Do I need to go to an animation college to succeed?

Career TipsCollege AdviceResources
Written By Ellen Su
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Full disclosure, I went to a prestigious art school, the School of Visual Arts BFA Computer Art department in NYC. I also teach there now and can give you many reasons why it’s fantastic. A lot of my examples will be from SVA because that’s what I know but it is NOT the only option out there and it is most certainly not the best fit for everyone.

Back in 2010, SVA’s tuition was $23k/year. Due to scholarships, state resident grants, and the help of my amazing hard working parents, I managed to come out of it relatively debt free (also lived at home most of the time). I do not come from a wealthy family, my mom works as a waitress and my dad at a Chinatown print shop. The network and resources of a school like SVA with good faculty/alumni connections ARE very valuable. But as tuition across the country soars to $40k-50k/year in 2021 of all times, it is also very unrealistic for many people.

The truth of the matter is, it’s absolutely NOT REQUIRED for you to succeed.

This long ass article will break down:

  • How to research & evaluate the quality of an animation program

  • What is there to gain from a good 4 year animation college

  • How to DIY without college or cheaper alternatives

PART 01: Research your Options

If you are in a financial situation to go to a 2 or 4 year program, make sure you research your options.

1. I started with Googling “top animation schools”. This gave me some names to look into. Make sure you’re searching specifically for animation schools, not just “art schools”. An art college might be known for their architecture program but their animation program sucks. A school known for video game concept art might not be great if you want to work in cartoons. Gear it towards the industry you want to work in.

2. Judge the school by the quality of the student work. For example:

Snoop on these students. What jobs or internships are the alumni getting 1-3 years out of school? You can even go as far as kindly reaching out to these students on social media and asking about their experiences & teachers.

3. Look into a school’s faculty, find their portfolios, resume LinkedIn, IMDB credits. What studios have these teachers worked? How recently have they worked there? Are they still working? Do the studios the school is connected to relate to your own career goals? If you want to get into Pixar but the school is aligned with ILM does it make sense for you to go?

4. Consider a school’s location. Not as important in COVID-Era but in case we ever do escape the confines of our own homes, location is extremely important. Will you be located in a place with lots of animation studios AKA lots of internship opportunities? NYC, LA, Vancouver have big hubs of animation studios. At SVA, we were able to go to class, then take the train 10-15mins to an internship DURING the school year, not just the summer. That’s a huge leg up!

Closing statement. Make a spreadsheet! Figure out tuition costs between different programs! What scholarships do they offer? Figure out the general living cost if you have to move away from your family in order to attend. You could be putting yourself in crazy debt that will last for decades. Even if you can afford the tuition now, can you afford the student loan payments + interest 1-3 years after school while making minimum wage or no money at all?

PART 02: What can a good college provide you?

Before we get to how you can do it without a college, I want to make sure you understand what you might be able to gain with a college. The most important thing a college will provide you is network and connections. OK but what does that really mean?

Spoiler: Just because you go to college doesn’t mean you’ll gain a network/connections.

At top animation schools like CalArts, SVA, Sheridan, ArtCenter, etc. recruiters and major studios will have their eyes on the grads every year because they’ve put out proven talent. Usually it’s because the chair or head of the department has connections with people at major studios.

The Curriculum

For example, Brigham Young University’s animation program was developed with Pixar’s Ed Catmull. They have a pipeline matching Pixar’s pipeline and thus creates grads that slide perfectly into their workforce every year.

SVA BFA Computer Art (3D) has a generalist approach. They teach you ALL the programs in 3D, VFX, motiongraphics the first two years, then let you develop skills you’re interested in with your elective classes in your last two years.

CalArts and SVA BFA Animation (2D) requires a student film every year which is fantastic if you want to develop those storytelling, directing, animation chops.

Other programs like Capilano don’t require a thesis film, because not everyone wants to be storytellers. Maybe you just want to paint backgrounds real good. Research the curriculum and see if it aligns with your goals.

Also see if a school has some sort of a “business” or “professional practices” class that will teach you practical things like negotiating rates, contracts, invoicing, creating resume / demo reels, bringing professional guest speakers in to speak with you.

SVA BFA Computer Art’s Business of Being an Artist class description can be found on their curriculum page.

SVA BFA Computer Art’s Business of Being an Artist class description can be found on their curriculum page.

The Department Chairs

A department chair can make or break a program. I’ve heard of some schools with chairs that really devote resources to one form of digital media while neglecting the other based on their own preference. So not all schools or even animation programs are equal. Jimmy Calhoun & Hsiang Chin Moe at SVA are amazingly caring & dedicated people that do so much for their students. Great chairs can really turn a department around and think of innovative new ways to help students connect with each other or with professionals. You can research this by reaching out to past graduates from the program you’re interested in. Ask multiple students because people have very different experiences in college, take everything you learn with a grain of salt.

The Teachers

At the SVA BFA Computer Art (3D) & BFA Animation (2D) department, all our teachers are working professionals. That means while teaching you the skills and tools relevant to the current industry, they’re actively evaluating your talent, work ethic, ability to finish assignments on time, how you take feedback, how you interact with your fellow classmates, and deciding if you’re someone they want to offer an internship or job opportunity to or give a recommendation for.

If the teachers at a school have not been working for years, do they still have the connections or know the latest tools which changes EVERY year? My thesis professor owned Nathan Love. He saw my ability in class and offered me an internship in junior year because he had a project with a low budget and needed affordable, skilled talent. I did well during that trial period, and he hired me back for freelance after. Years later, he hired me for a full time directing position. When I started teaching at SVA, I took on the mantle of scouting + hiring new talent from the students in my class.

Career Development / Alumni Resources

Then there’s how hard a school or their department will work to get you meetings, get your portfolios to studios (check out this list Sheridan put together), and court recruiters to come check out your work. MICA pays professionals $ to do 1-on-1 student portfolio reviews at the end of the year. SVA has a great alumni career development team that helps ALL alumni, not just a specific department. They’ve helped me get into contact with Netflix and high profile graduates and have connected students with me once I came into my recruiter role.

Film Festivals

Some schools will also submit your thesis films to a TON of film festivals for you and pay for all the submission fees because your success = their success. Festival fees rack up. Visibility at a film festival could result in future job opportunities. This should be covered by the school via your very expensive tuition. I believe SVA BFA Computer Art also covered the travel expenses to the Student Academy Awards ceremony in LA if a student’s film was chosen.

Big Studio Internships

One big leg up that a 4 year program still provides is providing you eligibility to apply for major studio undergraduate internships. This is a requirement set by animation unions & studios in California, but I’m starting to see companies wake up to the reality that not all fantastic talent can afford to go to 4 year schools. So some studios are starting to allow candidates going to online schools or other reputable trade schools. It’s also important to note that you DON’T NEED AN INTERNSHIP to get a job. I have hired kids still in school for straight up jobs because their work was good. In a skill-based industry like animation, relevant good artwork = experience.

Membership Fees / Additional Resources

Many schools I’ve worked with are also happy to sponsor membership fees to useful tutorial libraries, software, networks like Women in Animation, LinkedIn Premium, etc. If you’re going to a fancy school and there’s something relevant to improving your skill or homework, ask your department if they’d be willing to pay for it.

The Classmates

Finally, your classmates. One of the most important resources at a college. Your classmates’ success could be the reason you land a future interview. In sophomore year, I helped an upperclassmen with their thesis project (because they thought I was good enough to help).

They were previously a Pixar intern. My junior year, I applied for the same internship & got an interview with Pixar. The upperclassmen prepped me, walked me through the process, recommended me to their supervisor at Pixar and I got the internship. Every year some sort of prepping / mentoring happens between the classmates at SVA for the Pixar internship. This doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the position. I’ve prepped & recommended candidates that have failed their interview. It’s ultimately based on your own skill & personality but it’s the leg up.

I graduated with people I’ve hired or recommended or have recommended me for jobs. This is the network that happens naturally because you’re working with others, you’re going through thesis hell together, you’re helping others with their HW or providing moral support in someone’s time of need. This is not a “let me go to this one night mixer & swap a business card with strangers” type of networking; these are solid, personal connections that last a lifetime.

Closing Statement

Students that keep to themselves, don’t help others and/or don’t ask for help, don’t speak up in class or participate in discussions go unnoticed by their classmates AND their teachers. Unless their work is STANDOUT AMAZING, they very well might be forgotten.

I came into college already able to draw production quality work, I’ve been drawing digitally since middle school. No one taught me color theory, it was something I developed on my own. Yes I’ve received a lot of help from my school & my friends but it was because I was skilled, reliable & had something they wanted. Maybe I was fun to be around, social skills most definitely help, but practically: I had the desirable skills to produce good work for my classmates’ films. I worked as a lab assistant and had keys to the computer labs so I could sneak people back in after closing hours to work late. I took on extracurricular activities like designing department T-shirts, getting the department a booth at conventions, things that brought good press. A school wants to bolster the best talent so that they can maintain their reputation of putting out top talent. My experience with college is not everyone’s experience, it’s not even the majority of people’s experiences. But maybe with this thorough breakdown & explanation, it could be yours.

I’ve seen expensive schools (and small, affordable ones) that do many of the things listed above for their kids. But when I go to visit as a recruiter, some students don’t show up, don’t turn on their cameras or don’t engage. I’ve known kids that pick their professors not based on experience/resume but because they don’t want to wake up at 9am. I’ve also known kids that could’ve been talented but were too busy working two jobs to pay for the tuition to really dedicate the time they needed to improve their craft or do the homework. If you are not constantly developing your skills or figuring out ways to socially connect with others, you may not land the opportunities regardless of the school.

The other thing is timing, you could graduate from a program, be extremely talented and not land a job right away because the industry just isn’t hiring someone of your skillset. Or there might be an oversaturation of qualified candidates in your chosen field of interest. Success has a lot to do with the right timing & luck.

So before you decide to drop an insane amount of money on college tuition, you need to be honest with yourself— are you ready for college? For lifelong financial debt? For social situations? For meeting deadlines in order to impress your teachers? Or do you need to take a moment to sort your mental state, home life, financial situation, & figure yourself out first?

PART 03: How to DIY without college or cheaper alternatives

Alright, we’ve discussed how to research schools before committing to crippling debt and what the best, well connected animation programs can provide you. Now how can we get that outside an institution OR are there any cheaper alternatives?

First thing is, you have to make yourself someone other people will want to help. What does that mean? You need skill, technical ability, good aesthetic and foundation skills like anatomy, perspective, whatever relevant to the position you want. You gotta have the work that’ll make strangers think, “Wow! I’ve found a gem! I want to work with them! I want to recommend them!” College, tutorials, online classes can teach you software and theory, but it won’t automatically give you the skills to make professional quality work. I can recommend someone to the MOON but if their portfolio doesn’t display the skill, it’s not going to get them the job OR internship, case closed. So first, develop your skill, once you’ve got that, the rest is about building the network.

Take for example my friend Pedro Conti. Pedro is from Brazil. His family wasn’t wealthy, he didn’t go to a fancy American college. He loved animation, was hungry for it, and learned animation on his own. Then he made this fantastic project & shared it on ArtStation / Vimeo.

Pedro wanted to work for Disney. They said no thx. But this project caught the attention of some small commercial animation studios in NY and they hired him for a project. Word spread to other studios. Pedro kept getting small jobs, kept building his reputation and expanding his network. Five years later, Disney flew him out to California to work on Moana.

This is all before the COVID pandemic where remote artists were NOT the norm. If anything, aspiring artists now have it WAY easier than Pedro with the now booming animation industry and remote work has become standard practice.

Ok now let’s get into the resources.

  1. International schools. Sheridan in Canada or Les Gobelins in France are in the $11k-$15k/year range and have amazing reputations in our industry.

  2. Community college. Get your humanities / basic foundation classes out of the way with community college then transfer into a big name animation college for the last two years. Take the time to develop your skills at CC and then wow your classmates/teachers at the fancy college. If you go this route MAKE SURE ahead of time, the credits from the community college will transfer over to the school of your choice.

  3. Reputable online schools with well connected faculty. Same rules of researching apply. Does the person teaching the class work on projects YOU want to work on? Not all online classes are created equal.

  4. Animation organizations or non-profits. There are great organizations run by amazing people in the industry. Groups that were started by leaders at Disney, DreamWorks, CrunchyRoll, Netflix, Nickelodeon, etc. They can provide opportunities such as portfolio reviews from industry professionals, mentorship programs, guest speakers and informative talks for free or an affordable membership fee. Once again, do your research on who started the group & what connections they have. Women in Animation for example have different chapters located around the country and each chapter has different industry connections (VFX, feature film, episodic, commercial, etc). Do the research. I’ve literally taught the entire semester of “Business of Being an Artist” for free for WIA NYC in a single presentation. Here are some of the other events I’ve organized for WIA. I will be doing more of those with this platform as well.

  5. Discord / FB Groups / Communities. There are a ton of great animation communities out there. People that share advice, industry insights and resources. This is by far not a comprehensive list of communities, but figure out what you want to do and ask around- there’s probably a Discord server for it.

  6. Social Media. Beyond networking, this is a great tool to remind people you exist! A good candidate can slip a recruiter’s mind but if they by chance see your new work posted on social media at the right time, you’re on their radar again. Maybe you weren’t ready for a role six months ago, but you’ve grown since and the improvement/dedication is visible via your social media posts. That is also super impressive to hiring managers.

    • Twitter: Great for connecting with episodic/feature animation industry but not so much commercial animation.

      • Threads like this and this are great to throw your work into because hiring managers from all over (not just the studio posting it) might be checking out the portfolios there. As my boss said, “They can’t possibly hire ALL the talent in this thread…”

    • Instagram: Great for all animation industries including commercial animation. Be sure to tag your work accordingly.

    • LinkedIn: Seriously utilize LinkedIn. Post your artwork on LinkedIn as you would Insta or Twitter. If the work is good, the recruiters will come a-knockin. Artists are more prone to be on Twitter and recruiters are more prone to be on LinkedIn so use it! You don’t need the paid version, just make good work and put it out there.

  7. Portfolio Communities. Smaller studios or advertising companies might be searching for artists on these websites.

    • Behance. Upload your work here if you’re into graphic design, illustration, print, advertising, motiongraphic work.

    • ArtStation. Upload your work here if you’re into video games, concept art, 3D.

    • Vimeo. Great for video reels.

  8. The Rookies (and other things like it). This group gives out internships/software/hardware as rewards for portfolio contests. To be eligible, you need is to have less than 1 year of professional experience in the industry. There are no school requirements. I submitted my demo reel and landed an internship with The Mill, one of the largest VFX commercial houses in the country.

  9. Getting your work in Film Festivals/Industry Conferences. Producing a project, filling out applications to submit said project to film festivals can be costly and time consuming. But so is college tuition and we are in DIY mode. Below are a couple of top animation film festivals, but you should do a wide net if the goal is exposure (20+).

  10. Look outside major studios. A lot of artists don’t know there’s a TON of work in commercials and advertising. Rates in ads pay twice as much as 2D episodic cartoons. So if you’re in debt or in need of money or desperate for any type of paying work, check out that avenue. You can just google “animation studio in NY” (or London, LA, Vancouver, Atlanta, etc.) and it should bring up a list of studio websites. Houses like The Mill, Psyop, Buck, Nathan Love are kind of the “major” studios of commercial animation so those are pretty competitive to get into as well. But there are plenty of smaller boutique shops you can land some experience or money if you can’t land that dream job just yet. Bringing it back to Pedro, it took many years of hard work to get the dream job offer and commercial projects were his stepping stones.

  11. Cold email. Search the credits of shows or projects you want to work on. Snoop on those names. Attend industry presentations & talks and look into the panelists. Are they on social media? LinkedIn? Can you find an email? Reach out and ask if they’d be able to review your portfolio & give you some advice. Always always always include your portfolio when you reach out to someone whether it’s a studio or an individual. The worst they can do is not respond, but if you don’t give them a reason to respond (like your cool portfolio) they’re more likely to ignore you.

  12. Volunteer, unpaid or low pay internships/projects. I left this one for last because it’s pretty controversial but to pretend this tactic doesn’t exist would not be giving you a full picture of the road to success. In a perfect world, everyone gets paid for their work but it’s called a hustle for a reason. I’m also not saying you HAVE to do unpaid work to gain the network, but I think there’s a smart way to go about work “for exposure”.

    You must think critically of exactly what you’re gaining out of an exchange. And if you agree to do something, for $1000, $100, or $0, make sure you do a great job because it will affect your future opportunities. If you’re going to not be happy with the situation once you accept and do a poor job, then don’t accept it at all. You can find these opportunities on places like

    • Volunteering for organizations like Women in Animation or industry conferences like LightBox Expo and Siggraph. These positions could be whatever you make of it, could be producing a presentation, social media manager, scheduler, event volunteer, moderator, designing graphics, etc. Whatever you decide to do for them, understand that you’re being evaluated during your time here. The goal is to be evaluated by the right person connected to opportunities you want. Just like the working teacher & student situation, working professionals are evaluating your skills, work ethic & self motivation in an environment where their own $$$ is not at risk. If you do well, it will make them more inclined to recommend you to actual paid work. If you don’t do a good job, they’ll accept your free work, but probably not want to hire you. And if you do well but no one supervising you has connections to the industry, it might also lead no where.

    • YouTube channels or other online content creators. TED-Ed creates an endless stream of explainer videos that have low budgets but have been a resource for artists to break into directing.

    • Sites like Tongal where you can pitch to win projects from companies. But you might put in the time & effort to pitch and not win the project.

      • Case Study 1:
        Something’s Awry is a family run company with an extremely talented multi-faceted artist, Kris Theorin, who dropped out of college after feeling the program was not providing him with anything he couldn’t gain on his own. He started pitching and winning projects on Tongal for companies like SyFy channel and LEGO. This eventually branched out to more opportunities outside the Tongal community once they had built a portfolio of proven, great quality work.

      • Case Study 2:

        Zee Meyers took on a TED-Ed project to use as part of her application to Buzzfeed when she wanted to make a career change from VFX to original animated content and got the job. She became their Head of Media Labs and her team went on to produce hit projects such as The Good Advice Cupcake.

      • Case Study 3:

        Two years after graduating, I realized 3D was not for me. I was happiest working in Photoshop, drawing pictures. I did not have the portfolio needed to get into 2D animation. I did not go to a program for 2D animation so the expensive college network I paid for was pretty useless. BUT.

        Remember that internship I won from The Rookies at The Mill? I met Kris Merc there in the lunchroom. I showed him my illustration work and he was impressed. Couple of months later after we’d both left The Mill, he took on a low budget music video job to build his own directing portfolio and reached out to see if I was interested in helping. Benjy Brooke was the other person attached to the project.

        ✨RESEARCH TIME✨ I dug up and evaluated their portfolios. Checked out the animatic of the video, listened to the song and decided this was worth my time even if I was getting paid next to nothing.

        It would be a high quality, professional portfolio piece and these were cool people to work for / make connections with. The music video Mojo Thunder got into Annecy. Vimeo spotlight. Lots of press. Months later, Kris wouldn’t be able to take on a directing gig. He threw my name in and I got the opportunity to professionally direct my very first project.

        Then I got re-hired to do a short freelance gig at an advertising agency and the creative director there asked what I’d been up to. I showed him the MV and he later hired me for a side project he was directing. I got my first art directing credit from him.

        Joe Burrascano, my old thesis teacher from SVA and owner of Nathan Love, saw those projects, saw I could put together a team and deliver a vision and shortly after I was hired as staff director there for 2D projects.

        I did the calculated hustle, gave it my best and it paid off. If you agree to unpaid or low paid opportunities, know very clearly what you’re getting out of it. Sometimes the right “exposure” is worth gold. There is a lot of controversy around this, but so many of the success stories I’ve listened to in this industry started with something like this. It’s SO DIFFICULT to get an individual or studio to risk their budget ($$$) on unproven talent. In a college environment, industry-connected teachers get to evaluate your ability before they need to pay you. Figure out ways you can replicate this situation outside of school, where you can prove to the right person you’re worth hiring.

      A colleague working in the Japanese anime industry told me the concept of going to an animation school isn’t the norm in Japan. Instead, to get into the animation industry, high school kids will work as cleanup artists for animation studios in order to learn the skills they need by tracing other people’s work. So while they’re not being paid a lot, they’re also not dropping $200k on a four year program. Perhaps without looming student loan payments over your head, you’d be in a more financially comfortable situation to take on some unpaid/low pay projects in order to gain the experience and connections.

Closing statement. There is no one way into the industry. There is no one way to do anything in life really. I and many of my peers have mentored random strangers that have cold emailed us. I have found and hired artists from Russia, Spain, Brazil, Nigeria because of platforms like Instagram and Behance. I have helped artists get promotions and jobs through unsolicited recommendations. The only common thread to success with all of them, is that their work was good and the timing was right. Animation is a skill-based industry. Connections and recommendations could certainly get your foot in the door, but the portfolio will determine if you can come in.

If you have some additional resources you’d like to suggest I add to the list you can email me at hello@animationrevolution.com.

Ellen Su
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