FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about this site, my artwork, characters, animation in general and school!

ANIMATION-
Schools and Jobs

What is Calarts admission date?  Who can I contact at Calarts?  Can you give me email addresses? Tell me blah blah about Calarts!
The answer to all of the above is "NO!"  I am not administration at Calarts.  I do not know everything about Calarts, I'm simply a student. In fact half the time I'm not even aware of events going on at the school becuase of my heavy work scedule.  I'm an animator.   We are hermits.  Not to mention, why would I keep track of current admission scedules?  I really just don't have time to find the information to answer obscure questions about Calarts, nor do I feel like I'm in the position to give you correct information about the school.  So basically...
If you do NOT see the answer to your question about Calarts on this page, then find out yourself!

 


What are animation colleges looking for in a portfolio?

What they are looking for is evidence of your talent, draftsmanship and originality.  Your portfolio is a record of your artwork and talent. It's a record to give them this evidence.  That means you have to do alot of work to be able to get a body of work to show them this record.    So this "work"  I'm suggesting will make you a better artist, regardless of the college you are applying fo.
You have to be very good at drawing.  Your drawings should show motion and _emotion_. Drawings should be fluid.  You should draw from life as often as possible. Draw things moving.  Draw people and animals.  Animation skills are a plus but not nessesary. You go to college to learn how to animate.  Specifically they are looking for a portfolio full of a body of your work (whatever you feel you are strong at) as well as including as many sketchbooks as you can fill with rough and quick sketches taken from observation.  Include long pose drawings as well as quick sketches. If you have character designs, layouts, paintings or whatever else you are good at, by all means include them.  Make sure you only include your best work though.  You are trying to represent yourself and your talent through what you choose to put in your portfolio.  Be sure to avoid including copies of cartoon characters.  Noone wants to see how well you can draw Tarzan.  They want to see how well you can draw something from your own imagination, and how well you can draw things from life.  As to specifics for each school, you should check their recent college catalog for the number of peices and format.  Hope that helps.

Can I put my drawings of The Lion King, Belle and Aladdin in my portfolio?
I would highly suggest that you do NOT put any drawings of copyrighted characters in your portfolio.  Once again, people are going to want to see how original you are, not how well you copy someone else's character designs.  Make up your own characters.  Design characters from your own experience, and based on your personality and the things you like, not based on something someone else has done.  Whenever you copy or "borrow" from someone else's character design you are making  a second generation copy of something else, it looses a generation.  Try to draw from life as much as possible instead of using cartoons or other people's art for reference.

 

Will you post the portfolio that got you into Calarts on the web?

No.  The portfolio I used to get in no longer exists. It was a collection of my drawings, animation, and paintings at that time in my life, and honestly, they just arent together in that form anymore.  Some of them I don't know where they are, or I don't remember what peices exactly that I included.  I can tell you what in general I included.  I had a portfolio full of drawings I had done (including character designs).  Also in this portfolio was several paintings I'd done of various subjects.  In addition to this I had too sketchbooks full of quick and long drawings of myself, my dog, my family, from the zoo and various places where I live.  Lastly, I included several scenes I had animated in VHS format. (I also included a select few frames in my portfolio)  I hope that helps you!

What (and how much) did you put in your portfolio to get into Calarts? Do I have to submit animation?
--  I put in two sketchbooks,  a pencil test reel of my animation, and a portfolio full of life drawings, character designs and art projects.   Understand that this is my opinion of the admissions process and portfolio, it could be different now, and I can't guarantee you anything.   I'd had no life drawing classes before Calarts, but I knew that they wanted to see drawings from life... so I would sit in front of a mirror and draw myself frequently.  I'd also draw my family, my dog, people at the beach... I'd go to the zoo... all kinds of stuff like that.  So that's what my sketch books consisted of.  I did some longer poses of myself in the mirror that I put inside my portfolio.  I did include some cartoon/character designs, but alot of the admissions guys say that unless they are pretty original, they'd rather not see alot of it. (this could be different now, I don't know).  The most important thing is showing that you can draw from life, and show motion and emotion in your drawings. You don't have to submit animation to get in, but I'm sure it helps.  Keep in mind that often times showing a small amount of very good work is better than a  large amount of mediocre work.  In my opinion, you should keep your portfolio fairly brief (I think calarts has a 20 page limit, whatever the limit is, stick to that, dont overwhelm them in the portfolio.)  When it comes to your sketchbooks though, I would submitt as many as you want.  This is going to show how motivated you are, that you are drawing all the time, as well as going out and doing drawings outside of school classes and studying life.  Make sure that you don't submit drawings of other people's characters.  Hope that helps.

Again, I highly recommend you call and talk to actual people at CALARTS if you are applying there.

How good should the drawings be in your portfolio to get accepted to Calarts?  Professional quality?
--  That depends entirely on how well the rest of the students who are applying at the same time as you are. I would highly suggest that you apply with as professional and well-drawn images as you can. Competition to get into the school is fierce.  The main point is to show that you have creativity, good draftsmanship and the ability to draw emotions and motions.  If you don't get in on the first time, then continue to work hard at your quick sketching and life drawing skills (what most often requires refining in people not being accepted) and reapply the next year.  Or you may consider going to another fine arts college to refine your skills before reapplying to Calarts.  I know several of my classmates were illustration majors before applying to Calarts and benefitted much from the experience. (Plus they had less critical studies stuff to complete and could focus more on the animation classes)


What kind of classes do you take at Calarts? What kind of courses are available?
If you REALLY want to know what kind of classes Calarts currently has then please call them. They can give you more accurate information than I can. Go directly to the source.  http://www.calarts.edu.  I'm sure you can find the phone numbers you need there.  I would suggest that you call them instead of emailing them, you are more likely to get a response. I would also suggest that you ask them to mail you a current course catalog, that will show you exactly what kind of classes they have.
However, I can give you a basic overview of the kinds of classes we have. :)  Each year has an animation class (usually twice a week for several hours).  We are expected to do a short film each year (usually taking up much of our second semester). Your teachers will help you and critique you along the way making your film.  The animation class consists of assignments (different each year and depending on what teacher you get) you do the assignment, the teacher critiques it.  We also have very good Character Design classes, all kinds of writing workshops, several different Storyboarding classes, Life Drawing, Computer Graphics, Sound Design, Animation Layout, Film Composition.... I think you get the idea.

 I'm "___" old, should I give up working on getting into animation?
-- I got into Calarts right after graduating highschool, but most people go to another fine arts college first. It depends on the course you want to take.  It's probably a good idea to round out your education at a fine arts institution first, but it's completely up to you.  I dont think anyone should feel afraid to start learning animation though just becuase of their age, or becuase they are already working on another major.
As to age and learning new tricks, I don't think it really applies to animation. Alot of my classmates are 25 and 27, I think some of them are also in their 30s and even 40s.  I don't know about other colleges, but I've seen no prejudice against age here.  The age of people in the industry I'd imagine is pretty varied as well.

How do internships at the "big" studios go?  How does that work?
-- I really dont know exactly how it works.
Usually the way people get jobs is that they get a job as a grunt worker (ie clean up or inbetweening) once in these lower positions, you are actually being employed by the company, then you take animation tests to try to advance to assistant animator and so on. 

How about information on claymation/stopmotion animation?
--  I have very little information on this form of animation since its not my focus.  I do however have a good link on the animation links page. Check there, or send me more links.

I'm interested in doing backgrounds for animation.  What kind of training is needed, etc?
--  I don't know much about this...but...  You'd have to have a strong fine arts background I would think, since you'll be required to have strong painting skills.  I havent seen too many background painting classes around though. Most of the time in animation schools, it is lumped into the layout classes. So if you're interested in doing backgrounds that might be a route to take. Sorry, I dont have more information than that...

What if I don't have access to a life drawing model?

--Ah, this one has an easy answer.  Draw yourself, draw your family, draw your pets.  You're a great model since you can draw yourself anytime as long as you have a mirror and a peice of paper.  If you have to, draw yourself in a swimsuit so you can get used to to machinations of the human body.  If possible go to a nearby beach, a great place to see people in motion with out all those deceiving clothes.  A mall or a park is also a good place to find people in motion that won't bug you about drawing them. Just go for the day, sit down with some lunch and draw whoever walks by.  Try to draw quick sketches as well as long poses when you are drawing yourself.

It is possible that a local college or art group might have access to models.  See if you can get into one of their classes.  The local college here wouldn't let me attend the classes since I was a  highschool student, but you might do better in your area.  A technical college nearby had a totally different attitude and let me take a computer animation program, so remember it never hurts to ask.  Besides, employers and colleges will be interested in the fact that you went the extra mile and took a college course.  Alot of the time local artists get together, pool their money and rent a model. Ask around.  I never had access to any life drawing courses until I entered college.  So drawing yourself and random beach people is NOT the end of the world, it worked for me.


I'm getting alot of information from colleges... which one do I pick?
--  All I can say is all colleges lie.  They need your money and they want you to go to their college.  So before you settle on a college find out everything you can about them.  If possible, ask your dream job company what colleges they like.  If one company likes that college, probably alot of other companies respect them as well.  You may want to look on the college list on this site for further reference.  Yes, I went to Calarts, but that doesnt mean my college is the best one for you. Research the colleges heavily before you make a decision and save yourself about four years of expensive  torture. Take a look at what current students at the college are producing. Are you impressed by their work...? Try talking to the students. What do they think of their school? What are their job prospects? Are the teachers currently working in the industry?