Breaking into AAA Games: Grayson Cotrell Talks Early Inspirations and Working as a Technical Artist

From his early interest in videography to mastering tools like Unreal Engine and Houdini at Gnomon, Grayson's drive to push his creative boundaries has been unwavering. Now a Dynamics Technical Artist at Naughty Dog, Grayson has contributed to acclaimed titles like The Last of Us: Part I and II. In this interview, he shares how pivotal moments during his education shaped his career, reflects on the artistic and technical influences from his family, and offers advice to incoming students navigating the admissions process.

Grayson, can you tell us a bit about where you grew up?

I was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado. My dad was a windmill engineer before moving on to start his own 3D concrete printing business for renewable energy. My mom was originally a programmer before making the brave decision to take care of my younger sister and me full time. She has always been very artistically minded and now works in interior design and house remodeling.

I used to help her out all the time as a kid and would spend hours at houses tearing down drywall and helping put up new walls and ceilings, painting, and carrying heavy tools/supplies for tiling work. I like to think that the artistic side of my mind comes from my mom, and the technical side from my dad.

I actually never wanted to go to college after high school, and my parents were quite worried about that. As soon as I showed interest in Gnomon, my parents were elated and very supportive of my artistic journey as I prepared my portfolio for application.

Were you interested in working in games from the very beginning of your training?

I never intended to work in games when I first attended Gnomon. I was dead set on learning Houdini for film and music video FX and spent my first few terms focusing completely on that. Once I saw other students in classes learning Unreal Engine, my interest piqued at the idea of being able to create art and see it in real time at a smooth 60 frames per second. I was outside of a classroom and watching the teacher set up lighting for an environment, and everything changed immediately. I had no idea this was possible! Thankfully Gnomon’s flexible class scheduling allowed me to switch focus 100% on learning Unreal Engine and Houdini.

What were some of your first explorations with creative tools?

By the time I was halfway through high school, I knew I didn't want to take the traditional 4-year STEM route through college. At the time, I was working as a lifeguard and saving up money to buy camera gear. I really loved videography. I filmed and edited myself every day after school doing exercises in the gym to try and start a personal training business. I learned Final Cut Pro before moving on to After Effects to create more advanced FX (tracking, masking, cool text effects etc.). While learning After Effects and watching tutorials, I saw an ad for Cinema 4D.

It was software I had never heard of before, and I didn't even know what 3D rendering was. I was immediately intrigued and started looking into creating my own digital renders. I was hooked. One day I stumbled across the 2018 Gnomon student reel, and I knew exactly what I wanted to pursue after high school. I knew it would be incredible to create artwork for movies and music videos.

Tell us a little bit about your journey to Gnomon?

I learned more about Gnomon when I discovered an artist on Instagram with beautiful works and animations that I dreamed of creating one day (@jan.sladeko). I asked him how he learned to create such grand artworks. He mentioned that at the time he was self-taught, but he actually heard/saw lots of good things about Gnomon and recommended I check it out. As soon as I looked at the Gnomon website, it was all I could talk about. I shared the site with my teachers and friends at school and told them all how I wanted to go and learn there one day.

The biggest defining factor that helped me take the plunge into learning at Gnomon was all of the great student reels coming out of the school (also the alumni working at incredible AAA game and film studios). With so many talented students coming out of Gnomon, I knew that attending would give me the skills I needed to break into the CG industry.

What was your biggest pivotal moment at Gnomon?

The final project for the Hard Surface 2 course at Gnomon was to pick out a concept and model it within five weeks to demonstrate your modeling capability. I picked out a biomechanical/steampunk whale. When I showed my concept to the instructor, Max Dayan, he said that it would be impossible to finish the amount of work the concept required within the allotted time without sacrificing some of your sanity. I was worried about this, and I called up a close friend of mine to ask for their advice on the situation.

The response they gave me was: you might lose your mind, but what is life as an artist if you aren't willing to sacrifice for it? For the next five weeks, I stayed up on calls with friends at Gnomon until 4am working as hard as I could to complete the project. I ended up just barely finishing it up on time, submitting it for Best of Term, and winning. This project was one of the defining portfolio pieces that eventually ended up landing me my job at Naughty Dog as a Props Artist.

I would like to thank my instructor Max for letting me know how hard the project would be. Once I decided I was going to attempt it, he supported me the entire time with constant feedback, critique, and even file troubleshooting a few times when I was on the verge of losing the project file to scene corruption. I came out of this experience with a new outlook on art and life.

Anybody who puts in the work and sacrifices enough will come out on the other side successful in one way or another. I continued to push my limits and reinforce this mentality at Gnomon and ended up winning three more Best of Term prizes for other projects. If you are willing to put in the work, all of the instructors at Gnomon will make sure you have every resource necessary to achieve your goals.

Something else that was a huge relief to find out while attending Gnomon was the high potential that CG artists have to earn a living capable of providing themselves with a very comfortable lifestyle. I was terrified that there was very little money in the art industry and that I would struggle with finances throughout my career. It was great to talk to multiple teachers and alumni about their living situations and realize that for those who put in the effort, a strong income in the entertainment Industry is absolutely achievable.

Do you feel like it's important to be technical in games? How do you combine artistry and technical skills in your career?

I think that anybody with enough passion and discipline can make it in the games industry solely based on their artistic ability. I know many talented artists in the industry who wouldn't touch Python with a 10-foot pole. I find great satisfaction in combining tech and art. Creating user interfaces for tools that help others on my team is a very rewarding experience. Seeing artists' workflows improve and helping with pain points (like UVs or generating collisions for an object) gives me a great sense of value and belonging on the team.

I think that being technical will always be a positive thing that will open doors to new ideas and innovation for yourself as an artist, and to push the entire CG industry to new heights.

The main thing I do as a technical artist is create various tools for other artists, whether it's a UI to check over your Maya file and ensure everything is neat and tidy, or setting up procedural art tools to generate assets quickly to fill out an environment. An example of this would be a wire generator, where the artist draws a curve in 3D space, from that a jumble of cables are generated that will droop and sway over the environment.

What advice would you give to someone who’s feeling hesitant and intimidated about applying? How did you navigate that process?

I decided I wanted to eventually apply to Gnomon when I was 17 years old, with no artistic background other than video editing. I never picked up a pencil in my life to draw, but I knew I wanted to pursue life as an artist.

The first thing I did was attend the Gnomon Summer Camp in 2018 to get a feel for the campus. After that, I set a goal to create the best work I could every month to add to my portfolio. I knew that time was limited before I graduated high school and had to find a path for my life. I worked for hours after school each day learning new 3D art workflows and rendering out pieces to add to my portfolio. After I had four or five pieces of 3D work, I set up a call with Gnomon’s Admissions team and shared my progress. They were incredibly supportive and offered a ton of great feedback for me to implement into future works for my application. I kept working hard and maintained a relationship with the admissions team, sharing my progress every few months. By the time I graduated high school, I had 15 pieces of digital art in my portfolio that I edited together into a demo reel for my final submission.

I vividly remember sitting on the steps of some stairs when I received a call from Gnomon, letting me know that I was accepted into the 2-year program!

The best piece of advice I can give is to reach out as soon as you can and talk with the team often. This will also mold you into a strong artist that is capable of handling feedback and critique.

We’re incredibly proud to have been part of Grayson Cotrell’s artistic journey, from his early interest in 3D at our summer camp to refining skills in the Certificate program. It’s been inspiring to see how he’s honed his craft, and we look forward to how he will continue to contribute to groundbreaking games at Naughty Dog. Grayson’s success reflects the passion and collaborative spirit we strive to nurture at Gnomon, and we’re excited to see him inspire new students as he grows in his role in the games industry.

About Gnomon

For over 25 years, Gnomon has educated many of the world’s best digital artists on its state-of-the-art campus in Los Angeles, California. Recognized as one of the top U.S. colleges in Forbes' 2023 rankings and called “the MIT of visual effects” by Fast Company magazine, Gnomon offers a variety of educational options to help students reach their goals in the entertainment industry, with certificate and degree programs, and over 100 individual courses. Our comprehensive programs, experienced faculty, and state-of-the-art facilities ensure that every student can achieve their full potential, just like Grayson. Gnomon's strong industry partnerships give students real-world experience and a competitive edge in the job market.