THE INSTRUCTORS
BEHIND YOUR GROWTH

Jack Burrows is a seasoned Game and Level Designer who has worked on titles from the likes of Marvel Rivals and Call of Duty to a variety of smaller independent projects as well. In a career spanning nine years, Jack began working on indie-games, moving into Triple-AAA Quality Assurance positions and navigated into an internship at Treyarch which evolved into a full-time position on their Level Design team. While at Treyarch, Jack was a key level-designer on major areas across multiple large-maps including the Fireteam Dirty Bomb mode of Black Ops: Cold War, Verdansk in WARZONE, and Avalon in the upcoming Black-Ops 7.

One of Jack’s major triumphs was serving as a Mentor during the 2022 Treyarch Internship program, where he successfully instructed two Level Design Interns that were immediately hired for full-time positions at the end of the program and have become pillars of the department to this day. More recently, Jack served as a Level Designer at 2K Games, and then onto NetEase for the blockbuster hit Marvel Rivals, which continues to boast significant player engagement. With a life-long passion for the player experience, and a decorated professional career, Jack makes a solemn commitment to ensuring whatever project he touches achieves excellence through designs that elevate the medium.

Niels Couvreur is an Environment Artist and Instructor at Sierra Division. Specializing in realism, he brings multiple years of experience creating game assets for AAA clients, always striving for the highest standards in quality.

One of his proudest achievements is his YouTube tutorial for Sierra Division that guides artists through the process of designing CAD game assets. This experience helped shape his teaching style and strengthened his commitment to sharing his knowledge within the game development community.

His regular interactions with aspiring artists inform his approach to teaching. Understanding the technical and creative challenges faced by industry newcomers, Niels combines his professional experience with practical teaching methods. This approach helps students build both the technical skills and artistic confidence they need to kickstart their careers in game development.

Niels’ work has been featured on Games Artist and 3D World Magazine.

Elliott McSherry is currently a Lighting Artist at nDreams, and has previously worked on games such as Until Dawn (remaster), Off The Grid, PlayStation Home, 007 Legends, and a number of virtual reality titles. He has also worked as an Environment Artist, and was the course leader for a number of years at the University of Staffordshire on their BA (Hons) Game Art program, with a primary focus on leading and teaching the environment art and 3D modelling modules. 

After returning to the Games Industry in 2023, Elliott launched his YouTube channel ‘EMC3D – Game Art’ where he breaks down the environment and lighting art from various video games, forming them into discussions and guidance behind ‘why’ certain workflows and techniques were used.

Peyton Varney is a Senior Environment Artist at Naughty Dog, with credits on The Last of Us Part I and The Last of Us Part II. He is currently working on the studio’s upcoming title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Prior to joining Naughty Dog, Peyton began his career as an intern at Insomniac Games, where he contributed to Marvel’s Spider-Man for PlayStation 4.

In addition to his professional work in the AAA game industry, Peyton has spent the past seven years teaching online and creating educational content focused on environment art for games. He developed his own courses, produced tutorials for schools such as Gnomon, and built a YouTube channel that provides free learning resources for aspiring artists.

Teaching has become one of the most rewarding parts of Peyton’s career. He enjoys helping others better understand the environment art pipeline and supporting artists as they pursue their own creative goals. It has also allowed him to continually develop his communication skills while learning from the fresh ideas, perspectives, and techniques that emerging artists bring to the industry.  Today, Peyton mentors environment artists at Sierra Division Academy, sharing the workflows, techniques, and insights he has developed throughout his career.

Alex is an accomplished Expert Environment Artist currently employed at That’s No Moon. With an impressive track record, Alex has held leadership positions as a Lead Environment Artist at outsource studios, contributing to the development of acclaimed titles like Returnal and Scavengers. Seeking new challenges, Alex made the transition to in-house development at Counterplay Games, where he played a pivotal role in the release of the highly anticipated PS5 game, Godfall. More recently, Alex worked with Respawn Entertainment on the exciting new project, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor.

During his game development journey, Alex made significant contributions to the art community whilst working at ArtStation. He not only managed the learning platform but also hosted the popular ArtStation podcast, amplifying the voices of artists within the company and beyond. Alex’s multifaceted background and extensive experience in the industry make him a valued professional in the field of environment art.

Sarah Swenson is a Senior Environment Artist at Naughty Dog, currently working on their new IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. With nearly a decade in AAA development, her credits include The Last of Us Part I, The Last of Us Part II, God of War (2018), God of War Ragnarök, and Perfect Dark at The Initiative.

Victoria is a technical artist with an extensive background in games, film, and mixed reality. Her experience spans from indie projects to large-scale productions, including the cozy multiplayer game Palia and the television series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As technical artist, former gameplay programmer, and former fine arts instructor, she specializes in helping others explore both the artistic and technical portions of development. She has also designed curriculum for multiple Unreal Engine university courses and especially enjoys helping artists jump into blueprints, shaders, optimization, 3D mathematics, and code.

Jon Arellano is a Senior Environment Artist currently at Santa Monica Studio. Over the last decade, he has created high-quality game environments for popular AAA titles such as God of War Ragnarök, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, Ashes of Creation Apocalypse, and EverQuest.

Jon is also an instructor at Gnomon and has done live workshops, demos and panels. His work has been featured on 80 Level, ArtStation, and Adobe Substance 3D.

He was the first mentor to join Sierra Division Academy, and his impact has set the standard for mentorship at the Academy. He consistently goes above and beyond to support mentees, offering excellent feedback, expert guidance, and genuine investment in their growth. Mentees consistently praise Jon’s mentorship, and he has become one of the most in-demand mentors at Sierra Division Academy.

Gabriel is a Senior Environment Artist at Naughty Dog, contributing to The Last of Us Part I & Part II and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. He brings years of AAA production experience to his mentorship, offering personalized guidance on environment art pipelines, composition, and portfolio development.

Hugh Chew is a Principal Material & Shader Artist with over 10 years of experience creating real-time materials, shaders, and rendering workflows for AAA game development. His production credits include The Last of Us Part I and Concord at PlayStation Visual Arts, Asgard’s Wrath, Asgard’s Wrath 2, and Marvel Powers United VR at Sanzaru Games, Call of Duty: WW2 with Sledgehammer Games and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare at Infinity Ward.

Beyond production, Hugh is an educator and mentor who has taught through CGMA, Academy Art and LCAD, spoken at industry events, and creates educational content focused on Unreal Engine, materials, lighting, and real-time rendering, helping artists better understand the technical and artistic sides of game development.

Jeryce Dianingana was born in Paris, France to Congolese parents. Between his time working on AAA games in studios such as Ubisoft, Eidos-Montreal, Rocksteady and EA, Jeryce has built up a powerful body of afro-centric 3D art inspired by his African heritage. He aspires to be a voice for the rich diversity of African culture and to help increase the visibility of his design in the video game and movie industries.

Ben Keeling is a Principal Environment Artist at Studio Gobo with over 13 years in the games industry. He has helped shape worlds on major AAA titles across leading studios, including Need for Speed, Halo, Suicide Squad, Star Wars, VR projects, and Iron Man.

Outside of work, Ben enjoys sharing his process on ArtStation, creating tutorials, and now teaching artists at Sierra Division Academy.

Dave Paget has been working as a concept artist within the entertainment industries for over 13 years. Specialising in character design, Dave has worked on a variety of game, film and animation projects including 007: First Light, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Spider-Man, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Love, Death+Robots Season 1 and 2, Kong: Skull Island, Bloodshot and more. Dave now works as an Expert Character Concept Artist at That’s No Moon working on Crossfire.

Robin Mariančík is a Senior 3D artist at Sierra Division, with a background in Illustration.

Robin’s skill and talent first led him to NVIDIA, where he worked as a freelance artist on projects such as Digital Twins and Racer X. He later joined Sierra Division, where he continues to contribute to notable projects, including Counter Strike 2, along with several other confidential projects.

His technical insights and creative approach have been featured in industry publications like 80 Level and Games Artists, where he shared his professional workflow and process.