ACR Staff
Our fine staff of contributors at Animation Career Review includes:
Shawn Harrell
Deanna Thompson
Jen Lampton
Brad Prescott, Founder
Our fine staff of contributors at Animation Career Review includes:
Shawn Harrell
Deanna Thompson
Jen Lampton
Brad Prescott, Founder
Germany is home to a place that has been called the capital of cool, the hottest city on earth, one of contemporary art’s most influential cities, and even Europe’s digital art capital. The place is Berlin and the accolades are well deserved. For starters, the spirited city of more than 3.5 million is home to must-see museums such as KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Gemaldegalerie, and the interactive DDR Museum.
If you are an aspiring animator and shopping around for a training program, you may have come across dozens of different degree programs that combine other areas of study with animation. Digital Art and Animation, Media Arts and Animation, Game Art and Animation, Illustration and Animation, and Film, Video, New Media, and Animation (FVNMA) are just a few.
Over the centuries, Spain has been home to famous architects painters, playwrights, and sculptors. Pablo Picasso, Santiago Calatrava, Salvador Dali, Carlos Atanes, Francisco Goya, José Álvarez Cubero, and Diego Velazquez are just a few. As technology continues to change the way art is made, today’s Spanish artists have adapted almost effortlessly by incorporating everything from digital film and electronic music to computer-generated graphics and animation into their work.
The Pacific Northwest region (also Northwest) includes the states of Oregon and Washington and part of Idaho. Together, these states are home to more than 15,000 tech companies, and thousands of animation and game design companies. Seattle alone has more than 300 game companies, employing more than 16,500 people; the region is home to countless film and interactive media companies, and there are so many Fortune 500 companies here, you’ll lose count.
From the Cliffs of Moher and The Ring of Kerry to The Rock of Cashel and Trinity College, Ireland is home to amazing natural wonders and some of the world’s oldest structures. In between, you will find a thriving art scene (check out the Irish Museum of Modern Art IMMA, National Gallery of Ireland, and National Museum of Ireland: Decorative Arts and History), world-famous shopping destinations such as Dublin's Grafton Street, Brown Thomas and Temple Bar Markets, and some of the best pubs on the planet. The Stags Head, McDermott’s Pub, and The Pavilion are just a few.
Italy is the center of history, culture, and art, making it one of the world’s most popular places to explore. Other major attractions such as amazing cuisine, world class sightseeing, and some of the best shopping in the world enhance the country’s appeal. When you consider global universities such as the University of Padua, Sapienza University of Roma, and University of Milan, and top art and design schools such as the Florence Academy of Art, Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic University of Milan), and the College of Art and Design in Florence, Italy becomes one of the best places to visit and study abroad.
What are the Top Schools in the UK for Animation PhD Programs?
If you’re looking for a top Animation MFA program in the U.S., you won’t have any trouble finding a variety of options. UCLA, SCAD, and RIT are just a few. If you’re interested in Animation PhD programs? Well, let’s just say your search will be a bit more challenging. True, USC’s School of Cinematic Arts offers an excellent option—the PhD in Cinematic Arts. But if you want to earn a PhD that focuses on animation, you’ll have to find a school that is willing to customize its PhD program in art, design or other similar area to suit your goals. If you can’t find a suitable option, that’s OK. America’s strongest ally has you covered. Just head to the UK!
Manga is a Japanese art form that encompasses drawn cartoons, comic books, and graphic novels. Manga is different from non-Japanese cartoon, comic books, and novels in a number of ways. For starters, manga reads right to left, back to front. This means that the last page of a book or comic in the West would be the first page of a manga. Next, according to Simon Richmond’s The Rough Guide to Anime, “in their original Japanese form, manga magazines are mainly printed in black ink on white or color-tinted pages on flimsy recycled paper. They will typically have four hundred or more pages and contain a score of serialized and one-off stories.”
Director Claude Barras' My Life as a Courgette was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at this year's Oscars. This stop motion animated film (also known as My Life as a Zucchini), is just one of many animated features produced in Switzerland during the last decade. In 2007, the first feature-length animated film made in Switzerland was released. At a cost of $25.2 million, Max & Co was one of the most expensive domestic productions ever and it put Switzerland on the map in the world of animation.
Animation instructors at top schools have at least two things in common. They are passionate about animation and all are accomplished artists in the field. Many of these artist-educators began their journey just as their students did—in an undergraduate animation or related program. Just about every top program will provide the opportunity to complete an internship, where students have the chance to gain real world experience. This will become a valuable asset when comes to securing a position in the industry. Common jobs in animation include animator, stop motion animator, 3D modeler, flash animator, compositing artist, storyboard artist, render wrangler, texture artist, and art director.