DIGITAL ART ENTREPRENEURSHIP
About the program
The Digital Art Entrepreneurship program was designed to discover the potential of youth in Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik and Kotayk marzes of Armenia in the fields of digital art and entrepreneurship. The program specifically focused on youth aged 14-25. Program initially aimed to engage 120 participants. However, due to immense interest, the project expanded to accommodate approximately 216 participants. This surge in participation underscores the widespread enthusiasm and demand for initiatives fostering entrepreneurship in the targeted regions of Syunik, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik, and Kotayk in Armenia. Following the completion of the program, 35 participants were chosen to advance to the final stage. Ultimately, 21 finalists were awarded prize tablets as recognition of their achievements and contributions to the program.
Program flow
The Digital Art Entrepreneurship program consisted of the following parts:
The Bootcamp consisted of a 5-week program with the aim to develop digital art skills in the following topics:
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Scripting
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Storyboarding
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Character Design
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Inking and coloring
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Working with digital tools
Classes were conducted by Armenia’s most prominent comic artist and his technical assistant, on-site in 20-student focus groups, with 20-hour intensive weekly iterations dedicated to each of the above-mentioned topics. The sessions prepared a strong foundation for participants to further explore jobs in game development, action & animation movies, comics, illustrations, and other digital industries.
The Experience Sessions part was dedicated to building a portfolio, discovering trending tech in digital arts, and real-life experiences of creating digital art products and freelance work.
Experience sessions engaged mentors with profound domain knowledge in:
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NFT Art (platforms, business model, tips for success)
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Freelance platforms (platforms, profiling, business model, tips for success)
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Generative AI (DALL-E 2, WOMBO, Open AI etc.)
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Game design elements (game design document, game genres, MVP and releases, selling points, monetization)
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Game art. 2D modeling (character design, level design, UI/UX + Adobe Illustrator)
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Game art. 3D modeling (character design, level design + Maya)
Results
The participants of the Digital Art Entrepreneurship program enhanced following abilities during the program:
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Entrepreneurial Skills
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Digital Art Proficiency
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Portfolio Development
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Freelancing and Global Platforms
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Real-World Experience
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Tech Trends in Digital Arts
Other than enhanced soft and hard skills the participants created 55 unique comic arts under the mentorship of Tigran Mangasaryan, 35 of which passed the final stage and were nominated for awards. These comic arts were also exhibited at the ISTC center for 1 month․
Authors of the best 21 comic arts received awards in the form of illustration tablets based on the evaluations of the independent evaluation committee․
Capturing Creativity
