From Fundamentals to Flashier Tricks
At animation school, you can study both classical and computer-assisted means of bringing static images to life. Getting an education at an animation art school is an essential step in turning your innate talent for drawing or generating striking images to a marketable, in-demand professional skill.
What You'll Learn at Animation School
While you can take 3D animation in computer school, you'll get a much more comprehensive and specialized education if you attend an institution or program where animation is the sole focus. These programs teach the fundamentals as well as the flashier tricks of the trade. You'll receive instruction in classical, hand-drawn animation – a vital way to understand the processes that even today's advanced computer animation techniques draw on heavily. This foundation will serve you well when you move on to more advanced concepts, like graphics, digital background creation and digital editing.
Instruction in cartooning, character creation and rendering, storyboarding and visual storytelling will form the underpinnings of your education in animation school. If you're attending 3D animation school, these concepts will be presented with a focus on mastering their applications in virtual environments.
You can also study animation in film school, which will help you understand the art as part of a larger industry. In fact, some of the world's top animation schools are departmentalized within film schools.
Getting Accepted to Animation School
Whether you're applying to animation cartoon school or want to learn how to bring video games to life, your portfolio will be the key to your success. Academics are important, to be sure – you won't be able to get into an animation school if you don't at least have your high school diploma, but admissions personnel put a lot more stock in your talents than they do in your grades.
You'll have the best chance of getting accepted if you create a portfolio of work that shows your range. For example, don't limit yourself just to computer-generated work samples; make an effort to include some hand-drawn works of art, or paintings, or even sketches. The admissions counselors want to see that you're serious about growing your skills and talents, and that animation is your passion.
Animation school makes you a known commodity in the world of video game, film and television production. If you've got a passion for drawing and you want to parlay it into a rewarding career, it might be the answer you've been looking for.
