Join Game Jam as a 2D Artist!

Above Image: SCAD’s 2025 Global Game Jam (teams win trophies!)

By Mae Masek

If you are an 2D artist looking to join the video game industry, joining a team at SCAD’s Global Jam from Jan 31 – Feb 1st is the perfect opportunity to expand your portfolio! Even if most games are being developed in 3D, a range of skills are needed from Illustration, Sequential Arts, and Animation majors for these games.

What is a Game Jam?

A Game Jam is an event where teams try to make a game prototype within 48 hours and make a trailer to showcase their work. Teams can be any size but commonly range from 8 people to around 14 people. There are many roles within the team, from game designer, to level designer, and to programmer, but in my experience, a lot of teams struggle to find teammates from a major other than game design. Last quarter, myself and a team of 12 people participated in a Game Jam and we had a great time! We had some animators join our team, and they were a great help in making animations for the main character and in making the trailer. Game Jams are an amazing way to get to know your peers better, and to walk away with a piece to add to your portfolio.

How can 2D artists get involved?

Concept Art

Since Game Jams last for 48 hours, you will have to design concepts fairly fast within the first 2-3 hours. If you are someone who can draw rough concepts fast, you would be a strong asset on a team to help finalize a game concept!

Animation Effects

You don’t have to be just a 3D animator to work on a Game Jam project. Special effects can be animated in 2D and implemented into a game too!

Trailer

Trailers are the most important part of a Game Jam, as sometimes if the game isn’t working, you can still make a polished trailer by having an animated portion in it. This part of the Game Jam process would be similar to animation challenges where you have to storyboard an animation quickly, animate it, and put it together with clips of gameplay for a final 1 min trailer.

How to Join SCAD Game Jam

If you are interested in finding a team to join for Game Jam, check out the Game Jam Mixer this Saturday! If you attend, be sure to ask to join the GDN Discord so that you can keep up to date on future game projects.