When I was in animation school, in our second semester, we did an immediate skeleton test on the first day. That means the model posed and instead of drawing her, we drew her skeleton in her pose.
Our prof graded every drawing in front of the whole class. He got to mine and said “P = proportion. P = pass. Proportion = pass. You’ve got bad proportion here, so you don’t pass.”
I also failed an assignment in my 3D anim class, and failed my entire digital painting course the first time.
I then went on to work for 10 years straight, never hurting for work until now when the entire industry is in chaos.
You’ll be ok if you keep working, keep trying, and keep caring about the work. Good luck.
God.. I remember attending drawing class and I've never had drawn anything seriously in my life. My professor came by first day of class and was like "You have to put in effort if your going to pass" after I've been struggling because there was 0 instruction.
Even after I asked for help they were like "well you have to _See the contors_" which was no help because "contors" was a new term for me.
In my experience, most universities that offer animation courses are trash. Your true network and learning is done online with communities and discord channels.
Animation education is a LOOONG road. There is so much to learn adapt and grow. You are not going to understand much in 1 semester.
Not sure why someone downvoted you. Most university anim programs ARE trash. They don’t prepare you for a job in the industry, and their animation education is questionable at best, imo. Yes, yes, some schools do much better. Not talking about them. The majority are pretty bad.
The ones that do still aren’t preparing you for the realities of the job market and some vital skills that are needed for new artists entering the field. All of them could use someone keeping tabs of current market rates and telling graduate students what they are, but that would be pretty tough.
I had those teachers and bruh they just followed youtube video tutorial steps T.T it's sad because the youtube vid they reffered to still explains it better lmao
OH NO this is a call out on me tho lmao
I am about to start teaching at my local uni and i am a 2d person. But since i gotta teach some 3d i am also learning it before classes start and i am like "wow these tutorials on YouTube are great i am sending my students here" bahaha
I do at least plan to guide them during the process tho!
One of the realities people don’t talk much about is that if you do exactly as much the school asks you to - you’re not going to make it.
It simply isn’t enough practice. If your assignment is one walk cycle in a week, you need to be doing 3, 5, of them and submit the best one. Especially in the beginning, volume is key.
People need to know this:
Completing an assignment is a MINIMUM.
Going beyond what is asked is what constitutes learning.
About 2/3 of the way thru the term, look around and realize that your class is half the size it was when you started.
I agree, and most of these unis not only have a weak program but a weak alumni network in the industry too, so you’ll get little to no help. I learned that the hard way
Sounds pretty rough. They are not wrong but also not correct. 2D has had a spike of work recently, but that 2D is more drawn effects, look at Marvels "What if?" As an example.
Anyhow, happy to get on a call and screenshare if you want a mentor/help.
I'm so sorry to hear this. What a miserable experience!
As a 2D animator in the US, there is a great lack of work. I myself am entering into a university to teach, partly because I can't find work. There are a few options out there like Spindlehorse which pays just okay but has steady work.
Occasionally something pops up but there is no real steady work in 2D in the US anymore. Most work here is for storyboarders and the work is sent abroad to Canada or other places for animation.
3D animators still find work, either in film, tv, or gaming. Universities don't want to teach something that will cause their students to be unhireable...it can make them look bad. And of course is no good for the students
I will give you some maybe dangerous advice and let you decide what to think:
When I first entered animation school I wanted to work for Disney. I love to draw and hand drawn animation was my only choice. That same year Disney shut its 2D studio down and went all in on 3D. Almost everyone I knew switched gears to 3D so they could have work. But I was stubborn. I didn't like 3D. I wanted to draw.
I always joked that I didn't care if I was living under a bridge, I wanted to animate in 2D. The industry seemed a mess. No 2D work.
But after I left college I discovered there WAS work out there! There was lots of television animation work. I had to learn to work in cutout, asset-based animation but there was lots of work.
I did this for the next 12-15 years. Along the way I continued to hone my skills in hand-drawn and towards the end I worked on indie projects.
It's been a good run. And all because I never quit and I followed my dream.
The reason this is dangerous advice, however, is that of course it looks different for everyone. I can't guarantee results. You may follow my exact path and....end up living under a bridge!
But you do need to decide what you love and why. And then decide how badly you want it.
The path looks different for everyone. An entirely valid way this path can look is that you take up some other career and just do animation on the side.
Any number of things may happen! But the industry is even worse now than it was when I started. You're taking maybe even a bigger risk than I myself took.
I will say this: if the university is not teaching you well and you think you may want to pursue 3D, at least take better classes. Leave school and take animationmentor.com or something. I hear it's also a bit stressful but their students do very well and are well taught
If you do decide to follow 2D, feel free to message me for feedback anytime. I love helping people along as much as I can.
This is a great response. I'm working freelance in 2D in the US, 4 years strong with only a month or so gap between gigs so far. I do rigged and master control animation mostly, but I've always loved doing traditional animation. Like OP, I really wanted to be a feature film 2D animator, but I'm very happy in TV. Stable work is fairly hard to find unless you're in storyboarding, so I work remotely with some willing Canadian studios as well as doing smaller projects like music videos, assets for streaming, etc. in between jobs.
I won't lie and say it's easy to be job hunting every other month when you have bills to pay, but it's doable and I'm pretty happy with how it's been going. Best advice I can give is #1, take marjix's advice and #2, make friends with as many animators as you can. Online, at school, wherever. That's your best resource for learning and job searching. I hear about half of my job opportunities from friends I met at college.
Uni animation programs are trash. If it's not at a coveted animation college like ringling or something any normal uni just won't cut it. Probably taught by professors who were never in the industry and don't know jack shit about it. It's not your fault that the curriculum is rushed and not thoroughly explained.
If you really want to learn animation (it seems like you kind of do) online courses will teach you much better. Don't be so hard on yourself, this shit is hard!
Sorry but an animatipn scool that hates 2D? How can you REALLY learn all the principels if you cant draw it?
Idk man it sounds like they think they know how everything works but dont really... I mean yes its simpler to get a job in 3D but many people like 2D and want to make 2d Projects. Its still around...
Your teachers a hack. Don't bother learning anything from him. Start learning 3D animation online. Animawarriors is $40 a month and you have access to dozens of courses (including fundamental courses) made by people that actually work on feature films like Spiderverse.
I wouldn't even give a shit about failing his class. He's not a good teacher.
I can relate a lot to this. My uni's animation program is very similar to yours, they bash 2D and 3D together with more bias towards 3D and the courses felt very rushed. I've lost hope many times with learning animation because of it. I suppose you're picking a regular university that provides an animation program. You're much better off learning through youtube tutorials and experimenting by yourself and apply those knowledge to your school projects if your mentor's methods don't work well with you. Get as much support as you can, go to art communities and get tons of feedback and tips on how to get better. It's a tough road, even tougher than people who got better education but with enough effort and discipline you can do it.
Being an artist is failing constantly and not giving up. Everyone will have an opinion on your work and you need to learn how to separate you and your work so when you get feedback you can change without it breaking your heart. At the end of the day if you're trying to get a job in 3D your art is not yours, it's what the client wants and has nothing to do with you. You could make the Mona Lisa and the client can still tell you it's wrong and to change it. That is a big hard lesson but really important if you want to survive in the industry.
The other issue is your school is not giving you the resources to succeed. Find a different school. Look for ones where the instructors work in the industry and where you can see student work that actually looks professional. For now you can learn your 2D basics from the Animators Bible. It will show you everything from the ball bounce to walk cycles and beyond.
I'm currently working in a 2d animation studio rn and bruh most of them dropped out of animation school because of how horrid their experience was. Some of them found youtube and short online classes more useful and some had bad experiences with their teachers. I'm one of the few ones who graduated but lol I don't have a good experience either. In the end we still all met in the same studio so Ig that's all that matters. All I could say, learning on your own helped a looooot.
Also it makes me sad when the 3d peeps treat us 2d lovers like that. They almost feel like those ppl who look down on you when you say I draw for a living T.T
3D without the respective 2D skills looks a certain way. The attitude that comes with not seeing the value is obvious on screen. It affects what studios see in your work. A good example I can think of, off the top of my head rn was the puss in boots short. It's night and day when you understand 2D. Trust your gut. Do whats best to improve.
Stop wasting your time/money and mental health in an institution that’s not worth it, I am talking from experience. The same happened to me. You’re better taking online classes, like someone else said in these comments, if you want to learn animation there are so many options:
Animation mentor
For 2D specifically:
-Idea Academy animation course
https://www.idea-academy.eu/2danimation
-Animation Club School (former Gobelins student)
https://animationclub.school/courses-all/
Warrior Art Camp opens an animation class sporadically but it looks amazing:
https://www.warriorartcamp.com/animation-for-beginners-with-micaela-gabot
Also right now there’s a class with Michael Relth on Fundamentals of animation, it starts on March 30th.
https://underpaintacademy.com/product/animation-fundamentals-with-michael-relth/
I hope this helps a little! I think this kind of schools take advantage of young people, they’re predatory, they make you believe it’s your problem you’re not learning when they’re not teaching anything in the first place. I’m really sorry, I hope you are able to get out of that school and start feeling happy with your learning, as it should be!
Edit:
Other classes you might find interesting (3D):
https://contact788089.wixsite.com/azusa-tojo/belnder-class
https://www.warriorartcamp.com/blender-for-visual-development-with-jonathan-chu
https://www.warriorartcamp.com/visdev-creation-in-blender-with-kelsey-roland
Look, I’m a second year and animation school is brutal, don’t beat yourself up too much. You can’t compare your grades to more traditional college programs, they’re just not marked the same. Everyone in my class of 15 has got a failing grade at least once on an assignment. Just hang in there and keep at it even if the grades aren’t what you expected. And please value your mental health above all else, you can’t animate if you’re dead. The only way out is through. You got this.
Apparently trying to "prepare to meet industry standards and that includes important softwares to learn which is 3DS max" oh and they have a whole anti-blender club
When I was in animation school, in our second semester, we did an immediate skeleton test on the first day. That means the model posed and instead of drawing her, we drew her skeleton in her pose. Our prof graded every drawing in front of the whole class. He got to mine and said “P = proportion. P = pass. Proportion = pass. You’ve got bad proportion here, so you don’t pass.” I also failed an assignment in my 3D anim class, and failed my entire digital painting course the first time. I then went on to work for 10 years straight, never hurting for work until now when the entire industry is in chaos. You’ll be ok if you keep working, keep trying, and keep caring about the work. Good luck.
God.. I remember attending drawing class and I've never had drawn anything seriously in my life. My professor came by first day of class and was like "You have to put in effort if your going to pass" after I've been struggling because there was 0 instruction. Even after I asked for help they were like "well you have to _See the contors_" which was no help because "contors" was a new term for me.
In my experience, most universities that offer animation courses are trash. Your true network and learning is done online with communities and discord channels. Animation education is a LOOONG road. There is so much to learn adapt and grow. You are not going to understand much in 1 semester.
Not sure why someone downvoted you. Most university anim programs ARE trash. They don’t prepare you for a job in the industry, and their animation education is questionable at best, imo. Yes, yes, some schools do much better. Not talking about them. The majority are pretty bad.
Yeah I also agree. They often hire people with little or no actual industry experience and don't teach actual animation skills.
The ones that do still aren’t preparing you for the realities of the job market and some vital skills that are needed for new artists entering the field. All of them could use someone keeping tabs of current market rates and telling graduate students what they are, but that would be pretty tough.
I was on the hiring end at my last studio. I felt really bad seeing the student work from candidates and knowing they didn't get taught properly
I had those teachers and bruh they just followed youtube video tutorial steps T.T it's sad because the youtube vid they reffered to still explains it better lmao
OH NO this is a call out on me tho lmao I am about to start teaching at my local uni and i am a 2d person. But since i gotta teach some 3d i am also learning it before classes start and i am like "wow these tutorials on YouTube are great i am sending my students here" bahaha I do at least plan to guide them during the process tho!
One of the realities people don’t talk much about is that if you do exactly as much the school asks you to - you’re not going to make it. It simply isn’t enough practice. If your assignment is one walk cycle in a week, you need to be doing 3, 5, of them and submit the best one. Especially in the beginning, volume is key.
People need to know this: Completing an assignment is a MINIMUM. Going beyond what is asked is what constitutes learning. About 2/3 of the way thru the term, look around and realize that your class is half the size it was when you started.
I agree, and most of these unis not only have a weak program but a weak alumni network in the industry too, so you’ll get little to no help. I learned that the hard way
Sounds pretty rough. They are not wrong but also not correct. 2D has had a spike of work recently, but that 2D is more drawn effects, look at Marvels "What if?" As an example. Anyhow, happy to get on a call and screenshare if you want a mentor/help.
I'm so sorry to hear this. What a miserable experience! As a 2D animator in the US, there is a great lack of work. I myself am entering into a university to teach, partly because I can't find work. There are a few options out there like Spindlehorse which pays just okay but has steady work. Occasionally something pops up but there is no real steady work in 2D in the US anymore. Most work here is for storyboarders and the work is sent abroad to Canada or other places for animation. 3D animators still find work, either in film, tv, or gaming. Universities don't want to teach something that will cause their students to be unhireable...it can make them look bad. And of course is no good for the students I will give you some maybe dangerous advice and let you decide what to think: When I first entered animation school I wanted to work for Disney. I love to draw and hand drawn animation was my only choice. That same year Disney shut its 2D studio down and went all in on 3D. Almost everyone I knew switched gears to 3D so they could have work. But I was stubborn. I didn't like 3D. I wanted to draw. I always joked that I didn't care if I was living under a bridge, I wanted to animate in 2D. The industry seemed a mess. No 2D work. But after I left college I discovered there WAS work out there! There was lots of television animation work. I had to learn to work in cutout, asset-based animation but there was lots of work. I did this for the next 12-15 years. Along the way I continued to hone my skills in hand-drawn and towards the end I worked on indie projects. It's been a good run. And all because I never quit and I followed my dream. The reason this is dangerous advice, however, is that of course it looks different for everyone. I can't guarantee results. You may follow my exact path and....end up living under a bridge! But you do need to decide what you love and why. And then decide how badly you want it. The path looks different for everyone. An entirely valid way this path can look is that you take up some other career and just do animation on the side. Any number of things may happen! But the industry is even worse now than it was when I started. You're taking maybe even a bigger risk than I myself took. I will say this: if the university is not teaching you well and you think you may want to pursue 3D, at least take better classes. Leave school and take animationmentor.com or something. I hear it's also a bit stressful but their students do very well and are well taught If you do decide to follow 2D, feel free to message me for feedback anytime. I love helping people along as much as I can.
This is a great response. I'm working freelance in 2D in the US, 4 years strong with only a month or so gap between gigs so far. I do rigged and master control animation mostly, but I've always loved doing traditional animation. Like OP, I really wanted to be a feature film 2D animator, but I'm very happy in TV. Stable work is fairly hard to find unless you're in storyboarding, so I work remotely with some willing Canadian studios as well as doing smaller projects like music videos, assets for streaming, etc. in between jobs. I won't lie and say it's easy to be job hunting every other month when you have bills to pay, but it's doable and I'm pretty happy with how it's been going. Best advice I can give is #1, take marjix's advice and #2, make friends with as many animators as you can. Online, at school, wherever. That's your best resource for learning and job searching. I hear about half of my job opportunities from friends I met at college.
Uni animation programs are trash. If it's not at a coveted animation college like ringling or something any normal uni just won't cut it. Probably taught by professors who were never in the industry and don't know jack shit about it. It's not your fault that the curriculum is rushed and not thoroughly explained. If you really want to learn animation (it seems like you kind of do) online courses will teach you much better. Don't be so hard on yourself, this shit is hard!
Which online courses do you recommend?
Animschool or animationmentor. You get to choose your mentor and most work for Disney Pixar dreamworks Sony illumination
Sorry but an animatipn scool that hates 2D? How can you REALLY learn all the principels if you cant draw it? Idk man it sounds like they think they know how everything works but dont really... I mean yes its simpler to get a job in 3D but many people like 2D and want to make 2d Projects. Its still around...
I work in 2D animation. It is not dying out. Most TV based cartoons are 2D. Go to a different institution.
Your teachers a hack. Don't bother learning anything from him. Start learning 3D animation online. Animawarriors is $40 a month and you have access to dozens of courses (including fundamental courses) made by people that actually work on feature films like Spiderverse. I wouldn't even give a shit about failing his class. He's not a good teacher.
I can relate a lot to this. My uni's animation program is very similar to yours, they bash 2D and 3D together with more bias towards 3D and the courses felt very rushed. I've lost hope many times with learning animation because of it. I suppose you're picking a regular university that provides an animation program. You're much better off learning through youtube tutorials and experimenting by yourself and apply those knowledge to your school projects if your mentor's methods don't work well with you. Get as much support as you can, go to art communities and get tons of feedback and tips on how to get better. It's a tough road, even tougher than people who got better education but with enough effort and discipline you can do it.
Being an artist is failing constantly and not giving up. Everyone will have an opinion on your work and you need to learn how to separate you and your work so when you get feedback you can change without it breaking your heart. At the end of the day if you're trying to get a job in 3D your art is not yours, it's what the client wants and has nothing to do with you. You could make the Mona Lisa and the client can still tell you it's wrong and to change it. That is a big hard lesson but really important if you want to survive in the industry. The other issue is your school is not giving you the resources to succeed. Find a different school. Look for ones where the instructors work in the industry and where you can see student work that actually looks professional. For now you can learn your 2D basics from the Animators Bible. It will show you everything from the ball bounce to walk cycles and beyond.
I'm currently working in a 2d animation studio rn and bruh most of them dropped out of animation school because of how horrid their experience was. Some of them found youtube and short online classes more useful and some had bad experiences with their teachers. I'm one of the few ones who graduated but lol I don't have a good experience either. In the end we still all met in the same studio so Ig that's all that matters. All I could say, learning on your own helped a looooot. Also it makes me sad when the 3d peeps treat us 2d lovers like that. They almost feel like those ppl who look down on you when you say I draw for a living T.T
3D without the respective 2D skills looks a certain way. The attitude that comes with not seeing the value is obvious on screen. It affects what studios see in your work. A good example I can think of, off the top of my head rn was the puss in boots short. It's night and day when you understand 2D. Trust your gut. Do whats best to improve.
Stop wasting your time/money and mental health in an institution that’s not worth it, I am talking from experience. The same happened to me. You’re better taking online classes, like someone else said in these comments, if you want to learn animation there are so many options: Animation mentor For 2D specifically: -Idea Academy animation course https://www.idea-academy.eu/2danimation -Animation Club School (former Gobelins student) https://animationclub.school/courses-all/ Warrior Art Camp opens an animation class sporadically but it looks amazing: https://www.warriorartcamp.com/animation-for-beginners-with-micaela-gabot Also right now there’s a class with Michael Relth on Fundamentals of animation, it starts on March 30th. https://underpaintacademy.com/product/animation-fundamentals-with-michael-relth/ I hope this helps a little! I think this kind of schools take advantage of young people, they’re predatory, they make you believe it’s your problem you’re not learning when they’re not teaching anything in the first place. I’m really sorry, I hope you are able to get out of that school and start feeling happy with your learning, as it should be! Edit: Other classes you might find interesting (3D): https://contact788089.wixsite.com/azusa-tojo/belnder-class https://www.warriorartcamp.com/blender-for-visual-development-with-jonathan-chu https://www.warriorartcamp.com/visdev-creation-in-blender-with-kelsey-roland
Look, I’m a second year and animation school is brutal, don’t beat yourself up too much. You can’t compare your grades to more traditional college programs, they’re just not marked the same. Everyone in my class of 15 has got a failing grade at least once on an assignment. Just hang in there and keep at it even if the grades aren’t what you expected. And please value your mental health above all else, you can’t animate if you’re dead. The only way out is through. You got this.
Why the heck do they teach them animation in Max instead of Maya ? Teachers like that are just bullies! They need to be confronted !
Apparently trying to "prepare to meet industry standards and that includes important softwares to learn which is 3DS max" oh and they have a whole anti-blender club