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Curated collections of Workshops organized by subject matter, such as Environment Art, Character Design or Effects Animation.

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Nate Stephens

Principal Artist - Playstation - Santa Monica Studio

With over eighteen years in the video game industry, Nate Stephens has worked alongside some of the biggest studios, including Blizzard Entertainment, Respawn Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and PlayStation Santa Monica Studio. His contributions to AAA titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, City of Heroes, God of War II, God of War III, God of War Ragnarök, Titanfall, and the critically acclaimed God of War (2018) demonstrate his lasting impact.


A true generalist and expert in many disciplines, Nate's expertise spans designing, building, and lighting complete game levels to leading teams that set new standards for fidelity and quality in modern games. Currently, Nate serves as an Art Director at Respawn Entertainment.


Nate's love for teaching has led him to be an instructor at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, where he teaches Environment Art for Games, sharing his industry knowledge with the next generation of artists.

  • "Nate is an Environment Artist that offers the whole package. He can model, texture, light, and manage a file with the best of them. On top of this he has the a good sense of game design, and how art can augment it. Simply put, Nate rocks. Listen and learn."

    - Stig Asmusse
    Creative Director - Sony Santa Monica Studios

  • I had the pleasure of art directing Nate on God of War 3. He is a very talented senior environment artist who has an excellent understanding of how to make professional artwork for games at a very high creative level that is technically sound. There is a lot to learn from Nate's approach to building environments, I highly recommend this tutorial.

    - Ken Feldman
    Art Director at Lightspeed L.A.

  • It's not hard to find Nate's 3D levels and scenes in the God of War franchise. His massive epic environments that were masterfully modeled and sculpted in Maya has been praised by critics and fans worldwide. I have worked closely with Nate for more than five years at Sony. He's truly one of the most experienced and talented 3D environment artists I've met. This tutorial will guide you through how Nate translates my 2D concepts into 3D game assets.

    - Cecil Kim
    Studio Art Director at thatgamecompany

  • Nate is an Environment Artist that offers the whole package. He can model, texture, light, and manage a file with the best of them. On top of this he has a good sense of game design, and knows how art can augment it. Simply put, Nate rocks. Listen and learn.

    - Stig Asmussen
    CEO / Game Director / Founder at Giant Skull

Visit the Gnomon School in Hollywood