Mail Code CS
Jennifer Gutterman
Adele Simmons Hall 216
413-559-6279
On sabbatical fall 2025 and spring 2026.
Jennifer Gutterman holds a B.F.A from Syracuse University with a double major in computer graphics and painting and an M.F.A in visual FX, focusing on 3D modeling and concept development from the Academy of Art University.
Gutterman’s primary research interests are in 3D development for animation, analog and digital games, and accessibility and intersectionality of world-building and concept development for games and animation.
Gutterman developed and runs the game design program at Manchester Community College in Manchester, Connecticut, and is a freelance artist and game designer. Gutterman has spoken at Metatopia and PAX Unplugged on topics such as "Queer Worldbuilding, Eat, Drink, Be Merry: Developing Cultural Touchstones for Immersive Worldbuilding," "Queer Game Design: More Than Just Representation, Latinx Game Designers, Games and Education," and "How to Pitch: Pitching Games at Every Level of Development."
Currently Gutterman is working on several projects that include hybrid games utilizing digital and analog elements, a cooperative board game introduced at Metatopia 2018 and freelance work on several in progress projects in both analog and digital games.
The Division III Seminar provides a structured community for students completing their individual Division III projects. In faculty-led cohorts, students establish goals, report on progress, share work in development, receive feedback, and work through intellectual, creative, and practical questions that arise in their projects. Although each student's Division III work is individually directed, regular attendance, active participation, and consistent engagement with the cohort are essential to success. Through regular accountability, focused work sessions, and peer exchange, the seminar helps students sustain momentum, deepen their projects, and prepare for successful completion and final evaluation.
This course will focus on digital painting techniques for 2D output. Work from this class can be applied to 2D static and still work, time based media, 3D textures, Game Design, Animation, film/video as well as for print and other media. Students will use industry standard software packages to translate traditional painting techniques in digital format. We will focus on technical aspects such as format and size as well as brush modification and creation, painting with light using the RGB color wheel, color theory and texture for use in static 2D images, applied 2D textures for 3D use, painting over reference images and creating images from scratch. Students will be expected to have their own digitizing graphics tablet that they can use in class and for work outside of class.The graphics tablet must support pressure sensitivity and the software the students use must support .tiff/.psd file format, layers, brush creation, output to print resolution and raster editing capabilities. Students will create work from still life to imagined spaces.Students should expect to have at least 6-8 hours of work outside the classroom for this course. Students are expected to use reference images in this course but absolutely no AI generated work will be accepted for work in this course in any format, including, but not limited to generated reference images, final work, thumbnail sketches, etc.Students are expected to have a familiarity and comfort with digital software and graphics tablets prior to taking this class Keywords:Digital Art, Illustration, Painting, Art, Computer Science
In this course, students will learn to create dynamic worlds with diverse populations, mythology, and characters for games and animation. Students will use a variety of techniques and processes to develop and design worlds for their concept. World building gives a rich and dynamic canvas on which to develop characters, obstacles, motivations, macro and micro issues, and conflicts and resolutions. Such practice allows for more robust and consistent worlds in which to set singular or serial events in linear and non-linear ways. Using visual and written content, students will develop characters and environments that are influenced by both created and existing cultural and historical content. Students interested in tabletop games, RPGs, and/or digital games are all welcome Keywords:Game Design, Creative Writing, Speculative Fiction, Animation
In this course, students will take existing foundational world systems and look at more complex solutions for social constructs, speculative created histories, speculative created species of flora, fauna and people as well as develop complex systems in existing worlds to further develop ideas in language, culture, history, architecture, social development and more. Students are expected to come into the course with an already developed world foundation from the previous Worldbuilding class. Keywords:Creative Writing, Speculative Fiction, Game Design, Animation
