Many of us grew up with the dream of one day becoming an animator but up until maybe 20 years ago that dream was almost impossible for most people to achieve. At that time becoming an animator meant going to college studying illustration graduating and hopefully you found an apprenticeship with a professional animator. There were very few colleges that offered degrees in animation but all that's changed if you want to become an animator nowadays there is a clear path you can take, attend a college that offers a degree in animation.
When Pixar came on the scene with Toy story the 3D animation industry was changed forever the demand for animators both traditional and 3D increased with every new animated movie success, and to keep up with this new demand colleges started to offer courses and degrees in traditional animation and 3D animation as well as Visual Effects.
Our goal is to guide you in what to look for when choosing an animation school. One of the main traits of a good animation school is the foundation classes that they offer. A schools goal should be to teach its students the art of animation and not just software. Beware schools that just teach software learning Maya or 3-D studio Max is great but it doesn't make you an animator, you may be able to create great models but more times than not a professional will be able to look at your work and know that something missing in that something is a foundation in traditional art.
Look for animation schools that have foundation classes based in drawing. When learning to become an animator drawing is going to be the foundation of everything you create so here are a list of classes that you should be looking for: still life drawing, figure drawing, storyboarding, thumb nailing, perspective drawing, sketching, character design, cinematography, layout design, principles and pipelines etc. when you enter animation school don't be overly concerned with the software package, learning software is easy learning to draw a proper walk cycle not so easy.
Don't be intimidated by drawing. If you're not a naturally gifted artists when it comes to pencil and paper don't be intimidated, as one of my instructors once told us drawing is like a muscle that needs to be worked out every day the more you draw the easier it gets. I've seen many new art students take their first still life class and not be able to draw a simple box or sphere which is usually your first assignment but with practice and hard work and a lot of the students made it through. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to teach yourself how to draw but know that it can be done. The instructor may start you off using the grid method of drawing or have you practice drawing objects upside down this method tricks your brain into not seeing what the object actually is but instead you see the form of the object and the transitions from light to dark easier.
The next thing you should look for when deciding which animation school to attend is faculty experience in the animation industry. You want your instructors to either be animators currently working in the industry or animators that previously worked in the industry. If your instructor is currently working at an animation studio that's a big plus to you as a student to be able to pick the brain of someone in the industry on a daily basis that's huge, that type of advice and mentorship is priceless. Another advantage to having an instructor that still works in the industry are there industry connections, if you work hard in his or her class and develop a good relationship with that instructor that could be your key to landing your first job or internship. Many professional animators' will tell you that they got their big break in the industry from the recommendation of a former instructor or former classmate. So when you speak to the admissions advisor be sure to ask about the instructors experience in the industry.
The next thing you should look for when choosing an animation school is student success stories. You want to know if students that graduate from the animation program have a history of getting jobs in the animation industry. This is going to be a tricky question for admissions advisor to answer, because the truth is this is a very competitive industry and only the best of the best graduates of animation schools find jobs right away. For the vast majority of animation school graduates getting your degree won't be the end of your journey to find a job in the animation industry, most graduates won't have a strong enough portfolio to catch the eye of the major animation studios and video game companies. To that vast majority of students we say keep developing your skills participate in contests like the 11 second club and dominance war, try to develop a reputation and following online have your art published on sites like animation arena and CG Society. I know quite a few animators that now work at major animation studios that couldn't find a job directly out of art school, instead they got their work published online and were discovered when animation studio employees discovered their art online. So ask the admissions counselor about graduates success stories but understand your quest to become an animator doesn't stop when you walk across the stage and receive your diploma.
School locations
Is the school's location important? The short answer is no the more in depth answer is it could be. We all know that the major animation studios are in California, Pixar, DreamWorks, industrial light and magic, massive black etc. not to mention the movie industry and some major videogame studios. The one advantage of attending an animation school that's located near one of these major animation studios is that there is a greater chance that you might actually meet someone from one of the studios that could help you break into the industry. There's also a greater chance that your instructors could be employed by one of these major studios and as we discussed before that's a major plus. But your main focus shouldn't be on a school's location you could be in Georgia and get a great education from Savannah College, or you could be in Florida and attend full sail or Ringling school and get a great education or you can be on the West Coast and attend the art Institute, the Academy of art, Collins College in Arizona or USC in Southern California.
For those with busy schedules and for those in areas where there just aren't any animation programs available online animation schools could be your answer. Over the past five years or so more and more colleges have started to offer online animation programs, schools like the art Institute, the Academy of art, full sail University as well as schools that are solely online like animation Mentor and Ani school all offer very good animation programs for those who just can't make it to a classroom.
Those are the main things you should look for when choosing an animation school, remember the life of an animation student is not an easy one a lot of students drop out there first year because it wasn't what they expected, you have to go into this endeavor with an open mind, a passion for animation and humility. Attending animation school will probably be one of the most humbling experiences of your life between the intimidation of seeing other classmates who seem light years ahead of you to the daily or weekly critiques it's a humbling experience, but if you're persistent the rewards are great, the animation industry is one of the most exclusive clubs you can belong to. The industry is full of fun, bright, creative and passionate people if this describes you and take your first step to joining the club check out the list of animation schools we've provided on animation school.net you should be able to find a school in your area but we recommend checking them all out and getting information from all the schools that way you can determine which animation school is right for you.
