If you want to be a digital animator, to which school would you go?
October 20, 2015 8:11 PM Subscribe
My 17 year old son wants to be an animation artist. Awesome! He definitely has the ability (both artistically and digitally as he is fluent in more programming languages than I, a computer scientist, am) but we are now arguing about the school. I'm pushing for Cal Arts. He is resistant because my ex-husband, whom he hates, went there. So, I'm looking for schools that are great at digital art and animation. This is not an easy thing to Google, I keep getting Devry. More below...
I want my son to go to a post-secondary school that is equally heavy on the liberal arts education and technical education. He keeps talking about DeVry but I want him to go to a school where he can delve into film history and the art of cinema and maybe take a Women's Studies course plus studying the higher level programming skills that he is so ready for...
So here's all my questions: Are you an animator? Are you a digital animator? What school did you go to? What schools would you recommend? Am I wrong for pushing Cal Arts? He has his veteran dad's GI Bill to go to school on so money is almost no object.
TL;DR: What's the best school for digital animation that I should be sending my kid to?
I want my son to go to a post-secondary school that is equally heavy on the liberal arts education and technical education. He keeps talking about DeVry but I want him to go to a school where he can delve into film history and the art of cinema and maybe take a Women's Studies course plus studying the higher level programming skills that he is so ready for...
So here's all my questions: Are you an animator? Are you a digital animator? What school did you go to? What schools would you recommend? Am I wrong for pushing Cal Arts? He has his veteran dad's GI Bill to go to school on so money is almost no object.
TL;DR: What's the best school for digital animation that I should be sending my kid to?
CalArts, Ringling, Savannah, RISD. The school with the best connections usually equals the most work. My kid went to Ringling and the alumni network is very, very good.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:22 PM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Ideefixe at 8:22 PM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ringling School in Sarasota.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:31 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by treehorn+bunny at 8:31 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
My brother in law attended Animation Mentor and immediately found employment in Los Angeles. He still speaks highly of the experience.
posted by klausman at 8:32 PM on October 20, 2015
posted by klausman at 8:32 PM on October 20, 2015
Go to Brown! They have a great CS department that has connections with Pixar (or at least seems to send off a good number of alumni there), plus you can cross-register at RISD. Or you could do the dual-degree program. My friend triple-majored in Physics, Visual Arts, and Computer Science and now works at Pixar.
posted by gemutlichkeit at 8:49 PM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by gemutlichkeit at 8:49 PM on October 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Where do you guys currently live?
I'd recommend starting with affordable public colleges that are near enough for him to be in-state, as well as any other schools where he has a reasonable shot at significant financial aid. It is good if these schools have good digital animation programs, but honestly, the thing that helped me the most was graduating with no debt. Obviously he is going to need training to get work in such a highly technical field, so the school he ultimately chooses should have (relevant/competitive) programs that will give him this training. But honestly, beyond that, I think no debt is the most important thing.
If CalArts is cost effective (not sure if that's a public school or not, how much tuition is, etc), it would be stupid for him not to go there. He's old enough to be sat down and told that he's squandering his future not wanting to go to the perfect school just because someone he personally dislikes also went there.
However, it might be better for him to go to another school if said other school is less likely to result in him carrying a lot of debt and also has a solid digital animation program. A good friend of mine has a BFA from Cal Poly Pomona and has had a stellar career, always working in her field and getting into the best possible graduate programs for what she wants to do. Somewhere like CalArts might have been more "prestigious", but it's what you actually do after graduation that counts.
If you guys don't even live in California, he should absolutely consider other schools with good animation programs. It would be idiotic to assume that you can't do animation unless you go to this one school.
Also, DeVry is nuts, that's one of those shitty for-profit schools that he obviously should not go to.
posted by Sara C. at 8:58 PM on October 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
I'd recommend starting with affordable public colleges that are near enough for him to be in-state, as well as any other schools where he has a reasonable shot at significant financial aid. It is good if these schools have good digital animation programs, but honestly, the thing that helped me the most was graduating with no debt. Obviously he is going to need training to get work in such a highly technical field, so the school he ultimately chooses should have (relevant/competitive) programs that will give him this training. But honestly, beyond that, I think no debt is the most important thing.
If CalArts is cost effective (not sure if that's a public school or not, how much tuition is, etc), it would be stupid for him not to go there. He's old enough to be sat down and told that he's squandering his future not wanting to go to the perfect school just because someone he personally dislikes also went there.
However, it might be better for him to go to another school if said other school is less likely to result in him carrying a lot of debt and also has a solid digital animation program. A good friend of mine has a BFA from Cal Poly Pomona and has had a stellar career, always working in her field and getting into the best possible graduate programs for what she wants to do. Somewhere like CalArts might have been more "prestigious", but it's what you actually do after graduation that counts.
If you guys don't even live in California, he should absolutely consider other schools with good animation programs. It would be idiotic to assume that you can't do animation unless you go to this one school.
Also, DeVry is nuts, that's one of those shitty for-profit schools that he obviously should not go to.
posted by Sara C. at 8:58 PM on October 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
CalArts is immersive and actively discourages students from leaving its campus, mostly by having anything young creatives could possibly want on campus. It's fucking wild (so I hear).
I can't speak to any other schools, but I do know that full-day or two-day visits will give your son a better idea of which milieu he feels most comfortable with--and everything I know about animators, traditional or otherwise, is that they work best when they don't have to worry so much about the mundane day-to-day stuff (which is likely why CalArts is the way it is).
posted by infinitewindow at 9:29 PM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
I can't speak to any other schools, but I do know that full-day or two-day visits will give your son a better idea of which milieu he feels most comfortable with--and everything I know about animators, traditional or otherwise, is that they work best when they don't have to worry so much about the mundane day-to-day stuff (which is likely why CalArts is the way it is).
posted by infinitewindow at 9:29 PM on October 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
DeVry is a scam, please tell him it's a scam, it is a terrible terrible idea, please make sure he is presented with ample evidence of that because that is an idea that needs to be 100% off the table.
Um, it's not entirely clear to me what he wants to do. Does he want to be on the programming and graphics side, or does he want to be on the animation side? He is not going to get the kind of hardcore technical education he needs to write a renderer at CalArts. People I know who get to do the interesting work on the render side mostly have advanced degrees in computer science (and do awesome thesis projects like "a novel approach to smoke" or "red hair color dynamics" or what have you). You don't have to go to art school to do that kind of work and really you shouldn't. You want a degree in computer science and you want it from a place with a well known graphics research group. But it seems like maybe *you* think he should keep taking programming classes but that's not actually what he wants.
Now, if he wants to be a character animator, or a story artist, or any of the more "traditional" animation jobs, CalArts is a great place to be, and their long-standing historical ties to Disney along with plenty of newer alumni staffing important positions at all the major TV networks that buy new animated shows means it's really easy to find good employment once you're done if you're any good at all. I get the impression that the liberal arts curriculum there is not that strong though. My friends who've gone there (I just went to a wedding with dozens of CalArts grads a few weeks ago, so this is fresh in my mind) mostly joked about how peripheral and unnecessary their classes outside the character animation program felt. Basically, by going to pretty much *any* art school, you are closing the door on the idea of a really strong liberal arts education. The whole idea of liberal arts is becoming a well-rounded person; the whole idea of art school is picking an area of art and focusing on getting really, really good at doing it.
He should probably have a better idea of exactly where he wants to end up before he makes this choice. The nice thing about animation is that there are a TON of people who do pretty much every animation job on Twitter and Tumblr, and many of them are delighted to answer these sorts of "how do I become you when I grow up" types of questions. In fact many of them already have the answers posted as an FAQ because it comes up so much. You should work with him to narrow down what actually sounds awesome to him as an animation job, and find artists who do that job, and find out how they got where they are. You may find that it makes answering this question much easier.
posted by town of cats at 9:46 PM on October 20, 2015 [13 favorites]
Um, it's not entirely clear to me what he wants to do. Does he want to be on the programming and graphics side, or does he want to be on the animation side? He is not going to get the kind of hardcore technical education he needs to write a renderer at CalArts. People I know who get to do the interesting work on the render side mostly have advanced degrees in computer science (and do awesome thesis projects like "a novel approach to smoke" or "red hair color dynamics" or what have you). You don't have to go to art school to do that kind of work and really you shouldn't. You want a degree in computer science and you want it from a place with a well known graphics research group. But it seems like maybe *you* think he should keep taking programming classes but that's not actually what he wants.
Now, if he wants to be a character animator, or a story artist, or any of the more "traditional" animation jobs, CalArts is a great place to be, and their long-standing historical ties to Disney along with plenty of newer alumni staffing important positions at all the major TV networks that buy new animated shows means it's really easy to find good employment once you're done if you're any good at all. I get the impression that the liberal arts curriculum there is not that strong though. My friends who've gone there (I just went to a wedding with dozens of CalArts grads a few weeks ago, so this is fresh in my mind) mostly joked about how peripheral and unnecessary their classes outside the character animation program felt. Basically, by going to pretty much *any* art school, you are closing the door on the idea of a really strong liberal arts education. The whole idea of liberal arts is becoming a well-rounded person; the whole idea of art school is picking an area of art and focusing on getting really, really good at doing it.
He should probably have a better idea of exactly where he wants to end up before he makes this choice. The nice thing about animation is that there are a TON of people who do pretty much every animation job on Twitter and Tumblr, and many of them are delighted to answer these sorts of "how do I become you when I grow up" types of questions. In fact many of them already have the answers posted as an FAQ because it comes up so much. You should work with him to narrow down what actually sounds awesome to him as an animation job, and find artists who do that job, and find out how they got where they are. You may find that it makes answering this question much easier.
posted by town of cats at 9:46 PM on October 20, 2015 [13 favorites]
DeVry is an utter scam. He should aim for Ringling -- I wish desperately that I had known about it before I chose my undergrad art school.
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:03 PM on October 20, 2015
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:03 PM on October 20, 2015
My brother was an animation major at Loyola Marymount. He highly recommends the program and all of his classmates have gone on to do interesting work in the industry.
posted by Arbac at 10:09 PM on October 20, 2015
posted by Arbac at 10:09 PM on October 20, 2015
How's his French? I've seen some incredible work come out of Gobelins.
posted by davejh at 10:46 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by davejh at 10:46 PM on October 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Dude, if money is really no object and he can get into CalArts, by all means he should get over that baggage and at least consider it. I work in film/media (in a very unimpressive way) not on the production side, but I can tell you that a lot of the best animation work I've seen comes from there, and I'm sure connections can help in such a competitive field.
(Gobelins and other non-US schools are also great, but I don't think the GI Bill will help him with tuition there.)
posted by thetortoise at 12:54 AM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
(Gobelins and other non-US schools are also great, but I don't think the GI Bill will help him with tuition there.)
posted by thetortoise at 12:54 AM on October 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Two things matter in the art world: your portfolio and your connections. A lot of great animation schools are in California, because that's where the animation industry is and it's easy to network as everyone stays near the industry. It's certainly not the only option, but if money is no object...
A really great way to compares schools is to check out each school's recent Student Thesis films. I think even the casual animation viewer will be able to tell the difference between a terrible school and and a fabulous one just based on the quality of the films. If you can't watch student work, it's not a good animation school and move on. You can also get a sense of what styles the school encourages and what skills they promote.
Make sure he educates himself on exactly what he wants to do. Digital animation is too generalized to be useful. I would not recommend a program that dabbles in everything, the industry wants specialization so you'll have to compare individual programs to specific goals.
For example, 3D animation (think Pixar or Dreamworks) has got to have the biggest job opportunities. 3D animators, sculptors, programmers, lighting and effects and a billion other specializations all fall under that umbrella. On the other hand, 2D animation (Old Disney like Little Mermaid or Lion King) is not very healthy right now. And if he likes anime? I know plenty of schools that still refuse to allow anything remotely anime, despite the obvious influence anime has had on action-adventure animation. Both 2D and 3D also have concept designers, color painters and storyboard artists.
CalArts gets flung around a lot as the 'only option' for animation, which definitely isn't true, but it does tell you something about how well the grads do in the industry. CalArts, Ringling, and SCAD are the big name art schools for animation. Gobelins is legendary and I know there's some really fantastic Canadian animation schools, I just don't know them off the top of my head. RISD and SVA are both good schools, but I'm more familiar with their illustration programs. ArtCenter has an amazing concept design program. I'll second that I know a lot of students from Loyola Marymount working in animation. DigiPen for Game Design.
I'd be super dubious of anything with any kind of game design degree- a lot of schools are jumping on it because incoming students want to make games, but the school has no idea what they are doing. Also question any program that doesn't list the professors or that has teachers a lot of teachers without industry experience.
I also know a lot of industry people who are self-taught/took non-degree classes, but I suspect that's harder with 3D animation than 2D. Classes from working professionals are great networking tools and can help polish a portfolio for a specific role post-college. Concept Design Academy is not a degree program, but it's fantastic. I've worked with a mentor at Animation Mentor and I'd jump at the chance to learn from him if I wanted to do character 3D animation.
posted by SometimesChartreuse at 1:48 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
A really great way to compares schools is to check out each school's recent Student Thesis films. I think even the casual animation viewer will be able to tell the difference between a terrible school and and a fabulous one just based on the quality of the films. If you can't watch student work, it's not a good animation school and move on. You can also get a sense of what styles the school encourages and what skills they promote.
Make sure he educates himself on exactly what he wants to do. Digital animation is too generalized to be useful. I would not recommend a program that dabbles in everything, the industry wants specialization so you'll have to compare individual programs to specific goals.
For example, 3D animation (think Pixar or Dreamworks) has got to have the biggest job opportunities. 3D animators, sculptors, programmers, lighting and effects and a billion other specializations all fall under that umbrella. On the other hand, 2D animation (Old Disney like Little Mermaid or Lion King) is not very healthy right now. And if he likes anime? I know plenty of schools that still refuse to allow anything remotely anime, despite the obvious influence anime has had on action-adventure animation. Both 2D and 3D also have concept designers, color painters and storyboard artists.
CalArts gets flung around a lot as the 'only option' for animation, which definitely isn't true, but it does tell you something about how well the grads do in the industry. CalArts, Ringling, and SCAD are the big name art schools for animation. Gobelins is legendary and I know there's some really fantastic Canadian animation schools, I just don't know them off the top of my head. RISD and SVA are both good schools, but I'm more familiar with their illustration programs. ArtCenter has an amazing concept design program. I'll second that I know a lot of students from Loyola Marymount working in animation. DigiPen for Game Design.
I'd be super dubious of anything with any kind of game design degree- a lot of schools are jumping on it because incoming students want to make games, but the school has no idea what they are doing. Also question any program that doesn't list the professors or that has teachers a lot of teachers without industry experience.
I also know a lot of industry people who are self-taught/took non-degree classes, but I suspect that's harder with 3D animation than 2D. Classes from working professionals are great networking tools and can help polish a portfolio for a specific role post-college. Concept Design Academy is not a degree program, but it's fantastic. I've worked with a mentor at Animation Mentor and I'd jump at the chance to learn from him if I wanted to do character 3D animation.
posted by SometimesChartreuse at 1:48 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Basically, by going to pretty much *any* art school, you are closing the door on the idea of a really strong liberal arts education.
I had a lot of friends who went to art school, and a lot who went the humanities route. All I want to say is that if it's a choice, unless your kid is burning to be an academic or wants to continue with professional studies afterwards, art school, for things like animation and design, especially if it's a good art school > a "balanced" liberal arts education, if the goal is rewarding employment.
Canadian animation schools - Sheridan College.
Also, nth that Devry is a scam. When searching, do this: "-Devry".
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:58 AM on October 21, 2015
I had a lot of friends who went to art school, and a lot who went the humanities route. All I want to say is that if it's a choice, unless your kid is burning to be an academic or wants to continue with professional studies afterwards, art school, for things like animation and design, especially if it's a good art school > a "balanced" liberal arts education, if the goal is rewarding employment.
Canadian animation schools - Sheridan College.
Also, nth that Devry is a scam. When searching, do this: "-Devry".
posted by cotton dress sock at 1:58 AM on October 21, 2015
I would speak directly with current students and *recent* grads in the animation departments you're considering.
Ideally this would be in a relaxed social setting with no administrators around, not a campus tour.
I know that may be hard to arrange, but considering the stakes it's worth the effort.
Circumstances in these programs change very quickly. If someone graduated three years ago, they might not be on top of current events. Instructors leave, administrations change, and a program can change direction really fast. So you need to talk with people who are in the program now or are in close contact with someone who is.
CalArts is very prestigious, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best option right now. You need to get in there and get first hand info.
I've heard great things about Ringling. It's worth a look.
I believe USC has invested heavily in building up their game design program. Definitely worth a look.
I toured LCAD and was impressed by the facilities and the student work. I met a couple people socially, outside of the campus visit, who had good things to say about the fine art program. They weren't animators, though.
And yeah, seriously, forget Devry.
posted by trevor_case at 3:20 AM on October 21, 2015
Ideally this would be in a relaxed social setting with no administrators around, not a campus tour.
I know that may be hard to arrange, but considering the stakes it's worth the effort.
Circumstances in these programs change very quickly. If someone graduated three years ago, they might not be on top of current events. Instructors leave, administrations change, and a program can change direction really fast. So you need to talk with people who are in the program now or are in close contact with someone who is.
CalArts is very prestigious, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best option right now. You need to get in there and get first hand info.
I've heard great things about Ringling. It's worth a look.
I believe USC has invested heavily in building up their game design program. Definitely worth a look.
I toured LCAD and was impressed by the facilities and the student work. I met a couple people socially, outside of the campus visit, who had good things to say about the fine art program. They weren't animators, though.
And yeah, seriously, forget Devry.
posted by trevor_case at 3:20 AM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: I teach University-level graphic design at a state institution in a large city. A HUGE advantage we have is that students can intern as graphic designers at a wide range of corporations, ad agencies or small design studios before they graduate. This is very much made possible by our urban location. Due to our program strength, location and internship opportunities we have a high rate of employment upon and after graduation. We have illustration majors also but they have a more difficult time with employment because although our city is big, it is not a traditional media or publishing center.
For commercial creative pursuits like design, illustration and animation, location is important, because as someone said upthread your portfolio is super critical, but it is not doing anything if you are not showing it to people. Despite what people would have you believe about the magic of the internet, you still show your portfolio to people largely in person (or at least meet people in person to get them interested enough to see your work).
Jobs become more scarce (almost on an order of magnitude) as you move from graphic design to illustration and from illustration to animation. If you develop talents in both animation and "motion graphics," then your job opportunities open up considerably.
So, there are few jobs in animation with an immense amount of competition. I have thought about whether my daughter might pursue such a career - both of her parents are artists, she shows a strong interest in drawing, she watches tons of cartoons with me, I have some knowledge of the field as a practicing commercial artist, etc. If it were my daughter, I would strongly encourage her to do CalArts, Ringling or SCAD (probably in that order), OR I would research internship and summer programs ahead of time and cross my fingers that she could get into one of those from a strong public institution. If she chose the public education route, I would definitely say to her that she is making the pathway to a job as a professional animator much harder.
Yes, the commercial arts schools I listed are pretty light on the other general education or liberal arts subjects. If you were asking about graphic design schools, I would definitely be singing the praises of both (large) state public institutions and general education and the well-rounded student. But again, graphic design is an expanding field with numerous job opportunities right now. Further design is moving away from a specialist model and toward a print-web-motion-service design generalist who is able to move around the areas as needed. There is definitely a learn-as-you-go aspect to the modern world of graphic design. Further the job itself is about working with subject matter you may or may not know and translating it to a visual form, so liberal arts and general education come in super handy.
For animation, you can pretty much only become active in the field by working for Pixar, Nickelodeon, Disney or a few other players... So you have to start at the specialist level and go to a school with strong alumni and programmatic connections.
posted by Slothrop at 4:41 AM on October 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
For commercial creative pursuits like design, illustration and animation, location is important, because as someone said upthread your portfolio is super critical, but it is not doing anything if you are not showing it to people. Despite what people would have you believe about the magic of the internet, you still show your portfolio to people largely in person (or at least meet people in person to get them interested enough to see your work).
Jobs become more scarce (almost on an order of magnitude) as you move from graphic design to illustration and from illustration to animation. If you develop talents in both animation and "motion graphics," then your job opportunities open up considerably.
So, there are few jobs in animation with an immense amount of competition. I have thought about whether my daughter might pursue such a career - both of her parents are artists, she shows a strong interest in drawing, she watches tons of cartoons with me, I have some knowledge of the field as a practicing commercial artist, etc. If it were my daughter, I would strongly encourage her to do CalArts, Ringling or SCAD (probably in that order), OR I would research internship and summer programs ahead of time and cross my fingers that she could get into one of those from a strong public institution. If she chose the public education route, I would definitely say to her that she is making the pathway to a job as a professional animator much harder.
Yes, the commercial arts schools I listed are pretty light on the other general education or liberal arts subjects. If you were asking about graphic design schools, I would definitely be singing the praises of both (large) state public institutions and general education and the well-rounded student. But again, graphic design is an expanding field with numerous job opportunities right now. Further design is moving away from a specialist model and toward a print-web-motion-service design generalist who is able to move around the areas as needed. There is definitely a learn-as-you-go aspect to the modern world of graphic design. Further the job itself is about working with subject matter you may or may not know and translating it to a visual form, so liberal arts and general education come in super handy.
For animation, you can pretty much only become active in the field by working for Pixar, Nickelodeon, Disney or a few other players... So you have to start at the specialist level and go to a school with strong alumni and programmatic connections.
posted by Slothrop at 4:41 AM on October 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
My husband got his MFA at CalArts. We are still paying for it fifteen years later. I know you said money is practically no object but man, that is one expensive school. So be sure about what you're getting him into, as far as student loans go, before you send him there.
Honestly, my husband did not have the greatest experience there, either. His assigned mentor was a prestigious, very famous animator, but not a very good teacher or guidance counselor (which is sort of what that role was intended to be). He does not work in animation today. So I don't know. The school being great and renowned doesn't mean all that much if you're not sold on the experience, and it sounds like your son is not really sold on the experience.
posted by something something at 5:10 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Honestly, my husband did not have the greatest experience there, either. His assigned mentor was a prestigious, very famous animator, but not a very good teacher or guidance counselor (which is sort of what that role was intended to be). He does not work in animation today. So I don't know. The school being great and renowned doesn't mean all that much if you're not sold on the experience, and it sounds like your son is not really sold on the experience.
posted by something something at 5:10 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I don't know anything about the field but I live in Savannah and at the Savannah College of Art and Design (aka SCAD) they call their program "Sequential Art". You might want to look for other programs that use the same designation. (Note, I have no connection with SCAD.)
posted by mareli at 5:39 AM on October 21, 2015
posted by mareli at 5:39 AM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: The UPenn program mentioned up thread is the Digital Media Design program. It's an extremely rigorous degree within the engineering school, and is basically equivalent to a software engineering degree combined with an arts degree. It's very well-regarded and, combined with a few solid internships (which in that field are often paid, since they require software engineering skills) he'll have a foot in the door at just about any digital animation house on earth.
posted by Itaxpica at 5:54 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Itaxpica at 5:54 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
BYU has what I understand to be a well-regarded animation department. The students (2) that I know who went there were quite pleased with their academic and professional opportunities.
Obviously for many kids the Honor Code is a drag, but I personally found the "typical" college environment a drag and wished we'd had a ban on alcohol and staying out all night when I was at university.
posted by SMPA at 6:20 AM on October 21, 2015
Obviously for many kids the Honor Code is a drag, but I personally found the "typical" college environment a drag and wished we'd had a ban on alcohol and staying out all night when I was at university.
posted by SMPA at 6:20 AM on October 21, 2015
If he's really serious for the long haul he should get a solid fine arts education as deep and broad as possible. Art history, life drawing, color theory. The animation tools are insanely sophisticated and not trivial to learn but just tools like brush and pen. Knowing what to do with them is the real issue.
Also look at the state of the industry, there is huge price pressure and churn which pushes much of the work offshore to the lowest bidder that week. Read about Rhythm & Hues.
posted by sammyo at 6:27 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Also look at the state of the industry, there is huge price pressure and churn which pushes much of the work offshore to the lowest bidder that week. Read about Rhythm & Hues.
posted by sammyo at 6:27 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: He keeps talking about DeVry but I want him to go to a school where he can delve into film history
As a larger way to address this... you guys are at a really rough cross-purposes here. Of course you are going to have aspirations for the kiddo, that is your role. But he has to make informed decisions about who he wants to be and how he wants to get there. You cannot get him to go to the school that you think he should go to. Helping him be as informed as possible is your job. And it's a tough one, since your partner in crime here is a teenager. :) It would be great to pull back and get some outside counsel. Meeting with people, visiting schools, talking with admissions people, reading about colleges, settling questions: do you want an isolated or rural or urban school? A large school? Small classes? Giant lectures? Frats? What professors are stars that you want to study with? When you look at people who you want to be, where did they go? When he envisions school what is it?
He is 17 and it is October. Time is rather of the essence here.
And regarding the people who are talking about state schools and student debt here, please please remember that many many schools will pay for some or all of college, and that's not even including GI Bill stuff. Do NOT rule out any schools due to price without speaking to the admissions departments first.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 6:43 AM on October 21, 2015
As a larger way to address this... you guys are at a really rough cross-purposes here. Of course you are going to have aspirations for the kiddo, that is your role. But he has to make informed decisions about who he wants to be and how he wants to get there. You cannot get him to go to the school that you think he should go to. Helping him be as informed as possible is your job. And it's a tough one, since your partner in crime here is a teenager. :) It would be great to pull back and get some outside counsel. Meeting with people, visiting schools, talking with admissions people, reading about colleges, settling questions: do you want an isolated or rural or urban school? A large school? Small classes? Giant lectures? Frats? What professors are stars that you want to study with? When you look at people who you want to be, where did they go? When he envisions school what is it?
He is 17 and it is October. Time is rather of the essence here.
And regarding the people who are talking about state schools and student debt here, please please remember that many many schools will pay for some or all of college, and that's not even including GI Bill stuff. Do NOT rule out any schools due to price without speaking to the admissions departments first.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 6:43 AM on October 21, 2015
Across the street from Penn, Drexel has a digital media program that is less engineering.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 7:00 AM on October 21, 2015
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 7:00 AM on October 21, 2015
As for how to demonstrate to him that DeVry isn't a good option:
How about looking up people who are doing what he wants to be doing, and then finding out where _they_ went to school? (I'm betting DeVry won't show up in a lot of those résumés, but hey, I could be wrong).
posted by amtho at 8:35 AM on October 21, 2015
How about looking up people who are doing what he wants to be doing, and then finding out where _they_ went to school? (I'm betting DeVry won't show up in a lot of those résumés, but hey, I could be wrong).
posted by amtho at 8:35 AM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: Canadian animation schools - Sheridan College.
They've had an excellent reputation for decades (three of the five films nominated for Oscars for Best Animated Feature in 2015 were directed by animators who studied at Sheridan). They offer a Bachelor of Animation, as well as Graduate programs in Computer Animation and Digital Character animation.
The Bachelor degree is $25,455.05 CAD per year (about US$ 19,432.08). Not sure how that compares to tuition at your more local colleges.
posted by Kabanos at 8:39 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
They've had an excellent reputation for decades (three of the five films nominated for Oscars for Best Animated Feature in 2015 were directed by animators who studied at Sheridan). They offer a Bachelor of Animation, as well as Graduate programs in Computer Animation and Digital Character animation.
The Bachelor degree is $25,455.05 CAD per year (about US$ 19,432.08). Not sure how that compares to tuition at your more local colleges.
posted by Kabanos at 8:39 AM on October 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I should add that the Bachelor of Animations requires the student to take at least a half-dozen Humanities/Science/Social Sciences breadth courses.
posted by Kabanos at 8:46 AM on October 21, 2015
posted by Kabanos at 8:46 AM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: OMG. If your son is still 17, and has this upcoming summer free, he seriously needs to consider applying for CSSSA, the California Summer School of the Arts. If he goes, and especially puts a lot of passion into his work, he may be able to get $10,000+ scholarships, plus CSSSA takes place at CalArts. They take people 12 to 18, including those who graduated from high school. They will work his butt off, the running joke amongst the animation students is that their Animation Department section is called "The Dungeon," because everyone puts in so many hours for their work to the point of missing out on all of the other amazing stuff that all the other students are doing. You also have amazing guest artists and teachers who put in so much time and effort into your work and artistic development. Please check it out!
CSSSA Foundation talks about all the work of scholarships, and listing of art colleges to go to that the CSSSAF has direct partnership with. So there are more options other than DeVry. Please pm me if you would like to talk more!
CalArts also has Women's Studies and Queer Studies courses, from what my friends have told me.
Disclosure: I went there, but so many of my other friends did, and it was a lifechanging, validating experience, and many of them go directly to CalArts after. Also, one of the animation instructors at CalArts is the director of the CSSSA Animation Department.
posted by yueliang at 9:08 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
CSSSA Foundation talks about all the work of scholarships, and listing of art colleges to go to that the CSSSAF has direct partnership with. So there are more options other than DeVry. Please pm me if you would like to talk more!
CalArts also has Women's Studies and Queer Studies courses, from what my friends have told me.
Disclosure: I went there, but so many of my other friends did, and it was a lifechanging, validating experience, and many of them go directly to CalArts after. Also, one of the animation instructors at CalArts is the director of the CSSSA Animation Department.
posted by yueliang at 9:08 AM on October 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: ^^I write my above response, because I think your son would do well to be really exposed to a high calibre of artistic work, other students who are also passionate, and also gaining the access and knowledge to know that there are many other art schools besides CalArts and DeVry. CSSSA also holds a College Fair during its session, so many students can get information on many different programs out there, plus gain mentorship and guidance. Also, if he really can get over his baggage at CalArts and replace his fixed ideas with a different experience, then it would be really great for him to evaluate CalArts on his own terms.
**also the animation students willingly put in that many hours, it's not like it's enforced by the teachers. I was in a different discipline but we all put in as much or as many hours as we wanted to.
posted by yueliang at 9:17 AM on October 21, 2015
**also the animation students willingly put in that many hours, it's not like it's enforced by the teachers. I was in a different discipline but we all put in as much or as many hours as we wanted to.
posted by yueliang at 9:17 AM on October 21, 2015
CSSSA is a GREAT idea.
posted by town of cats at 11:33 AM on October 21, 2015
posted by town of cats at 11:33 AM on October 21, 2015
I would give RISD a strong look. It was one of the schools I looked at when I decided I wanted to major in old school, 2D animation. With nearly 25 years of hindsight I often wish I had gone to RISD (except, of course, for having met Mrs. usonian at the school I chose instead.)
It's been a long time and I don't know how things may have changed, but back then RISD's basic undergrad track included a two year multi-discipline arts core before they turned you loose on your declared major. This included fundamentals in subjects like life drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, glass, woodworking, 2D design, etc. The second two years were when you would really dig into your major discipline. They had a partnership with Brown University (which is basically across the street) to cover the minimal academic (mostly liberal arts) course requirements, so you got the best of both worlds.
As a 17 year old two years seemed like forever to wait to start studying animation, and I ultimately chose a school that jumped right into a lot of technical film knowledge on day one but really shortchanged me on art fundamentals. Anyway, my sales pitch to 17 year old me would have been that a broad, multi-disciplined artistic foundation is such a great opportunity to
posted by usonian at 12:47 PM on October 21, 2015
It's been a long time and I don't know how things may have changed, but back then RISD's basic undergrad track included a two year multi-discipline arts core before they turned you loose on your declared major. This included fundamentals in subjects like life drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, glass, woodworking, 2D design, etc. The second two years were when you would really dig into your major discipline. They had a partnership with Brown University (which is basically across the street) to cover the minimal academic (mostly liberal arts) course requirements, so you got the best of both worlds.
As a 17 year old two years seemed like forever to wait to start studying animation, and I ultimately chose a school that jumped right into a lot of technical film knowledge on day one but really shortchanged me on art fundamentals. Anyway, my sales pitch to 17 year old me would have been that a broad, multi-disciplined artistic foundation is such a great opportunity to
- Develop a strong skill set and broader perspective to carry into an animation focus
- Develop a sense of the specific aspects/styles of animation to pursue -Or-
- Discover a slightly tangential or parallel creative passion and still have time to switch majors.
posted by usonian at 12:47 PM on October 21, 2015
Best answer: If heading north is of interest, Sheridan in Canada has great Bachelor of Animation and Computer Animation programs, and an ok Film program too. The campus is in a nice suburb 30 mins outside of Toronto, which has a huge videogame company as well as 100+ animation production studios (search here for "TV series production" in the province of Ontario to see a pretty comprehensive list), so there are work and internship opportunities.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:23 PM on October 21, 2015
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:23 PM on October 21, 2015
Response by poster: You guys are so awesome! I've forwarded this thread to my kiddo and his dad and hopefully it'll give us alot of fuel for discussion. Thank y'all so much!
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:27 PM on November 8, 2015
posted by blessedlyndie at 10:27 PM on November 8, 2015
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