Advice for Animation Program

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm currently attending OSU for their Art&Tech program and I'm not exactly liking it. I went to a community college for 2 years and then transferred here because I heard they had one of the best programs for animation. Turns out people were overselling their undergraduate program for their graduate program which is ACCAD. I'm trying to decide if I should transfer and if I do where. It's not necessarily bad, it's just not the kind of animation I want to learn. They teach experimental animation and I was looking more for character animation since I want to go into story. One of my advisers says you learn story naturally, but I don't think that's true for the level of story major studios like Pixar or Dreamworks do. Does anyone have any suggestions for schools I could look into? I know CalArts doesn't take transfers into their character animation degree. Is RISD actually good? I've heard mixed reviews for that school. Also does anyone know of full universities that teach animation, not just art schools? Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Somewhere to start while you’re waiting on some answers is to research the bios of animators whose work you admire. Or explore the work on youtube to see recent graduation films and make a note of where the work’s come from that you like. You could even email some of the makers for opinions on their own alma mater. Heck, you might even make a couple of useful future contacts this way…</p>

3

<p>You might look into Laguna College of Art + Design. LCAD has a small, excellent character animation program modeled after the Disney/CalArts approach. There are several Disney folks teaching (Dave Pruiksma, Dave Kuhn) and the program emphasizes traditional drawing/art foundation, as well as cutting edge technology applications, story-telling & industry internships. Son just transferred there and he loves it. It’s a small program, but growing in reputation. Industry reps comes to LCAD once a year to scout for talent–for example, some 2013 grads of the animation program were hired as storyboard artists, etc., for animated TV shows.</p>