The Top Six Animation Schools in North America
1. Ringling College of Art and Design
This school is amazing!!! It tops our list for many reasons. EA holds open 10 internships for Ringling graduates every year. They have 97% placement rating of graduating students directly into the industry. The list of former students and films that they have worked on is VAST and way to long to list. I have had a couple of students that have attended here, and the biggest complaint is the expense. The cost of attending here is steep. a couple of numbers that I have heard is equal to Harvard and Stanford numbers (120k).
Many students that go here never even graduate because to be quite frank the industry doesn't care about degrees. They only care about WHAT YOU CAN DO. They hire the best to do the best work. Ringling does a really effective job at producing students that compete.
Before graduation at Ringling the video game companies come to Ringling and start throwing contracts/money at seniors. The students that resist this culling are then left to graduate and the movie industry comes in after graduation and sweep up many of the students that are left.
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Many students that go here never even graduate because to be quite frank the industry doesn't care about degrees. They only care about WHAT YOU CAN DO. They hire the best to do the best work. Ringling does a really effective job at producing students that compete.
Before graduation at Ringling the video game companies come to Ringling and start throwing contracts/money at seniors. The students that resist this culling are then left to graduate and the movie industry comes in after graduation and sweep up many of the students that are left.
Here is the Link
Click here
2. Gnomon
This is yet another amazing school!!! This school is nestled in the heart of Hollywood and only allows entrance to 30-40 new students a semester. Generally they don't want you to know anything about Maya or computer animation because they do not want to have to tear down the training that you already have to then retrain you the "Correct way". They only allow students after they have looked at your Art portfolio.
I am super excited to say that I have a former student in this school right now!!! I discovered his artistic ability early on and did everything that I could to nurture it while I had him.
Once again this school is pricey but you get what you pay for.
I am super excited to say that I have a former student in this school right now!!! I discovered his artistic ability early on and did everything that I could to nurture it while I had him.
Once again this school is pricey but you get what you pay for.
3. Full Sail
My former student Tymon went here and has made a career from his training. When he was thinking about visiting here his mom contacted the University and they paid for a ticket for me to go and see their university in person. The Animation department is open 24/7 (you will find students in there working every single hour of the day) and they also have one of the highest ranked video game programming schools in the nation. They have recently added a lot to their program and they now offer Bachelors and Masters degrees!!! Once again the industry doesn't care about degrees!!! They only care about what you can do for them. But if this career path doesn't work out for you, a degree is ALWAYS something nice to fall back on. (you could come be a teacher like me)
Here is the link
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Here is the link
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4. Savanna College of Art and Design
This school is known as the school that helps students with financial aid the most. When researching many of these schools you discover that the cost can be pretty outrageous. Full Sail has really upped its ante lately in helping students with Financial aid but Savanna has had this reputation for quite some time. Out of all of the schools on the list this is the only school that I have never had former students attend. So I don't have any personal recommendations for them but they have a stellar reputation in the industry..
Here is the link
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Here is the link
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5. Vancouver Film School
I have a student right now that is SOO excited because she has just been accepted into this school. Out of all of the schools in my top list this is the only one not in the USA. That of course does not diminish it by any means I just wanted to make sure that every knows that this school is in Vancouver Canada. (which I consider North America) This school has a great reputation in the industry and many of the film that i show to students in my classroom as examples are from Vancouver Film School...
Here is the link
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Here is the link
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6. Animation Mentor
This school is the ONLY online school (separate from any of the other schools listed) that I EVER recommend. Generally all online schools are fraught with lack of accountability, reputation, results and overall trustworthiness issues. This school is completely different!!!
A couple of qualifiers... This school only teaches animation!!! they do not teach anything else at all. But where else are you going to get to have a Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky professional animator as a teacher or professor? This school was set up for the nontraditional student that wants to become a professional animator and get the finest instruction possible.
A former Student that went to Ringing and had dropped out (due to expense) told me that he had learned more about animation in a couple of months at Animation Mentor that he had in a couple of years at Ringling. Now lets still keep things in perspective... Ringling is amazing!!! But they have a broader focus that Animation Mentor. Animation Mentor is ONLY for Animators, and so yeah they are going to have better instruction for animating there.
Here is the link
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A couple of qualifiers... This school only teaches animation!!! they do not teach anything else at all. But where else are you going to get to have a Pixar, Dreamworks, Blue Sky professional animator as a teacher or professor? This school was set up for the nontraditional student that wants to become a professional animator and get the finest instruction possible.
A former Student that went to Ringing and had dropped out (due to expense) told me that he had learned more about animation in a couple of months at Animation Mentor that he had in a couple of years at Ringling. Now lets still keep things in perspective... Ringling is amazing!!! But they have a broader focus that Animation Mentor. Animation Mentor is ONLY for Animators, and so yeah they are going to have better instruction for animating there.
Here is the link
Click Here
