Teaching & Inspiring

I’ve had the privilege to share my work as a conference and keynote speaker at prestigious events, institutions and organisations around the world, including Google, Disney Research, UCLA and The Smithsonian Museum, to name a few (please see a more extensive listing below).

As a teacher, I currently conduct medium to long-term courses on art and design fundamentals, concept development, game design, character design and accessibility at several universities in Switzerland and abroad including SAE Institute in Zurich, Chur University of Applied Sciences (FHGR), EPAC in Saxon, and the European University of Lisbon in Portugal. I also conduct short ad-hoc workshops on various topics relating to interaction design, and host a fortnightly SketchClub event on behalf of the IGDA’s Game Art Special Interest Group (IGDA Game Art SIG).

On a more individual level, I mentor individuals both online and in person—giving aspiring artists guidance in their work as well as preparation for further studies and their careers.

Below are featured sample exercises that include concept development, observational drawing, anatomy, shape design, character development, thumbnailing and animation—often using artwork from familiar game franchises as case studies to learn from the best and heighten interest.

Sample Exercises

Teaching Testimonials

  • Chris’ work and writings brought me a deep insight and perspective about game design and art. His thorough research on storytelling in games, and how that translates to shape languages in game art that evokes certain emotions to the players, makes me look at visual art very differently today.

    KSHIRAJ TELANG, Art Director at Moon Active, formerly Studio Art Director at Rovio and Principal Visual Development Artist at King

  • Sometimes I feel lost on my "art journey“ and mentorship with Chris always helps to give me new focus, direction and motivation.

    NADINE HUNZIKER, Artist

  • Chris has been invaluable in helping to kickstart my son's game art education. He is exceptionally patient, considerate, and has vast knowledge concerning art and design fundamentals.

    KARIN JOST

  • I've been drawing my whole life and have had plenty of teachers and lecturers but I never learned so much about drawing and art as I did from Chris Solarski. His feedback was always fair, detailed and very helpful. All-in-all, the best art lecturer I have ever had.

    WAYNE HINTERMANN, former Game Art student

  • As a student, Chris inspired me so much that I can't even summarise it here. Now that I'm a teacher, I always tell my students at SAE that they can look forward to Chris' classes because for me it was one of the best times at the school where I learned the most. I am convinced that I would not be where I am today if I had not had Chris as a lecturer.

    SEBASTIAN JONAS, VR architectural visualisation at Swissinteractive AG and and lecturer at SAE Institute Zurich

  • Chris is a very talented illustrator who skilfully shares his knowledge with his calm demeanour. He takes a lot of time to respond to each individual course participant in order to pass on his creative knowledge. His courses have inspired me and helped me develop creatively.

    SARA HOFSTETTER, Artist and Video Editor

  • Chris' paint-overs during the SketchClub are really helpful. It’s very impressive how Chris handles light in his drawings, and it‘s impressive how Chris always finds new ways of stylisation.

    BEATRICE DOBLER, Artist

  • Chris is a fantastic teacher. With his know-how and analytical skills, he breaks down difficult tasks and explains what needs to be done in simple steps. Whether it was about composition, proportions, weighting or lighting, his advice was always on point.

    MANUEL KISSNER, former Game Art student

  • Not only does Chris have wide ranging knowledge, he can also convey it in an easy and inspiring way. Despite my many years of experience as a graphic designer, I was able to learn a lot from Chris and improve my work and workflow. I'm very grateful to him for that.

    EVELYN ACKER, Graphic Designer

  • I attended Chris' 'Game Design & Disability' workshop. I'm glad for everything I've learned as a result of Chris' experience! I'm now able to see and analyse games from a variety of perspectives.

    RAQUEL LUÍS, User Experience Designer

  • Chris is honestly one of the most interesting tutors I ever had and he taught me some really valuable lessons.

    JAMIE SUPERSAXO, former Game Design student

Past speaking venues…

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