Animation Schools for after the BFA?

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>Hi guys, I've been reading the threads on animation for awhile now and I have to say its the best source of experience and opinions I've found so maybe you can help me:</p>

<p>-I've recently graduated from a 4-year university with a BFA in Digital Media (kind of jack of all trades in digital art) but somewhere along the way I fell in love with 3D modeling and animation. I'm planning on attending a school for this but having a little trouble finding that perfect fit.
-All of this fantastic information is aimed towards college newbies (and rightly so) but what should a graduate be looking for?
-I'm not ready to take on another 4-years for another Bachelors and frankly I'm afraid it will look silly to future employers. So that leaves me with technical schools and the few that offer Masters. What do you all, with knowledge in this area, think of this?</p>

<p>I've currently been visiting schools in the South East ( I live near Orlando, FL): Full Sail, DAVE school, DMAC, Ringling, and SCAD which offers an MA in Animation
Trying to stay on the east coast for the moment but haven't been able to see schools like RISD yet.</p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated, in the mean time I'll be combing through this forum's history some more!</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

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<p>Trade schools made be your best bet if you are looking to obtain industry skills that will be useful when trying to find a job. What area of animation are you looking to get into?</p>

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<p>Chesire_Moo, my daughter is exactly in the same situation. She majored in Digital Design and fell in love with 3d modeling and animation.</p>

<p>You have a number of good options:</p>

<ol>
<li>Get another BFA: This will provide you with much stronger skills than an MFA,which is discussed below. You will be trained in all aspects of the animation pipeline. Even better, a school such as Ringling, which is considered one of the best, will waive all gen eds for you if you come in with a bachelors. Other schools to consider are Calarts ( who won’t waive gen eds), Pratt and SVA ( who won’t waive gen eds)</li>
</ol>

<p>The con with this is that it is the most expensive alternative and takes about 3 years to complete. Thus, it might not be the best alternative.</p>

<ol>
<li>Getting an MFA: This isn’t a bad alternative. There are a number of good schools for this such as USC, UCLA, CalArts, NYU and SVA, and Academy of Art University, and SCAD. The probelm is that the MFA programs aren’t as good as the undergrad programs in teaching basic skills. Yes, you will get some,but they just don’t seem to have the same breadth. Moreover, each MFA program is a bit different. Some make you a generalist with stronger cinematic training such as USC, and UCLA. Some give you a broad based training but not as strong in a specific area of the animation pipeline such as NYU’s program in their CADA program. SVA and RIT tends to be very technical oriented,but not necessarily as broad based. </li>
</ol>

<p>Moreover, all of these programs have connections in their region. Thus, if you want to work in NY, you would be better off at NYU or SVA. If you want to work in California, you would be better off at a west coast school. Moreover,all of these programs culminate in a thesis, which takes at least one to two years. This basically is a short movie.</p>

<p>Bottom Line: I am not sure that going into a MFA program without a lot of animation training is the right thing to do. They will tell you that you can do it,but I am still unsure about how strong your skills will become. You need to really check out each program and their facilities.</p>

<ol>
<li>Trade schools: Trade schools give strong training in specific areas of the animation pipeline but may or may not give you a strong demo reel, which is what you need.</li>
</ol>

<p>The better trade schools are ( in no specific order of preference):

  1. Gnomon School of Visual Effects ( which is a terrific trade school for 3D work but provides a general overview for the full animation pipeline). Check out their one-year entertainment design program and 21 month Computer Graphics program.
  2. Animation mentor: This is totally an online training program. It gives what is considered the strongest training in character animation. However, it gives no training in any other aspect of animation such as rigging, texturing, skinning, modeling, lighting, etc. You REALLY have to want solely character animation to benefit from them.
  3. Sheridan College up in Canada. This has repudably a very strong program, or should I say three differernt one year programs. It is very expensive for non- Canadians.</p>

<ol>
<li>Dave School: This is a one year program. Not sure how good it is because of its short duration.</li>
</ol>

<p>Bottom line: personally, I think you should go to a trade school such as Gnomon and maybe finish up, if you have the funds, with an MFA in case you ever want to teach.</p>

4

<p>I should note that there is a REALLY inexpensive school called Max the Mutt in Toronto ,Canada. They specialize in 2d Animation,but will provide courses in all areas. Their facilities aren’t imposing,but their tuition is only about $10,000 per year! Moreover, repudably they have some very capable teachers who have taught at a number of the bigger, more well-known schools. Their program is three years that leads to a diploma,which is something between a certificate and a degree). They also have an option fourth year that teaches 3d subjects using Maya.</p>

<p>I spoke with Maxine,who founded Max the Mutt. She is an interesting gal. Their school really does teach a lot of strong foundation skills that seems to be missing in other programs. However, most of their program is very 2D oriented.</p>

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<p>taxguy broke it down quite well.
I would recommend trade schools though unless you feel that your foundation skills are not strong enough, or if you are more interested in the art/design side of things.
There is no reason why one couldn’t attend both Gnomon and Animation Mentor at the same time to build up solid skills in both areas. Trade schools offer better up-to-date vocational training anyway, even if most of what you need will be learned on the job. </p>

<p>Foundation-wise, a BFA will do much better than an MFA, and no employer will care whether you have a second or even a third bachelors. The vast majority of MFA programs leave me unimpressed.</p>

6

<p>Yes, MFA programs left me a bit unimpressed too. If you already have strong skills in animation and want to teach some time in your career, an MFA might be the right choice. If you don’t meet both of these requirements, I don’t see the MFA as the right route.</p>

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<p>thank you all for responding! seems like i still have a lot of research to do</p>

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<p>Chesire_Moo, I forgot to add something that I should have said.</p>

<p>Animation is very different than digital arts. You probably learned strong design skills and developed strong skills in web design with maybe some motion work.</p>

<p>Animation is a fine art! Make no mistake about it. You really should have some strong life drawing skills, creature drawing, and/or modeling skills. If you don’t have these skills, I would strongly recommend that you take some life drawing and creature drawing and courses in drawing hands, feet and heads. Gnomon does have some of this in their Entertainment design program. Academy of Art University has some good courses in these fundamentals. I don’t know if you have an art school near you,but you should inquire about this.</p>

<p>As for some of the schools that you mentioned such as Dave School or Full Sail University, these are VERY short term , intensive programs. For example, The Dave School is a one year program. Frankly, I don’t see how you can learn enough about the animation pipline and develop strong enough skills in the area with only one year of work, no matter how hard you are willing to work. </p>

<p>You might want to consider trying to learn online and using books and videos. You can learn what you need by geting books and videos. Gnomon , for example, has videos on many subjects. AAU and Gnomon have a lot of online training too. This latter method, however, does have its drawbacks. You won’t be getting a lot of feedback from books. Moreover, I have found that learning from other artists can be more important than what goes on in the lecture or book. If you take online courses or use books or videos, you won’t get this peer feedback.</p>

<p>Finally, using books and videos might be effective, but it does take a VERY motivated person. Frankly, I couldn’t learn this way. I would need formal instruction.</p>

<p>For a more complete list, go to the cg talk forums, which are the forums for computer graphics. There is a college and school thread, which you can click on a sticky thread in the “North and South American” schools area. The sticky thread there has a list of many schools that offer 3d and animation programs. Sadly, they aren’t rated or discussed in great detail,which then requires you to do a lot of research.</p>

<p>As for Digital Media Arts college, their program actually looks good. However, I have never met anyone in the animation industry that went there. In fact, most of the animators that I have met or spoken to, haven’t met anyone who attended Digital Media Arts College. If you like them, I would strongly inquire about the firms represented by alumni and ask who recruits on campus.</p>

<p>Finally, I would post the url for cgtalk,but this violates the stupid TOS of College Confidential. Just do a search for CG talk and go to forums, then to colleges and schools.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

9

<p>I am an Alumni of Fullsail I have my associate in computer animation and find myself in the same boat as you. 1st and foremost STAY CLEAR OF FULL SAIL. They pull a bait and switch all the time. That school alone pumps out 2x the amount of people for our field than needed. YOU will also find that FULL SAIL’S CREDIT WILL NOT TRANSFER ANYWHERE.</p>

<p>I went there in 2002 and they did teach me Maya, photoshop, final cut, shake, after affects and that about does it. They claimed they had a very high percentage rate of job placement because they have agreements with businesses in the area. NOT TRUE ONE BIT. My 1st job offer them came in the form of WEB DESIGN. I AM AN ANIMATOR NOT A WEB DESIGNER. If you ever want to really insult a 3d modeler call him a graphic designer. There is a very distinct difference. But yes all in all STAY VERY FAR FAR AWAY FROM FULL SAIL</p>