Student Experience: Ethan Brackin

“In short I have always been an artist, since the very beginning with building military models and drawing and painting – even building with LEGOs! I moved into sculpture while I was still quite young, probably 10 or 11 years old. I had a fascination with creating WWII scenes with plastic figure kits and scratch-built buildings, which turned into a long-time hobby and led to my pursuit of creating my own characters. I pursued this hobby through the beginning of my high school years when my goals quickly evolved to being admitted to the United States Air Force Academy. 

“Even through my military pursuit and high school football, I still entertained art as a hobby but mostly through regular classes, during which time I gained experience in Photoshop image manipulation and larger scale sculpture. As soon as I received a four-year scholarship from the Air Force to attend Texas A&M University, most of my art stopped and I focused on my career goals. Early into this career, however, I was injured and was unable to continue my military goals and was forced to return home.

“I chose this program for the strength of the program of classes. The class structure was much more focused on specific skill sets, lending more experience to a particular field of choice, which for me was 3D modeling and 3D sculpture. I was able to strengthen my drawing skills, which enabled me to realize my concepts better. I was given direct instruction on 3D modeling, which allowed me to go home and practice and hone my skills to be able to produce work that was not only artistically pleasing but also functional in a variety of fields from architecture to video games.

“This pattern of classes created a great foundation for me to take and spend the necessary time outside of class to build skill enough to earn and Internship at a Design Firm and move directly to a position upon graduation at The Halsey Group, where I created photorealistic, multi-million dollar stage sets and Event environments for major clients around the world.” 

Ethan now the proud owner of his own 3D studio, specializing in high-end rendering and simulations. He works with Unity, Unreal Engine, 3DS Max, Substance Suite, and Vray, to create concept imagery, videos and interactive products for Architecture and Events.

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