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40 Days of Art: Animation Schools
So, you've diligently done all the exercises and independent study, but you want to work in animation, and you know there is a lot more to learn, so you need to go to animation school. But which one?
Before you decide:
Working in the animation industry is not an easy life. When you have a job, it will demand an enormous amount of energy doing repetitive things for picky people to a tight schedule, and will likely force you to work a lot of overtime. You get little appreciation for the work you do. Starting salaries are not very high – you can pay your rent and buy groceries but you won't be booking holidays to the South Pacific. Animation has a very high burnout rate, as people who got into it for the fun of making cartoons get chewed up and spit out, or tired of working on crappy shows with no creative gratification. And that's just when you're working – you constantly have to be looking for jobs, because most contracts last about 6-8 months and the studio isn't going to keep you around if there's nothing for you to do. You have to be willing to move to a different city for work, either to work at a better studio, or just find anything to do at all, because the studios in one city have hit a dry patch.
That said, if you are passionate about animation and nothing makes you happier, you can weather the bad times and enjoy the good ones. The people who work in the industry are generally really friendly, and pulling together on a team to create entertainment is rewarding, even if it's a stupid preschool show. You are constantly being challenged in some way or another, and there's always something higher to aim for.
If you think the work is hard, the school is harder! You'll be spending every waking hour working on your assignments, losing a lot of sleep, struggling with the work and yourself every step of the way. School is the test of your commitment: it's easy to love drawing when it's something you do for fun when you feel like it, but when it's demanded of you all day every day for months you learn pretty quickly where your heart lies. Generally if you can survive school and come out smiling you're probably good to go in the workplace because nothing will be as intense as that. If school burns you out, you'd never survive out there. It's fun though, in that 'I might possibly die of this' kind of way! You'll meet a whole group of like-minded people who probably have a similar sense of humour to you, and it's easier to get your crippling workload done when everyone else is in the same boat.
If you're on the fence about animation school, you might want to try finding a summer program – I know Capilano and Sheridan have them, and other schools might as well. It'll give you a taste of what animation school is like without having to make a two- to four-year commitment.
The top animation school in the world is generally considered to be The California Institute of the Arts, or CalArts to everyone in the biz. No one can deny its place as alpha school, but before you throw yourself at it, there are some things you might want to consider:
1. CalArts is really, really expensive. It is so expensive that even though there are other areas that ought to be more important to discuss, I put the price as #1. I'm not sure exactly what tuition fees are these days, but you have to add supplies and accommodation on top of those. I have heard of people who get out of CalArts and land a steady, well-paying job at a feature studio, and take ten to fifteen years to pay off their student loans ... and they went to school decades ago; the price has only gone up. In such a perennially insecure industry as animation, where chances are you'll be scrambling from gig to gig with significant dry spells in between, you may not want $200,000 in student debt hanging over your head.
2. The facilities are not as up-to-date as most other schools; the equipment and technology is old, the building is in poor repair, and resources are not as available as one might hope. In light of #1, you may ask: where does the money go? The people who go to that school ask the same thing.
3. It's more of an art school than a trade school. They will encourage you to explore your creativity but are much less likely to teach you boring things that you will need to know on the job, like how to use timing charts or do a character rotation.
4. There is a certain lack of structure to the curriculum – you don't have to turn up for class, do the homework, or even finish a final film (though of course lack of a film will probably preclude you from getting a job). If you are a naturally diligent self-motivated organized person, you can get a lot done! If you're not ... well, it doesn't encourage you to change that.
On the upside, no other school I know of has the top people in the animation industry regularly come to do guest lectures. Students there can probably expect to meet people like Glen Keane, James Baxter, Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky, Steve Silver, and their friends. There is no better place to set up a network of contacts that may serve you well in the years ahead; aside from connecting with the top talent in the field today, some of your classmates are likely to become that top talent in the future. Because of this high reputation and success rate, CalArts has a legacy more like an Ivy League school than a vocational one, an unbroken chain of the high and mighty making for a sort of privileged club. They're friendly about it – I am good friends with a number of CalArts grads at work – but if you come from somewhere else you will always be something of an outsider at a studio where CalArts alumni dominate. I think of CalArts as the Eton of animation – not many people here know what Eton is so I haven't been able to check this analogy with anyone in the know, but there it stands.
Every major animation studio comes to the CalArts grad show, so your work will be seen by the most important talent scouts. And when you're applying for work, a CalArts pedigree will probably get your portfolio looked at, at least, which is a big hurdle to jump. I suppose it comes down to how much that is worth to you.
Sheridan - in Oakville, Ontario, is probably the second most famous and respected school in North America after CalArts, and has a more professional focus. It restructured its program to be a 4-year degree course and had some growing pains, but seems to have found a comfortable place to settle and is turning out some really good students again.
Animation Mentor - An online, 18-month course tutored by animation professionals. This teaches only CG animation, not design or layout or anything, but it's pretty well-regarded and cheaper than CalArts. Also, you get a lot of one-on-one attention, which is a big plus. Probably best when you've had a little animation training already and really want to expand/polish your skills.
Gobelins - I don't know much about them except the the student films every year blow everyone away. It's in Paris so you should probably know some French before you apply.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Don't know much about this but that it's in Florida and Disney hires people from them every so often. It's geared towards CG far as I can tell, but it's more well-rounded than Animation Mentor, as you get design and life drawing and a bunch of other aspects covered as well.
Savannah College of Art and Design - Campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia. It's a CG program as well, and like Ringling has drawing classes attached to it. My former animation teacher teaches here now so I know that much is good!
Capilano University - in North Vancouver, BC ... a 2-year program that's quite good for the money and which can prepare you for a job anywhere, if you know what you want and what you need to do to get it. It tends to focus more on grooming people for the local TV industry than features, but if you know what features want and can observe and learn things on your own, it gives you all the tools necessary to develop whatever skills you want/need to.
Algonquin College - Also in Ontario; the people who now run Cap started out at Algonquin so they have much the same program. I don't know much about it myself (and couldn't easily find a webpage) but they appear to have turned out a number of good people.
Before you decide:
Working in the animation industry is not an easy life. When you have a job, it will demand an enormous amount of energy doing repetitive things for picky people to a tight schedule, and will likely force you to work a lot of overtime. You get little appreciation for the work you do. Starting salaries are not very high – you can pay your rent and buy groceries but you won't be booking holidays to the South Pacific. Animation has a very high burnout rate, as people who got into it for the fun of making cartoons get chewed up and spit out, or tired of working on crappy shows with no creative gratification. And that's just when you're working – you constantly have to be looking for jobs, because most contracts last about 6-8 months and the studio isn't going to keep you around if there's nothing for you to do. You have to be willing to move to a different city for work, either to work at a better studio, or just find anything to do at all, because the studios in one city have hit a dry patch.
That said, if you are passionate about animation and nothing makes you happier, you can weather the bad times and enjoy the good ones. The people who work in the industry are generally really friendly, and pulling together on a team to create entertainment is rewarding, even if it's a stupid preschool show. You are constantly being challenged in some way or another, and there's always something higher to aim for.
If you think the work is hard, the school is harder! You'll be spending every waking hour working on your assignments, losing a lot of sleep, struggling with the work and yourself every step of the way. School is the test of your commitment: it's easy to love drawing when it's something you do for fun when you feel like it, but when it's demanded of you all day every day for months you learn pretty quickly where your heart lies. Generally if you can survive school and come out smiling you're probably good to go in the workplace because nothing will be as intense as that. If school burns you out, you'd never survive out there. It's fun though, in that 'I might possibly die of this' kind of way! You'll meet a whole group of like-minded people who probably have a similar sense of humour to you, and it's easier to get your crippling workload done when everyone else is in the same boat.
If you're on the fence about animation school, you might want to try finding a summer program – I know Capilano and Sheridan have them, and other schools might as well. It'll give you a taste of what animation school is like without having to make a two- to four-year commitment.
The top animation school in the world is generally considered to be The California Institute of the Arts, or CalArts to everyone in the biz. No one can deny its place as alpha school, but before you throw yourself at it, there are some things you might want to consider:
1. CalArts is really, really expensive. It is so expensive that even though there are other areas that ought to be more important to discuss, I put the price as #1. I'm not sure exactly what tuition fees are these days, but you have to add supplies and accommodation on top of those. I have heard of people who get out of CalArts and land a steady, well-paying job at a feature studio, and take ten to fifteen years to pay off their student loans ... and they went to school decades ago; the price has only gone up. In such a perennially insecure industry as animation, where chances are you'll be scrambling from gig to gig with significant dry spells in between, you may not want $200,000 in student debt hanging over your head.
2. The facilities are not as up-to-date as most other schools; the equipment and technology is old, the building is in poor repair, and resources are not as available as one might hope. In light of #1, you may ask: where does the money go? The people who go to that school ask the same thing.
3. It's more of an art school than a trade school. They will encourage you to explore your creativity but are much less likely to teach you boring things that you will need to know on the job, like how to use timing charts or do a character rotation.
4. There is a certain lack of structure to the curriculum – you don't have to turn up for class, do the homework, or even finish a final film (though of course lack of a film will probably preclude you from getting a job). If you are a naturally diligent self-motivated organized person, you can get a lot done! If you're not ... well, it doesn't encourage you to change that.
On the upside, no other school I know of has the top people in the animation industry regularly come to do guest lectures. Students there can probably expect to meet people like Glen Keane, James Baxter, Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky, Steve Silver, and their friends. There is no better place to set up a network of contacts that may serve you well in the years ahead; aside from connecting with the top talent in the field today, some of your classmates are likely to become that top talent in the future. Because of this high reputation and success rate, CalArts has a legacy more like an Ivy League school than a vocational one, an unbroken chain of the high and mighty making for a sort of privileged club. They're friendly about it – I am good friends with a number of CalArts grads at work – but if you come from somewhere else you will always be something of an outsider at a studio where CalArts alumni dominate. I think of CalArts as the Eton of animation – not many people here know what Eton is so I haven't been able to check this analogy with anyone in the know, but there it stands.
Every major animation studio comes to the CalArts grad show, so your work will be seen by the most important talent scouts. And when you're applying for work, a CalArts pedigree will probably get your portfolio looked at, at least, which is a big hurdle to jump. I suppose it comes down to how much that is worth to you.
Sheridan - in Oakville, Ontario, is probably the second most famous and respected school in North America after CalArts, and has a more professional focus. It restructured its program to be a 4-year degree course and had some growing pains, but seems to have found a comfortable place to settle and is turning out some really good students again.
Animation Mentor - An online, 18-month course tutored by animation professionals. This teaches only CG animation, not design or layout or anything, but it's pretty well-regarded and cheaper than CalArts. Also, you get a lot of one-on-one attention, which is a big plus. Probably best when you've had a little animation training already and really want to expand/polish your skills.
Gobelins - I don't know much about them except the the student films every year blow everyone away. It's in Paris so you should probably know some French before you apply.
Ringling College of Art and Design - Don't know much about this but that it's in Florida and Disney hires people from them every so often. It's geared towards CG far as I can tell, but it's more well-rounded than Animation Mentor, as you get design and life drawing and a bunch of other aspects covered as well.
Savannah College of Art and Design - Campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia. It's a CG program as well, and like Ringling has drawing classes attached to it. My former animation teacher teaches here now so I know that much is good!
Capilano University - in North Vancouver, BC ... a 2-year program that's quite good for the money and which can prepare you for a job anywhere, if you know what you want and what you need to do to get it. It tends to focus more on grooming people for the local TV industry than features, but if you know what features want and can observe and learn things on your own, it gives you all the tools necessary to develop whatever skills you want/need to.
Algonquin College - Also in Ontario; the people who now run Cap started out at Algonquin so they have much the same program. I don't know much about it myself (and couldn't easily find a webpage) but they appear to have turned out a number of good people.