Arts and Humanities Schools for Animation Studies

Regardless of your field of study, choosing the right school is a crucial life decision, so it’s very important to think it through. When you decide on what you will be doing for the rest of your life, it’s important to try to find the school that will prepare you for your career. If you want to become an animator, you may want to consider one of the many arts and humanities schools.

Schools that offer arts and humanities classes are composed of many different orientations; you can learn about arts and humanities in general, but still be specialized in a specific area. Some of the disciplines that can be found in every art and humanities schools include art history, music, philosophy, modern languages, film, dance, and visual arts.

Some schools offer animation as an independent focus of study or as the general topic of studies like visual art or film studies. Animation is the process in which you create an illusion of continuous movement of shapes and objects. If this sounds interesting to you, here is a list of some of the best animation schools in the United States.

Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Academy of Art University is located in San Francisco and offers quality animation and visual effects studies. Two programs are available – Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA). Here is a short preview of what you’ll be able to learn here:

• different animation techniques
• different technologies and programs that are used
• 2D and 3D animation
• traditional and modern computer animation
• cartooning as well as character animation and design
• Photoshop
• modeling

As you can see, you won’t be concentrated in one specific topic; on the contrary, you will learn a wide range of animation techniques and processes.

DePaul University, Chicago
DePaul University is a private Catholic university in Chicago. At this school, you can learn about color theory and visual storytelling, screenwriting and more. The school offers a variety of degrees, including BS in Animation, BA in Animation, MA in Animation and MFA in Animation.

At the university, you’ll learn animation principles within a Liberal Arts context. In other words, you learn and build upon the foundations of animation and critical thinking, while also taking electives to help broaden your learning and creative viewpoint.

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD), Denver
Another great animation school is located in Denver and it has constructed a simple vision of how animation studies should flow. Animation studies at RMCAD are divided in two parts: 2D animation and 3D animation, with every part having three types of classes:

• core classes
• foundation classes
• Liberal Arts

Liberal Arts is the name given to a group of subjects primarily focused on knowledge that’s not strictly related to animation. Liberal arts include subjects like mathematics, history of art, composition and history of international animations.

At any Arts and Humanities school, foundation classes are created with the idea of providing usable animation knowledge as well as introducing people to the world of animation. Here you can learn about various levels of design, drawing and digital image making. These classes are meant to add a level of complexity and critical thinking to your core classes of 2D and 3D animation.

Some of the largest animation companies are Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Nissan Global, High Moon Studios, Digital Domain, Wild Brain Animation Studios, Sony Picture Imageworks, Richter Studios, Daily Planet Ltd. and Leo Burnett.

Find the perfect animation school for you using the form on this page. Start your search today!

Sources:
http://www.academyart.edu/animation-school/index.html
http://www.depaul.edu/academics/undergraduate/majors/Pages/animationBFA.aspx
http://www.rmcad.edu/academics/animation