So... I'm going to school right now for animation. I'm not really in the school I really wanted to be. mind you...

so... I'm going to school right now for animation. I'm not really in the school I really wanted to be. mind you, it's not something like art institutes or some other bullshit, but it's definitely not a school I wanted or hoped I'd be going to for myself... it's an art school that's supposedly nice, but the people who graduate from animation don't have work that looks as great as from schools like SVA or CalArts. I am so passionate about animation. this is all I want to do. do you think the school I go to really matters? is it more about the effort I as an individual put in? is there any way I can break out of the mold of average work I see being produced from the school and create something excellent, despite getting the same education as the "average" artists are getting?

none of them are really awful, it's just... the student films from other art schools look so much better, and I'm scared that I'm going to be stuck here doing work that I'm not happy or satisfied with simply because I'm not at CalArts.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, or if anyone is in a similar position... thanks, Sup Forums

>do you think the school I go to really matters?

Industryfag here. The short answer to this question is 'Yeah, sort of'.

No, your student projects won't be as polished. Another thing you won't get from a less than top school is industry scouts and contacts. If those are super important to you, you're sunk.

If you're just looking to pick up some technical skills so that you have a rounded idea of what's involved in producing animation from an end-to-end perspective, then I'd say it's likely you're in a perfectly fine school and will come out of it knowing what you want to know. From there you can take your skills to Youtube and figure the rest out yourself. Solo animators have always been a thing, and have always been able to carve out their niches, long before computers and the internet made that more practical than ever.

I think it's more important to focus on your work being the best it can be and make connections while you can. Sure a schools reputation can make things easier but you have to have the talent and drive to carry you the rest of the way. Having a network and people willing to speak for you is also valuable.

I believe in you user/femanon, you're already so much farther than most others, the only person who can limit you now is YOU, you will always be your biggest critic and however seriously you commit yourself to improving your art will determine how far in the game you get, a fancy name on your portfolio looks nice and the networking game in calarts is a huge deal but dammit all that should be your motivation to say "fuck that, they can kiss ass all they want but they wont beat me when they view my work" Fuck them, fuck all those pussy brown nosing little smug shits destroying animation thinking they all have it figured out because they have a Memearts degree and focus on your passion and beating them with your skill as a passionate strong independent animator who dont need no CalArts degree to prove his salt

>T. Art school dropout who got discouraged for the reasons you mentioned and joined the army and now shitposts on /k/ because sometimes comics make me depressed so goodnight and buy more guns

thank you guys so much. I do know that there are days where networks come and do portfolio reviews, including big networks like nick and CN and even disney, but it's just so disheartening to see people online talking about good schools and realizing... you're not there. I'm going to work as hard as I can. even as a solo animator, at least I can create the things i WANT to create, rather than what networks want... you guys are fucking rad. thanks for the support.

I'm just gonna work as hard as I can and put all my passion into it. I don't doubt that I'll learn valuable stuff, I just hope that I can still be able to pay the bills once I'm done. have a great night :^)

Doesn't hurt to get your shit out there. If you've got some stuff, post it on stuff like tumblr, deviantart, twitter and what not. Hell, post some here.

I'll study traditional animation early next year, any tips you have?

post tasteful artistic nudes

I post some art on tumblr but I really don't like the website and wish I could post my art on a better platform, but there basically isn't a better platform at the moment solely for art. I've always been a bit shy and don't really post on here, but sometimes I do find my art being reposted in fandom-specific threads [spoilers]and once in /aco/....[/spoiler] and its always been a real great feeling to see other people enjoy my art. I really should chill out in the draw threads and try to get over my social anxiety.

>do you think the school I go to really matters?
I think surroundings matter in the sense that as a student, you easily, instinctively start to look around you to determine a "general level" of skill among your peers or the work they produce, and then aim for that.

So if it's a school with a good rep, it's full of very motivated people who wanted to go to the best school in the industry, and they will consistently work hard for school assignments and put out quality stuff, or will at least try - which will then inspire you, too, to try harder, so that you won't be the slack-off loser.

Whereas in lesser schools perhaps everyone isn't inspired to try quite so hard for every assignment and there will be more of a "okay this will be good enough for this course" mentality.

You can create something excellent, you just need put in a lot of effort in setting the bar higher for yourself. For example, consistently look at the student films from other schools that you admire, and remind yourself that that's the minimum standard you should try to aspire to, regardless of what your schoolmates produce.

this all only applies if you care deeply about getting into the actual industry, which imo is only fun if you're working at more artistic studios like LAIKA. the actual industry, like CN and nickelodeon, is really businessy and you do a lot of grunt work. you probably won't end up where you want to.

join a short film studio. make shit for festivals. or work for video game or advertising companies. it's not just the film and tv industry for animation.

have you gone to an animation festival OP? go to a good, international one and it'll open your mind a lot.

you might not be making things that have top billing and will make your name known, but making glossy, fantastic student films isn't going to put you at the top of the industry no matter how good you are. it's not where you start and it's probably not where you wanna be either.

Yea finding a pic I made with a few really terrible edits appearing on /aco/ is not fun

You're not going to an Art Institute are you?

>is there any way I can break out of the mold of average work I see being produced from the school and create something excellent, despite getting the same education as the "average" artists are getting?

Similar position OP, my advice is to never stop working. Give yourself a personal project and just sink all of your free time into it. I know how stupid and insane that sounds, but I've been doing it for the past year and I think it cycles back into the quality of my work. If you want to break the mold, you need to BREATHE your work. Pete Docter was really self conscious about his work at Calarts because he felt it wasn't up to par with everyone else's, but he worked way fucking harder while everyone slacked off when they could.

This isn't end-all-be-all advice, but it's a start. Don't start planning out a final film and shit because you'll be a different person in 3 years -- do something that evolves alongside you.

no, I said in my original post that its not Art Institutes.

Then things are boiling down to SCAD

yeah, its SCAD. I wasn't trying to hide it or anything, just didn't think it was necessary to announce.

conversely, pull a nick cross and do small films you aim to finish in a year to a year and a half. That keeps you sharp, makes your final product more coherent, and keeps your name out there.

Go to every single ATVFest each February, stick around after the panels, talk to everyone you can. Go to releases of series you have not heard of before at it too, get to know people before these things get started.

I met Chris Savino at one, and he had tips on how to get stuff sold to Nickelodeon.

Get in with the viseffects and film departments and get n their mailing lists. They have guest lectures and events nearly every week.

You have to do your own projects in your own time independent of your projects for class. The classes only introduce you to techniques, you will have to work at them and become more skilled on your own. Do not make a demo reel from class projects because those are going to suck.

Where can one see SCAD student films?

What is the best school for animation?

What about animators that want to be independent is their hope for me

Another industryfag here. Whether your work looks actually good or not is all up to you. A school might have lower standards for acceptable animation but that doesnt mean you have to have those standards. A lot of my fellow colleagues even go as far as to say you dont need art schools since you can self-educate yourself nowadays more easily than ever.

Whether you come out from the next 3-4 years as a competent artist or animator relies ENTIRELY on your own willingness to do hard work for it and stay late at night in school, doing whatever project you're doing. Not how prestiged the school is. CalArts has tons of lazy rejects as well. A school is only good for building contacts, providing you with necessary resources and proper critique on whatever work you're doing. All the brunt of the work that animation requires has to be done with YOU. And many students leave soon after the first year of animation when they realize doing 5-10 seconds of that animation might take a week or even two to complete. Their delusions of starting their own full-length tv show about epic fantasy war gets destroyed when they realize just how much time and effort animation requires, no matter if you would be the best artist in the world.

The less you sit in facebook, twitter or Sup Forums during classes or during the time you're supposed to be drawing frames, better off you will be. Also dont neglect socializing with your classmates. If theres another guy with similar ideas like you and who is also not a lazy shit sitting on facebook all day, then you have a potential long-term friendship ahead of you.