It was grade twelve and I knew what I loved. My whole life I had wanted to be one of three things, a historian, a zoologist or an artist. Well, I didn’t have the scholarly skills to be a historian, and I didn’t have the heart to dissect animals, so the artist in me won out. I was in grade twelve and I was completely in love with art, any art, and all art. What to do with my life was an entirely different question.
I went with my first instinct which was to fine art school. North Island College Fine Arts welcomed me with open arms. I was ecstatic, elated, freaking out with pure pleasure. Needless to say I loved every minute. There was still one thing missing; the answer to that same question from high school, what to do with my life. So after two years and lots of hard work, I really thought about that unanswered question. The answer I came up with was that there were two things missing from fine arts that I wanted in my life. One was a career with a real workplace and a real pay check. The other, and this was the deal breaker, was that none of my art moved. In my mind everything moves, my creative being is movement, but paint and silkscreens remain motionless. Animation…classical animation was my answer.
I narrowed it down to two schools, Capilano College and VanArts.
So, now came the task of finding a school. Unlike most people I know I am not much of a traveler, so I kept my search limited to my home country of Canada. Here I found a veritable smorgasbord of choices. So many, so expensive. A balance of price and quality was the deciding factor in my search. I narrowed it down to two schools, Capilano College and VanArts. Three years, or eleven months. I was a little hesitant about VanArts because of the short program length, but I had been there in high school for a week long intro course and knew it was an amazing school. On the other hand I had a friend from fine arts who went to Capilano and everything he said about that school sounded amazing. In the end it was the school who accepted me who was the winner. So I packed my bags and moved to Vancouver to start the 2D Animation Program at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts.
The Experience
I discovered in 2D that I love animation more than any other art form. I was so happy and I learned a lot. The course taught a little of everything you would need to know to make it as a classical or Flash animator. We had story board class, life drawing, design, animation, animation history, Flash, Photoshop, toon boom and many other classes. At the end of the 11 months I had a wonderful demo reel, portfolio and a taste of almost every job that could be had in the land of classical animation.
There was just one important factor that left me worried, the lack of jobs in classical animation.
There was just one important factor that left me worried, the lack of jobs in classical animation. So I decided to stay one more year and take the 3D animation program at VanArts as well. Looking back it was the best decision I have ever made.
The Experience Part Two
So began my 11 months of 3D animation. It was intense, it was hard, it was stressful, but it was amazing. I discovered that even I, someone who knew nothing about computers could completely fall in love with computer animation. For animation class we learned both Maya and XSI which are the two industry standards as far as software goes. And in our other classes we learned many programs such as Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere, Wings 3D and so on. The class sizes were small so you got lots of one on one time with teachers. And all the students both from Canada and around the world became instant friends. I learned just as much from my classmates as I did from my teachers. VanArts is also a very open school. All the departments get to know one another and I had friends in almost every program.
I am not saying that VanArts is perfect, far from it, but no school is perfect and for me the pros far outweighed the cons. The animation program was being revamped while I was there, so there were quite a lot of technical issues regarding courses and teachers, but even with all the remolding and stress, all the teachers gave 100% and were there first and for most for you, the student. Some teachers would even stay hours late just to help you figure out some small thing you couldn’t quite understand.
VanArts also constantly brings in industry professionals to teach special classes or give seminars, free of charge for all students. The 3D animation course also has online web cam bi-weekly classes with two of the top animators from Pixar.
I was working at my first job less than a year after school as an animator and I have been animating ever since.
The Verdict
By the time I finished my 11 months of 3D I had an awesome demo reel and I was confident in my skills. I had an in-depth understanding of animation and a basic knowledge of the other aspects of the 3D industry, such as rigging, lighting and texturing. Our final project was to create our own 3D animated short. We did everything: concept, rigging, animation and final rendering. I was working at my first job less than a year after school as an animator and I have been animating ever since.
I loved my experience at VanArts. I met so many people and made lifelong friends of both my classmates and my teachers. It did have some flaws, but as a student it is our responsibility to get out of a school what we can. I am a firm believer that it is entirely up to the student what they get out of a school. You can go to the worst school and come out with an amazing demo reel and likewise you can go to the best school and come out with a mediocre demo reel.
My experiences at VanArts are limited to their animation programs. VanArts is an animation school in my eyes, and one of the best in Vancouver. The problems I experienced have been all but eliminated from the animation program, from what I have heard from recent graduates, and the demo reels coming out of that school have been some of the best I have seen from Vancouver schools.
My experience at VanArts was one of the best of my life and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
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