Our fine staff of contributors at Animation Career Review includes:
Shawn Harrell
Deanna Thompson
Jen Lampton
Brad Prescott, Founder
The beautiful state of New Mexico, with more than two million residents and a tax credit system that induces job growth, is home to hundreds of artists employed as graphic designers. New Mexico businesses hire communications design professionals for many assorted purposes.
Hawaii is a great place of artists. Not only is the number of working artists among the highest in the nation—8,000 and counting, The Aloha State is home to several top colleges that offer a wide variety of programs for aspiring artists and animators. At the University of Hawaii, animation students can major in everything from computer animation to electronic arts, and at Hawaii Pacific University, student can major or minor in art.
With roughly 344,000 local residents and as many as fifty thousand commercial businesses, New Orleans, Louisiana is a choice home town for countless visual artists pursuing careers in graphic design. Companies throughout the city of New Orleans employ thousands of graphic designers for a virtually endless array of creative commercial tasks.
New Orleans Schools and Training Programs for Graphic Design
With a resident population of more than 382,000 and as many as a hundred thousand commercial businesses, the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota is ideally suitable for local artists seeking professional work in communications design. Companies throughout Minneapolis hire graphic designers for a wide range of visual tasks.
Currently, Colorado is crawling with creative artists seeking well paid employment in graphic design, more technically known as communications design. With several large, media-friendly cities and a population well over five million, Colorado ranks highly among states in terms of educational and professional opportunities in this broad commercial field.
Lately, video gamers by the score in Providence, Rhode Island embark on careers in animation and video game design. With a resident population of nearly 180,000, Providence is an ideal location for qualified designers in search of these high-tech positions. All kinds of Rhode Island businesses hire video game experts. The majority of these businesses are in Providence.
If you’re interested in a career in animation and you don’t know where to begin, a great place to start is the Internet. It doesn’t matter if you plan to work in film, advertising, web design, or graphic design, you’ll need a degree from a good school and experience to get your foot in the door. Head to the Internet and you’ll find hundreds of animation schools as well as art and design schools, technical schools, and even traditional schools that offer animation programs. Along with pages and pages of animation schools and programs, you’ll find an endless number of websites that list the nation’s top animation schools.
Minnesota is home to a number of excellent art & design schools, including animation schools. Some are new to the scene and may have only a few hundred students while others are part of a traditional university where the student body may consist of thousands. No matter what type of animation school you choose, the method for reaching your decision is common among many ambitious but cash-strapped students. Your decision may be based on factors such as tuition cost, convenience (will I need a car or can I take public transit?), or the school’s job placement record.
Have you ever wondered why some schools land a spot on the “top schools” list and why some don’t? For starters, some schools may cost more than others. For a top school list, price is always a factor to consider. Another reason may be convenience. If students have to spend several hours commuting or if the school is so isolated, you’ll have to purchase a car, it might not make it onto the top schools list. Other factors that may be considered include job placement track record, types of clubs and organizations, cultural activities, access to recreation, sports teams, class size, and quality of the facilities.
What does it take to earn a spot on the list of “Best Animation Programs?” Many students think cost is a major deciding factor, while college ranking agencies look at other factors such as student selectivity and teacher-student ratio. Well, when it comes to compiling the list of the best colleges and programs, the college ranking agencies are correct!
