VFX Courses
Learn the skills to create stylized FX for games and animation.
VFX Bootcamps & Workshops
Limited time courses designed to give you the skills and personalized mentorship you need to become a VFX artist.
These are limited-seat sessions with dedicated mentors, live classes, and weekly assignments.
Houdini & EmberGen Workshop
COMING SOON - Join the Waitlist
Course Length: 4 weeks
Mentors: Diana Simonyan,
Next Start Date: November 21st, 2024
Learn industry-leading software from seasoned professionals and create stunning fire, explosions, and groundbreaking simulations in EmberGen and Houdini!
Beginner Bootcamp
COMING SOON - Join the Waitlist
Course Length: 8 weeks
Mentors: Gabriel "Nibilli" Boileau
Next Start Date: January 2025
This introductory bootcamp provides a thorough guide to the amazing world of VFX. You will dive deep into FX foundations, drawing, painting, particle systems and more! Then use these new skills in popular real-time game engines.
Portfolio Bootcamp
COMING SOON - Join the Waitlist
Course Length: 8 weeks
Mentors: Sjors de Laat, Chris Sayers
Next Start Date: January 2025
This intermediate bootcamp is designed to strengthen your artistic and technical abilities to make stylized VFX. Get personalized feedback and mentorship to help you create impressive VFX for your portfolio, aimed to help you land a job.
Featured Courses
Looking for our some of the best VFX courses? Here's a selection of recommendations and student favorites included in the VFX Apprentice All Access subscription.
Featured Courses in VFX-A All Access
Beginner's Guide to VFX
FREE | 3D VFX: Level Zero
Start your visual effects journey and learn all about the world of game development and stylized real-time VFX. This FREE course will introduce you to the various departments, game styles, tools, and systems used to make effects for games.
Unreal Engine 5 Niagara Block-in VFX
3D VFX: Level One
This course is designed to help you start making Niagara effects in Unreal Engine 5, regardless of your experience level. Learn how to get started with a collection of block-in VFX like fire, hit impacts, and explosions.
Drawing Foundations
2D FX: Level One
Learn the basics of drawing with good old-fashioned pen and paper before you take on digital software. This FX course focuses on linework and perspective.
Procedural Textures in Substance Designer
3D VFX: Level One
Create seamless textures procedurally using Adobe Substance 3D Designer. Darin Aranda is here to guide you through the entire process.
Ignited - 2D FX Animation
2D VFX: Level Two
Work through a fiery animated short from the concept phase through production with instructor Slava Lightsoul!
Intro to Shaders in Unity
3D VFX: Level One
Learn all about node-based Shaders and how to create them inside of the Unity game engine. Get to know one of the most powerful tools for creating FX.
2D FX Courses
Stylized FX lessons for games and animation. Begin with animation principles and then create your own effects and polished assets.
Included in All Access
Applied Foundations - FX Animations
2D FX: Level One
Learn how to animate 2DFX like fireballs, lightning, sparkles, and negative blips. Apply the principles of animation to create next-level effects.
Animating Small 2D FX
2D FX: Level One
Start with the leading motion and finish with a ready-to-brag flipbook by following the FX breakdown of one of the best-known 2D artists, Alex Redfish!
Animating Medium 2D FX
2D FX: Level One
Dive into these more complex animation studies, with different viscosities, multiple elements, and more complex shapes. Create directional fire, bubble bursts, water flings, and more!
Intro to Toon Boom Harmony
FREE | 2D FX: Level One
Toon Boom Harmony is used throughout the animation industry. Let's dive into the popular 2DFX animation software with this step-by-step burst effect.
Intro to Photoshop for VFX
FREE | 2D FX: Level One
Get up to speed on the Photoshop tools, layers, adjustments, and pro tips FX artists use in the free VFX course.
Intro to Adobe Animate
FREE | 2D FX: Level One
Learn to create FX flipbooks with Adobe Animate (formerly Adobe Flash) with this free course on making an animated swipe effect.
Intro to FX Concept Painting
2D FX: Level One
Dive into the world of FX concept painting. Get to know a variety of painting techniques as you learn to create fire, wisps, zaps, and goo.
FX Concept Painting Elemental Studies
2D FX: Level One
Create concept art for various elemental effects, including a fiery explosion, goo splat, lighting zap, and more!
2D FX Playbook
2D FX: Level One
Apply animation basics to the world of visual effects. Learn how to create FX intro and outro animations. Then dive into overlapping actions and looping FX.
FX Design Principles
2D FX: Level One
Learn the design principles of FX animation. This course covers the fundamentals of effects animation to help you plan out your designs.
FX Timing Principles
2D FX: Level One
Timing plays a big role in defining the look and feel of an effect! Learn about seven fundamental principles and how to use them to create world-class FX.
Elemental Foundations
2D FX: Level One
Learn about the different principles used in 2DFX animation. Level up the visual appeal of your effects with these lessons on fire, liquid, dust, debris, and more!
Drawing Foundations
2D FX: Level One
Learn the basics of drawing with good old-fashioned pen and paper before you take on digital software. This FX course focuses on linework and perspective.
2D FX Meme Lab
2D VFX: Level Two
Different budgets and projects can dictate the style and level of detail you can use when creating your effects! Let's make some fun meme-able gifs to show you the difference!
FX for Characters
2D FX: Level Two
Learn how to create a variety of effects centered around characters. Pick up the crucial aspects behind the process of creating fire, smoke, electricity, and more!
2D FX Explosion Masterclass
2D FX: Level Two
Create a massive 2D explosion with animator Dan Elder. You will complete each phase of the stunning explosion effect inspired by the many FX Dan has created for television.
Ignited - 2D FX Animation
2D VFX: Level Two
Work through a fiery animated short from the concept phase through production with instructor Slava Lightsoul!
2D FX Animated Title/Logo Masterclass
2D VFX: Level Two
In this high-octane FX course, you'll see step-by-step how a 2D FX master maximizes the excitement of an effect for a slick title logo.
VFX Paintover Series
2D VFX: Level Two
VFX supervisors often use paintovers to offer feedback. Learn how to enhance your effect concepts through the feedback process from our resident specialist, Kees.
Post Process and Mograph
2D FX: Level Two
Get to know Adobe After Effects and learn various post-process techniques to reinvigorate your FX and make them shine!
3D VFX Courses
Courses focused on real-time FX for games. Lessons feature Unreal Engine and Unity, but focus on skills to prep you for any pipeline.
Included in All Access
Beginner's Guide to VFX
FREE | 3D VFX: Level Zero
Start your visual effects journey and learn all about the world of game development and stylized real-time VFX. This FREE course will introduce you to the various departments, game styles, tools, and systems used to make effects for games.
VFX Foundations & Artistic Principles
FREE | 3D VFX: Level One
A high-level introduction to the world of VFX for games. Learn how VFX are used to inform gameplay with their use of shape, color, value, and timing. Each a powerful tool for VFX artists to create stylized FX.
Color Theory for Visual Effects
3D FX: Level One
Color is a big part of VFX design! Get acquainted with the different aspects of color in this fundamentals series. Learn how color works and how to create color palettes for your effects.
Hand-Painted Textures for Stylized FX
3D VFX: Level One
Hand-painting your textures isn't the only way you can create them! Get acquainted with Adobe 3D Substance Designer and the procedural method. You'll learn how to create tileable textures for your effects.
Procedural Textures in Substance Designer
3D VFX: Level One
Create seamless textures procedurally using Adobe Substance 3D Designer. Darin Aranda is here to guide you through the entire process.
League of Effects
FREE | 3D VFX: Level One
Breakdown League of Legends-inspired effects and dive into sandbox project files to see how these effects are made. This free course takes a look at fan art created by Kevin "Sirhaian" Leroy, whose incredible work landed them a job at Riot Games.
Unreal Engine 5 Niagara Block-in VFX
3D VFX: Level One
This course is designed to help you start making Niagara effects in Unreal Engine 5, regardless of your experience level. Learn how to get started with a collection of block-in VFX like fire, hit impacts, and explosions.
Unity Block-in VFX
3D VFX: Level One
This course is designed to help you start making effects in the Unity game engine, regardless of your experience level. Learn how to get started with a collection of block-in VFX like fire, hit impacts, and explosions.
Intro to Materials for Unreal Engine 5
3D VFX: Level One
Learn how to use and navigate a node-based Shader interface in Unreal Engine. This course covers key concepts and techniques used when creating UE materials for VFX.
Intro to Shaders in Unity
3D VFX: Level One
Learn all about node-based Shaders and how to create them inside of the Unity game engine. Get to know one of the most powerful tools for creating FX.
Modeling for VFX
3D VFX: Level One
Modeling meshes for VFX allows you to create a variety of different effects. Learn the key concepts of 3D modeling like meshes, UVs, and modifiers, and how to prepare these assets for use in game engines.
Elemental Studies in Unity
3D VFX: Level One
Bring the elements to life in Unity! Learn how to use a technical approach to VFX as you create fire, water, lightning, and more inside of the Unity game engine.
Elemental Studies in Unreal
3D VFX: Level One
Learn to create fundamental elemental VFX like fire, water, lightning, and more to get valuable experience in Unreal Engine!
This series is perfect for confident VFX beginners as an intermediate step before tackling really big effects.
Booms & Blasts
3D VFX: Level Two
The definitive course for real-time stylized FX for Unreal Engine and Unity. Create four of the most frequently used elemental game effects with explosions, wisps, lightning, and splats.
Intermediate 2D/3D FX Courses
These apprenticeship-level courses combine 2D and 3D fundamentals and show you how to create game-ready assets worthy of your portfolio.
Included in All Access
Magic Shield: Production-Level FX Breakdowns
Apprentice: Level Three
Break down a magical shield made in Unreal Engine 5 using the Niagara particle system. As a bonus, learn how to import your VFX into the Unreal Editor for Fortnite.
Attacks: Production-Level FX Breakdowns
Apprentice: Level Three
Let's break down some amazing production-ready attack effects with Rubfish and look at the design of projectiles, slashes, and explosions.
Game FX for Sidescrollers
Apprentice: Level Three
Dive into the Unreal Engine sidescroller FX pipeline and create in-game spells and healing effects.
AOE: Area of Effect VFX
Apprentice: Level Three
Follow along with a VFX Apprentice student as they create a ready-to-ship AOE explosion effect!
Portfolios and Job Applications
Apprentice: Level Three
A series offering insight into creating portfolios that will impress professional artists and companies, and how to apply for VFX jobs.
Mentorship
VFX Apprentice mentors are here to guide you no matter your learning style.
VFX Apprentice Mentors
Get direct feedback on your progress from professional VFX artists, mentors, and fellow students. Chat and learn with fellow apprentices and members.
Daily Mentor Feedback
All Access member-only feedback channels guide you through 2D and 3D VFX so you're never alone.
Weekly Live Sessions
All Access members are invited to join weekly live sessions every Monday and Wednesday.
VFX Bootcamps
For dedicated one-on-one feedback in a class environment, register for a VFX Bootcamp.
