Fall courses announced

Animation Fundamentals returns to in-person instruction, running Tuesday evenings from September 14 through December 7. Taught by Émilie Tremblay, it'll include an overview of various 2D approaches and styles, animation movement techniques, and a history of animation all through under camera animation technique. Students will also learn the basics of using animation software, creating high quality files, and proper pre-production techniques.

Our other three adult courses this semester will all take place online, as we're managing the transition to in-person learning carefully. Up first: Drawing for Animation is returning, also taught by Émilie Tremblay. This course focuses on character design, with forays into life drawing, perspective, and environmental design—students will end up with a few fully fledged characters and environments to take into future projects.

We're excited to dive once again into the world of 3D animation, with instruction from William Dyer, who you might remember from his work on NFB productions like Skin for Skin, Wall, and the upcoming The Flying Sailor. This time around we're focusing on Blender, and going over the basics of rigging and modeling with this free, open-source animation software.

Lastly on the adult side, we're taking our first steps into teaching Video Game Animation in a course led by our production director, Erin Saunders. Students will use their animation skills to create a customized runner-style video game in Unity—based on a gaming skeleton created for us by local developer Kyle Hinton! This course is open to ages 15+, but previous animation experience is highly recommended.

On the youth side, we're offering up two in-person classes: Young Animators After School, taught by Mihaela Slabé, and Quick Kids Animation, taught by Jean-François Côté. Full details are available on our education page, but basically, this is the return of the classic Quick Kids classes, with 12 weeks of in-person instruction, small class sizes, and plenty of individual attention.

Here's hoping you're as excited as we are about all these options!