Truthfully, I applied to Capilano on a whim. I had already graduated from the Foundation Visual Art and Design program at Vancouver Film School and I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to be an animator anymore. However, once I received my acceptance letter, I became serious about animation again.
I had taken a tour of the school two years previous when I graduated from high school, but aside from that, I didn’t really speak with any advisors or other students or do anything really, aside from research the school online a little and send off my portfolio.
The Portfolio Process
When I began the program and spoke to my classmates about our experiences, I realized that most people had been in contact with the school some time or another. They took the summer intensive animation program, went to the open houses to get their portfolios reviewed, or even just sat in on the life drawing classes to prepare for the course and get to know what was required. So, in retrospect, I’m not really sure how my rushed, random portfolio got me in, but I’m really thankful it did.
Only after this do they look at your cartoony stuff.
I only really got a full view of the admissions process when I volunteered at an open house we had, where people brought in portfolios to be reviewed. Basically, the first hurdle in portfolios is life drawing. If your life drawing is not up to par, they don’t really look at your other stuff. So go! Life drawing is one of those things that you can never do too much of, anyway. Next in line are sketches of people, on the bus, in a cafe, wherever. This is a good practice to get into anyway, you learn so much from observing real people, and it will definitely show up in your cartoony drawings. Then they also want to see perspective drawings of locations and some animal life drawings. Only after this do they look at your cartoony stuff. So definitely take this into consideration if you’re good at one style, but everything else needs work. In general, to be successful in Animation, you need to be a well-rounded, serious artist. Buy the Preston Blair books and learn structure (Draw it! Don’t just read art books!). Animation is a difficult industry, it’s a difficult medium in general, and I do think that art schools that don’t really require much of a portfolio do a great disservice to their students.
The People
Therefore, not really having any expectations besides “Yay! I’m going to school”, Capilano still impressed me quite a bit. The great thing about being in a program that has such strict requirements is that all my classmates were really really good, and serious about animation. We did still have a couple of people who realized animation wasn’t for them, but the overall attitude of my class was really great.
On top of that, the program head, Don Perro, is a really excellent person. His passion for his work and animation is what really defines the program, in my opinion. He truly wants everyone to succeed to the best of their abilities and even on top of his teaching and program duties, provides opportunities for students to get their work out as much as possible.
The rest of the teachers are a great bunch as well. Of course, they all have their strengths and weaknesses (they’re only human, after all) but I learned a lot from each one. And at times, (okay… most of the time) the workload feels completely overwhelming, but the intensity of the course is also another asset. Still, be prepared to give up your social life a bit.
The Program
The course starts off a bit slow, to ease you in to the workload. There are a total of four semesters over two years. Each has its challenges; the first year is all about learning how to draw for animation. It’s often hard for people to break the habit of clean refined drawings to get a loose style for animation. First semester is all about the principals of animation, combined with classes in character design, life drawing, history of animation and screenwriting.
Second semester builds on first semester, with animation adding things like dialogue and quadruped walks (in perspective! I remember sitting at my animation desk for a while just trying to process where all those legs would go!). Character design is also built upon, as well as Life drawing. In addition to Life drawing, there is an eight-week course in Anatomy. Throughout the whole two year program, the homework for life drawing is to do three hours of extra life drawing a week, so with the addition of Anatomy, that’s around 9 hours of life drawing a week! This may seem like a ridiculous amount, but by the end, mine and most of the classmate’s drawing skills had improved so much as a direct result of this. New courses in second semester are an introductory Layout class, and a Directing for Animation class, in which the basics of storyboarding are discussed and each student makes a short live-action film.
This is the hardest part of animation, anyone really can make drawings move, but it takes real talent to make them feel.
After a summer break, third semester starts. This semester is definitely the most intense. The animation assignments are more complex and longer, and emotion and acting are brought into the mix. This is the hardest part of animation, anyone really can make drawings move, but it takes real talent to make them feel. A more complex Layout course is another challenging course in this semester. The theory behind this class is that if you can do classical (think wide shots from films like Pinocchio) layouts, you can do cartoony, abstract ones just fine. This course is also very good for teaching everyone how to critique each others work, and to take critique from others and grow from it.
Life drawing is also approached differently this semester, you are expected not to draw what you see, but to push the pose and draw what you know from anatomy. Storyboarding is also taught this semester, as well as a Digital Animation course where the programs used commonly in Vancouver’s animation industry are taught.
Fourth semester is half devoted to classes, and the next half devoted to preparing for graduation. The animation assignments continue the acting and personality vein, and Life drawing focuses on understanding light. An eight-week colour theory class is especially good for helping prepare for graduation portfolios, as well as a digital painting class that shows everyone all the tips and tricks with Photoshop.
There is also one last class with program coordinator, Don Perro, in which you create a final project. This is generally up to the student, and usually it is what the student likes/does best though sometimes people chose solely on what they think will help them find work. Students have created design packages, storyboards, layout and posing pieces and short films. The short films are generally under a minute and either flash or rough animation, as the program is a bit too short and intense to create anything longer or more refined (though I did have classmates who did it, but it requires strict work ethic and dedication). This final project often becomes the bulk of the demo reel/portfolio and many of my classmates really produced their best work yet with this project.
The Last Hurrah
Once the classes end, it’s time to prepare for Gradshow, which is the animation program’s big year-end showing of everyone’s work. Commercial Animation teams up with the Digital Animation program to have two nights, one specifically for industry people to come view students’ work, and the next for family and friends to come and see. Everyone creates a portfolio and/or demo reel, and two pages of their best work, which are put in to a collective book called a Gradbook for studios hiring to see a sample of everyone’s work in that year. Preparing for Gradshow becomes a full time task, and on top of completing our own work, we had to plan and work on creating the gradshow. I mainly worked with a few other students on designing the gradbook cover and templates, but other students worked hard to plan our after party, gifts for teachers, invitations, sponsors and a whole lot more.
Previous years at Capilano, many students were hired on the spot at industry night, but our year was pretty prepared for a dead night. There aren’t many jobs to be had in animation right now, we had been hearing that for months, but it was great to see everyone still working hard and creating really great work. I truly believe that if there were jobs to be had, most of my classmates would have been snapped up pretty quickly, and that once things do pick up again, they will do incredibly well. The education we received in Commercial Animation was incredibly great, and the passion everyone has for what they do will get them incredibly far.
So, compared to other animation school in Vancouver, Commercial Animation is almost suspiciously cheap.
The Verdict
So, compared to other animation school in Vancouver, Commercial Animation is almost suspiciously cheap. But in truth, tuition at Capilano is the only realistic amount you should be willing to pay to study animation. Seriously, we’re not becoming doctors or lawyers here, you should not be going $40,000 or more in debt like you probably would going to a private animation school. Class size is also decent, capped at 24 students with a few leaving, sometimes. In some classes, it can be hard to get time to get your work looked over by a teacher, but I’ve found most of the faculty is available by email or just catching them during or after another of their classes works just fine.
Overall, I was really happy with my time spent in Commercial Animation. While I was happy to graduate, I will really miss the school and hanging around with all my great classmates all day. The program definitely breeds a sort of family attitude that I haven’t really found in many other schools; whenever I meet graduates from previous years, it’s like an immediate bond, in a way. I highly recommend this program for anyone who is seriously passionate about animation, because honestly, with the right attitude, you’ll have the time of your life.
So, if this sounds like what you’re looking for in a school, you should check out gradshow.com, email don at gradshow dot com and talk to Don Perro himself, or checkout my blog at kayleachard.blogspot.com where you’ll see links to my classmates’ work or even capgrads.blogspot.com where you can find links to tons of previous grads’ blogs.
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