Animation Major

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If you can imagine it, we can teach you to bring it to life.

New frontiers in visual effects, virtual realities, and animated storytelling are waiting to be discovered. With Champlain's BFA in Animation, you'll start exploring on day one.

Our signature Upside-Down Curriculum offers immediate experience—like learning the principles of animation in your first semester—so you can begin identifying your creative interests and strengths right away. From there, our expert faculty provide individualized space and support to help you focus your talents, refine your skills, and ultimately stand out in a competitive industry.

Why Study Animation at Champlain College?

Our faculty understand that those "How'd they do that?" reactions don't happen by working in a bubble. That's why collaboration is the cornerstone of this highly interdisciplinary program. You'll learn in immersive, studio-like environments, producing projects alongside your cohort, as well as Filmmaking, Game Art, Graphic Design & Visual Communication, and Interaction Design majors.

Unlike other Animation programs, Champlain's BFA is designed with the next era of digital arts, media, and storytelling in mind, challenging you to transform your imagination into animation using advanced tools and technology, fine arts training, theory, and more:

  • 3-D animation, 2-D animation, and motion capture animation
  • Green screen staging
  • Character development, storyboarding, and screenwriting for television, web, and film
  • Post-production editing and compositing
  • 3-D modeling, drawing, illustration, and stop-motion
  • Industry standard animation and visual effects software, virtual production using game engines, and sound mixing

ENRICHMENT

Champlain students meet with industry leaders in Montreal

Do on Day One

The Upside-Down Curriculum is Champlain's tool for getting students engaged in their areas of industry earlier than they would at most other colleges. For Animation students, that means taking animation classes in your first year and learning from faculty—who come from the likes of Warner Bros., HBO, and National Geographic—to build a portfolio of professional-level work and experience upon graduation.

Champlain student wearing VR headset walks past a wall of street art

Equipped for Anything

Pairing fine arts, rigorous studio experience, and historical underpinnings with systems-based thinking, industry agility, and digital proficiencies, the BFA in Animation is uniquely designed to give you an ambitious edge in media art. In fact, students have access to the same advanced game engines, production equipment, green screen technology, and virtual production stages that have made Champlain a top 10 school for game design.

A view of the Montreal cityscape taken from Port Montreal

Study Abroad

A hub for animation and visual effects studios, Montreal can be your play ground for industry insight, hands-on experience at powerhouse studios, and personal growth. Studying abroad in one of the world's most artfully innovative, and yet culturally rich cities has never been easier through Champlain Abroad's Montreal campus. Or go to the epicenter of animation drawing by studying abroad in Japan.

Ready to get started? Learn more about the admissions process, which includes a required portfolio.

Just the Facts

+16%

Job growth for animators and visual effects artists expected between 2020 and 2030 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Best

The 2021 Fiske Guide to Colleges selected Champlain as one of the ""best and most interesting schools"" in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

$77,700

Median pay in 2020 for more than 60,000 jobs in the animation and visual effects field.

YOUR ANIMATED FUTURE

It's one thing to dream of new worlds—it's another to build them.

What's our idea of a happy ending? You, prepared for a career in animation that's as future-forward as it is future-proof. Whether you're set on revolutionizing Saturday morning cartoons, designing new worlds in virtual reality, or you aren't quite sure yet where your talents would shine most, Champlain's BFA in Animation will get you to your end goal.

You'll be exposed to the many facets in the field, giving you the freedom to explore while you study and jump in where needed in the field. With career paths in 3-D animation and modeling, 2-D animation and motion design, concept art and illustration, and virtual production, your career options will only continue to grow and evolve alongside your skills.

Upon graduation you will be able to

  • develop and present a professional portfolio of your work;
  • identify industry standards and apply those standards to your own work;
  • render an image from observation, applying the concepts of perspective, anatomy, color theory, movement, and composition as appropriate;
  • articulate, analyze, and evaluate the meaning of your work and understand the social context in which the work exists; and
  • synthesize trends, theories, and movements in the development of new ideas.

Possible job placements for graduates include:

  • Visual effects (VFX) artist
  • Virtual production artist
  • Motion graphics animator
  • Marketing and advertising creative
  • Virtual environment designer
  • Stop-motion animator or claymator
  • Web and mobile designer
  • 3-D modeler
  • 3-D or 2-D animator
  • Texture artist
  • Color correction and clean up
  • Lighting artist
  • Compositor

Sign Up To Get Stickers + Helpful Info

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Ready to be inspired? Fill out the form and sign up to receive helpful information about Champlain College—plus, we'll send you a full sheet of high quality stickers designed by one of our recent Graphic Design & Visual Communication graduates.

Nice to meet you!

Thanks for getting in touch—stickers and information will be on their way shortly. Please reach out anytime if you have any questions about Champlain; you can call or text us at 802.625.0201 or email us at admission@champlain.edu.

In the meantime, check out our list of majors, schedule your visit or event, and enjoy The View, for the latest news and updates from the College!

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