OIAF’s Guide to Animation Schools

Looking back, what’s the most important or useful thing you learned in animation school?

By far the most valuable part of my education was making three or four films of my own and being responsible for every detail of production, from beginning to end. Make your own film and finish it!

The second most valuable thing I learned was to take (and give!) constructive criticism. There’s no better way to learn what does and doesn’t work in your project, and how to differentiate between valuable comments and those you can reject. (You also have to recognize when you’re being defensive, because that usually means you’re reluctant to give up a pet idea that probably doesn’t work.)

For me, art school was also the ideal low-stakes environment in which to experiment (and fail a lot) and to expand my understanding of the medium and of filmmaking in general.

 

What’s one thing you wish you’d known before starting an animation program?

I wish I’d known that in animation half the battle is being able to discern the forest and from the trees. If you’re someone who engages with details, you have to make sure you routinely lift your head to look at the big picture.

 

What advice do you have for aspiring animators who are considering college programs right now?

Look for a program that fully supports the kind of work you want to do. Look at the work of their graduates and, if possible, talk to students in the program. Make sure you’re where you want to be – but also leave yourself room for growth and change of outlook!

 

Watch recommendations and why:

Dissect the films you love. Watch how they’re edited and how they’re structured. Analyze the animation frame by frame. Listen to the soundtrack – for how each sound is used, but more importantly, how music and effects influence the film overall. (Animators sometimes don’t think hard enough about sound!) There’s a world of creativity  to be explored in every great film.

Follow Amanda on Instagram: @tilbyforbis

Looking back, what’s the most important or useful thing you learned in animation school?
There’s too many important lessons to list! I’d say the value of community and of just sitting down and doing the work. Your community at school will hopefully be a part of your life well after you graduate, and it’s important to appreciate that and to support each other in your artistic goals, help each other out in projects if possible. Animation outside of school is a really collaborative art form, and every part of that collaboration is essential to making the best work. I’m really grateful for the friends I made at school who continue to inspire me, and with whom I wish I had collaborated more. The second thing is: do the work. Be active about the work. A lot of creativity comes from practice, not just a sudden stroke of lightning. Writing is a practice. Drawing is a practice. Animating is a practice. All of it takes time, and you can only get better at these the more you do it. Also, research! Watch films! Stay inspired by looking at art! There’s too many things to list.

What’s one thing you wish you’d known or considered before starting an animation program?
Physical health. I wish I’d know how taxing Animation is on our bodies. This isn’t something that animation schools tend to address, but I think they should. On a personal level, I wish I had taken steps to look after my posture, to strengthen my body so I could avoid injuring myself with bad work habits (sitting for hours at a desk without taking breaks, holding my arm out at the wrong angle and getting carpel tunnel, etc). A lot of those habits form at school, trying to meet deadlines and working overnight. I wish I had considered the impact of those bad habits and started to correct them by informing myself and doing the necessary stretches and exercises. I encourage animation programs to consider this and build it into their curriculum so that their graduating artists can have longer careers and healthier bodies.

What advice do you have for aspiring animators who are considering college programs right now?
I know that right now there’s a lot of ways to learn and improve your animation skills online, but I’m still very happy that I went to school for it because of the community I made there. I think if you want to do something that is more technically focused or motion graphics, there might be alternatives to 4 year animation programs to consider. I’d recommend that students think about what they like about animation, research the schools, look at who has graduated from those schools and who teaches there. That can be a great indicator of what that specific animation program focuses on. It’s always useful to look at the work of people you admire and see how they got to where they are, what school they went to, or where they might teach now.

Watch recommendations, and why. This can be one of your projects, an artist you admire, a learning resource, YouTube channel, podcast, or animation series or film you think everyone should binge watch.
At the moment, I’m really loving Lisa Hanawalt’s Hot Dog Taste Test. It’s an illustrated [cook]book she published in 2016. I love it because it’s so free and fun, the illustrations are funny and beautiful. It’s really inspiring to see her process and progression from this book to her show Tuca and Bertie. She also introduces those two characters in the book, so if you’re a fan of the show, I highly recommend it!

Follow Angela on Instagram: @angelastempel

Looking back, what’s the most important or useful thing you learned in animation school?
I learned that community is everything! Community helps cultivate a healthy relationship to your work, it creates job opportunities, it supports and helps you grow as an artist/animator and as a person. My cohort from animation school has remained really important to me for resources, connection, and friendship. I also learned that the more authentic my work is to me and the more consistent I am with my animation practice, the more opportunities come my way. Worry less, stay interested!

What’s one thing you wish you’d known or considered before starting an animation program?
I wish I were a little more aware that there is no race. Building skills and techniques as an animation director takes time and requires that you stay open to discovering new things within your work. I think I had it in my head that I needed to have it all figured out early on, but it’s so much about the process.

What advice do you have for aspiring animators who are considering college programs right now?
Reach out to artists that inspire you and ask them about their education, ask them what was most important and what helped them in their careers the most. Ask lots and lots of questions, you don’t have to know exactly what you want to do with your career, but hearing about other peoples experiences will help guide you. Spend timing looking into programs that will leave you with the smallest amount of debt, don’t automatically go for the big name schools, really take your time and do your research!

Watch recommendations, and why. This can be one of your projects, an artist you admire, a learning resource, YouTube channel, podcast, or animation series or film you think everyone should binge watch.
I’m very inspired by these channels for animation resources: @24memespersecond on instagram, After Hours Animation Community Skill Share, Boiled Over Animation Podcast.

Follow Amanda on Instagram: @amandabonaiuto

Looking back, what’s the most important or useful thing you learned in animation school?
Staging and Layout. This is the part of the process where you decide where everything in the frame is placed in relation to your character. It’s part of what helps the flow of your story and helps guide your eye so you look where you’re supposed to look.

What’s one thing you wish you’d known or considered before starting an animation program?
I wish I’d known how important it was to have my own point of view. It’s very easy to get swept up in what other people are doing and it’s always best to bet on yourself and trust your own ideas.

What advice do you have for aspiring animators who are considering college programs right now?
I suggest getting specific about what part of Animation you’re interested in. Do you want to be a Character Designer? The person who draws the backgrounds? Once you decide, look up credits for animated films you like and google the people’s names who are doing the job you like. More often than not they have work online for you to study and work towards. There are so many jobs in animation so it’s a really good idea to be clear about which ones you enjoy before diving in.

Watch recommendations, and why. This can be one of your projects, an artist you admire, a learning resource, YouTube channel, podcast, or animation series or film you think everyone should binge watch.
I think everyone should watch Richard Williams’ The Thief and The Cobbler (The recobbled cut). He’s a giant in the industry and his work to me really highlighted the best parts of working in the medium. The playfulness, the possibility, the caricature – it’s beautiful!
Also check out anything by Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Primal). The storytelling is masterful and often with little to no dialogue.
Finally Canon Busters by Lesean Thomas is a beautifully produced series on Netflix.

Follow Gyimah on Instagram: @gyimahg

Looking back, what’s the most important or useful thing you learned in animation school?
The school context forced me to push myself to finish projects and I think that was very useful later on. With a practice like animation, which takes so long, it is important to be able to complete something although it is maybe not perfect.

What’s one thing you wish you’d known or considered before starting an animation program?
I personally wish I would have had a more solid base in fine arts before starting my degree, but it’s a very personal thing. I also feel like that’s not necessary and there are some amazing artists that come from seemingly unrelated backgrounds.

What advice do you have for aspiring animators who are considering college programs right now?
Although animation can be a very solitary practice, community is very, very important. Even if you never do a group project, it helps to be surrounded by people who are driven and love what they do, so I would recommend visiting a place and feeling it out if it’s at all possible in today’s context.

Watch recommendations, and why. This can be one of your projects, an artist you admire, a learning resource, YouTube channel, podcast, or animation series or film you think everyone should binge watch.
This is going to sound like a paid advertisement for OIAF, but honestly I’d mostly recommend watching a lot of films and taking advantage of a big festival like OIAF if they can. For me, it’s always so great to see what’s being made right now. Also going to artist talks and seeing people talk about their process can be very inspiring. If I had to recommend something specific to watch, check out Archipel/Archipelago. It’s the most recent feature film by Félix Dufour Laperrière which really puts forward the work of many young animators and recent graduates from Montreal. It’s a really beautiful example of how collaborative the animation of a big project like this can be.

Follow Eva on Instagram: @evacvijanovic