I saw on a website (I can’t remember which) that VanArts had a good reputation as an animation school. I also visited the website of an artist who had gone to the school, who’s work I thought was very good. The program was only a year long which is what I wanted. I had already attended a 4 year college where I got a Bachelor’s degree in fine art. I didn’t have the time or money to spend too many more years in school.
I must admit that I probably didn’t do as much research as I should have about the school. Someone told me later that the school goes out and edits its image in the web. For example, if someone complains about the school on a message board, they find a way to delete it. I don’t know if that is true or not. For my part, I was anxious to get started and other schools in the states seemed either too expensive, or just a school for amateurs. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking for, so I went with a small school, with a short program that was (relatively) cheaper than my other options.
I wanted small classes, but this was REALLY small, and as time went on it got even smaller.
My Experience
I have to shake my head at how naive I was. I had been to art school at a state college, but this was really different. For one thing, my class was very small, which can be a good thing and turned out to be. It had its advantages later on when we got more one-on-one time with the instructors. But that first day I was shocked, I immediately started thinking that maybe I had made a mistake if so few people were wanting to attend the program. I wanted small classes, but this was REALLY small, and as time went on it got even smaller. There were people in the class who were very dissatisfied with the school and complained. Eventually they dropped out and other people, who I guess were encouraged by this, dropped out too.
Somebody else in another review brought up the point that because the school is so small, they kind of take whatever kind of students they can get. Let me say, this doesn’t mean that all the students are second-rate, it just means you get a mix of talent. There were some really talented students and mediocre ones as well.
After a lot of thinking, I chose to stay with the school, because the classmates who criticized the program, though I couldn’t completely disagree with some of their complaints with the school (not getting to use our computers on the weekend because of weekend classes, not getting to stay in the building late at night. I should mention that these complaints were later addressed), I think these students mostly left because of an overly harsh opinion of the instructors. These opinions tended to be more of a personal nature rather than out of regard for professional ability. The dissatisfied students would often attack the character of the person, and use that to blame why the program wasn’t what they thought it should be. I didn’t agree with that. In fact, after those classmates left, the instructors became better and more attentive. Maybe this was in part of their wanting to prove themselves in the light of these poor opinions, or maybe because they felt relief that these students were gone and they now could focus on the students that really wanted to learn.
The conclusion that I drew from this is that if you want the best out of your education, you have to actively demand it.
The conclusion that I drew from this is that if you want the best out of your education, you have to actively demand it. Teachers react best to students who demand the best. This is good advice to any educational endeavor you pursue. Ask lots of questions, take lots of notes, try different things, and extend your learning outside the classroom. If you challenge yourself, you also challenge your teacher to keep up with you and push you farther. You can’t just sit back and expect that because you paid your money that everything is just going to be spoon-fed to you. That’s not how the art industry works, and that’s not how real life works. Hard work and determination is the key to everything. It’s best to learn that while you’re still in school.
The best part of the program was by far the animation instruction. I had teachers coming from Disney, Pixar, ILM, and Rainmaker all giving me first-rate instruction on animating. It may have been a short program, but I feel I got a really intense study on everything an animator needs to learn. Probably the more disappointing part of the program was the post-production side on texturing, rendering, and lighting. It was only covered briefly, and sometimes by an instructor from the Game Design program, who I got the impression didn’t really care to be there with us. This technical stuff wasn’t really the main focus of the program, but I’m someone who’s interested in all aspects of computer art. You would be surprised how hard it is to light a scene well. Seriously. There could be a whole class just on that.
The Verdict
I know that the later Computer Animation classes started to fill up after that. Also the school moved into a new building. As someone who worked in the old building, then the new building, this was an improvement to me. This program still is a lot of money that I’ll be paying off for awhile, but if anything, that was more incentive to me to make the most of my time there. I’m ultimately glad that I went to VanArts because I got the animation education I wanted to get out of it, and because it confirmed for me that animation is really what I want to do. I also met some really great people from all over the world, which surprised me that the school would draw students from as far as India, Japan, and Brazil.
I’ve been doing freelance work, but trust me when I say getting your foot in the door at a studio is very hard.
I would definitely say that I have, and still use everything that I learned at VanArts. Not just the how to animate stuff, but the productive, hard-working mindset that you have to have to be an animator. Unfortunately for me, I came back to the U.S. after I was done and it was harder to find a job here than if I had stayed in Vancouver where one of my instructors could have put in a good word for me at one of the studios up there. I’ve been doing freelance work, but trust me when I say getting your foot in the door at a studio is very hard. Fortunately, VanArts instructors warned everyone about this. That networking is the best way to get a job, and that you should always be polite and professional to everyone you meet. And that you should actually GO OUT and try to MEET other industry people at conferences and festivals. I wish I had heeded this sooner.
I’d like to go back to school someday, next time to learn computer science, so I can be more proficient in understanding the in’s-and-out’s of the programs I’m using. Not really a necessity for an artist, but a definite advantage. However, that won’t be anytime soon. In the meantime, I just keep toiling away in this difficult and wonderful world of art and animation.
(3 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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