Top 5 Animation School Programs in Illinois - 2020 College Rankings

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is one of the oldest accredited independent schools of art and design in the country. Founded in 1866 and serving nearly 3,700 students from 78 countries, SAIC offers more than 50 areas of study from Animation and Costume Design to Visual Communication Design and Writing. The Film, Video, New Media, and Animation Department (FVNMA) offers several programs for aspiring animators including BFA and MFA in Studio degrees with a Concentration Animation, and a Certificate in Studio.

The school says that the FVNMA Department at SAIC “endorses and encourages experimentation with radical form and content.” The Department says that it is “open to many approaches to and understandings of experimental media art” and it is “dedicated” to helping students develop their “art practice in a variety of forms and contexts including the use of high definition video, new media art, experimental 3D animation, hand drawn animation, and filmmaking.” The Department also says that it supports “individual and collaborative forms of making media art in these expanded contexts.”

SAIC FVNMA instructors are “award-winning pioneers,”  “revolutionaries,’ and working professionals in the fields of experimental film, video, animation, nonfiction, narrative, installation, glitch, interactivity, art games, curating, archiving, and web-based art projects. Students will also learn from “internationally renowned artists, critics, historians, and curators who regularly visit through the department and SAIC's Visiting Artists Program.”

Other FVNMA Department highlights include graduate projects and fall and spring critique weeks for MFA students, access to world-class resources such as the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. Specifics include The Video Data Bank (the leading resource in the United States for videos by and about contemporary artists, The Gene Siskel Film Center), one of the country's premiere screening venues dedicated to promoting alumni, student, and faculty work, and The Donna and Howard Stone Gallery for Film, Video, and New Media in the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing.

Famous SAIC alumni include David Sedaris, Georgia O’Keeffe, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Michelle Grabner, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman.

Established in 1890, Columbia College serves more than 7,300 students from nearly every state and more than 60 countries. The school has over 100 academic majors or programs across several schools and more than 20 departments. Schools include the School of Media Arts, the School of Fine and Performing Arts, and the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The School of Media Arts is home to the Interactive Arts and Media Department, which offers three programs for animators:  a BA in Animation and a BFA in either Computer Animation or Traditional Animation.

The school says that the Animation BA might be the best option for students interested in exploring multiple animation techniques (hand drawn, stop motion, computer, experimental) and taking on a minor or second major. Just a few minor options include Motion Graphics, Game Art, Programming, and Video Production. The BFA allows students specialize within their area of animation interest and complete two animated films by the final year of the program.

Sample courses for the programs include Acting for Animators, Alternative Strategies in Animation, Animation for Comics, Animation Layout, Animation Maquettes, Animation Portfolio Development, Animation Production Studio, Cartooning, Cinematics for Games, Character Design and Modeling, Computer Animation: Visual Effects, Digital Animation Techniques, Drawing for Animation, Environmental Design & Modeling, Figure Drawing, Storyboarding for Animation, and The Business of Animated Content.

Students in all programs have the opportunity to either work collaboratively with peers to create a six-minute animated film over two semesters or take any three Animation electives of their choosing. Computer Animation BFA students will collaborate on a team project and develop their own solo short film.

Flashpoint Chicago is a campus of Columbia College Hollywood. “The college was originally established in 1953 as a Los Angeles satellite campus of Columbia College Chicago,” explains the school. “The curriculum was designed to prepare students for careers in television, radio, and film with courses taught by a faculty of working entertainment media professionals. In 1959, the Los Angeles campus separated from the Chicago institution to operate as Columbia College Hollywood, an independent, nonprofit, private institution.”

The college established the Flashpoint Chicago branch campus in 2018 “and expanded its program offerings when it acquired the former Tribeca Flashpoint College, a private creative media institution located in Chicago, Illinois.” Today the college offers bachelor’s and associate degrees in film and cinema, recording arts, visual effects, animation, graphic design, digital marketing, and interactive media in Los Angeles, Chicago, and online. Programs for aspiring animators include an AFA in VFX & Animation and a BFA in Visual Effects.

The AFA is a two-year degree program that takes a cross-disciplinary approach to learning. This immersive program highlights hands-on learning with industry-standard equipment, technology, techniques, and a collaborative workflow used to create visual effects and animated content for a variety of distribution platforms, including film, television, video games, and online media. Students will develop practical skills in areas such as character animation, hard surface modeling, compositing of computer-generated assets, and story structure. During the last quarter in the program, students will develop a portfolio and demo reel showcasing their unique talents, abilities, and creative achievements.

BFA students will experience the same hands-on learning and collaborative environment as they create and produce professional quality 3D models, animations, simulated effects, and composites for film, television, animation, video games, and interactive media. BFA students may customize the program by focusing in Animation, Compositing, or Digital Modeling.