field lighting, full-screen effect, optimized fake lighting, impact frame & chromatic aberration setups. We got it all!
-
Week 7 - Dynamic VFX Implementations
Changes are inevitable in a game production. The color of a torch might change to green, in an ancient temple, the color of the sparks flying off might depend on the material hit, and so on. To ensure you don't have to re-open the Jira task "Torch" every time there is a small change, you want to acquire the skill to set up blueprint interactions for the specific needs of your project, so that anyone can easily make simple changes to your effects as they need.
-
Week 8 - Stylized VFX Playbook
Every project needs the WOW moment. And every VFX artist dreams of getting handed exactly that task. Watch breakdowns of ultimate-level stylized VFX, study and recreate the building blocks that make up a cohesive, impressive result.
Sign-ups are open!
Get access to our engaging Discord server and dive into this exclusive eight-week course with the guidance of seasoned professionals. Each day during the week, receive feedback from our mentors and meet face-to-face with them in weekly livestreams.
The Stylized VFX Class includes over 24 hours of exclusive content, as well as new particle systems, Project Files, Assets & Assignments, plus an additional 3 months of the VFX-A All Access subscription.
First Session Starts: March 23, 2026
Your live class Mentors:
A world renowned FX artist and devoted VFX educator. Jason Keyser has worked in entertainment as both a 2D FX and 3D VFX artist for 13 years.
He has animated for the Powerpuff Girls, Netflix's Arlo, and multiple video game titles for Riot Games - including League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics.
Jerry Chan worked in games since 2010 at a bunch of different studios across the United States, first working on indie games before making his way to Turbine (now WB Games Boston), Bioware Austin, Toys for Bob, and Riot Games.
Some of Jerry's game title credits include 2XKO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Infinite Crisis, Skylanders: Imaginators, Spyro: Reignited, the Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy, Crash Bandicoot 4, Crash Team Racing, and Call of Duty: WWII.
Your Class Video Instructors:
Jasmin Wodarczyk had her very first contact with VFX with Jason Keyser's League of Legends Tristana visual effect that he posted on YouTube. This got her into VFX Apprentice, where her real start of VFX Journey began.
Currently, she works as a Senior VFX Artist at Beyond-FX. There, she worked for studios like Riot, Hi-Rez (Legends of Runeterra (Riot), R&D projects (Riot), Smite 2 (Hi-Rez).
Gabriel "Nibilli" Boileau started their career as a software engineer before they found their passion in VFX. They were hired as a VFX / Tech Artist at Virtuos Games to work on Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition. They have gone on to work on a variety of projects like VALORANT for Riot Games and most recently World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment.
You might know Jose Estrada by some of his work for Riot Game's 2XKO (Darius, Braum, Teemo), and several skins from League of Legends.
Jose loves video games of all kind, some of his favourites are Kingdom Hearts 2, Guilty Gear Strive and Fallout New Vegas! When he is not in front of a PC, he is preparing meals or travelling coast to coast, visiting friends and family.
Mirari Cañaveras worked as a 3D generalist on two projects published on Steam: Mouseventures, a 3D puzzle game, and Avani. Mirari discovered her passion for combining artistic expression with technical problem-solving, which ultimately led her to pursue stylized VFX and real-time workflows.
David Treacy, AKA Zaccubus, is a VFX artist with an unconventional path into the industry. His self-driven learning led to an opportunity to join GD Studio, where David trained through a VFX apprenticeship and has been learning and growing ever since.
With the help of:
What is VFX Apprentice?
Start Your VFX Apprenticeship
Begin your journey towards mastering FX for games and animation. Join VFX-A All Access and discover cutting-edge 2D, 3D, and real-time FX training.Â
