Animation

Animation

The award winning undergraduate animation program at KCAI provides students with a creatively designed and comprehensive educational experience. Students learn to fully realize their artistic potential and to take charge of their careers upon graduation. The department is committed to the exploration and celebration of all facets of the art of animation.

Experienced animation faculty provide intensive instruction in classical, experimental and digital animation with a special commitment to historical context and professional practice. One approach or point of view is never prioritized over another. Instead, the foundation of our method is to emphasize the hybridization of established methods with advances in current technology and inspired new approaches.

Our three-year animation curriculum is organized into a suite of sequential courses that progressively nurture the creative process through combining aspects of animation principals, concept modeling, production methods and history into each project. Classes within the major have planned synergies which develop all of the essential skills necessary for students to successfully create work within both personal and professional contexts. 



In order to fully celebrate the diversity of the medium and to allow students the time required to develop a significant personal work, senior level majors are offered studio courses devoted to producing a short graduation animation project that exemplifies their mastery of the medium to date. This approach fully prepares students to enter the field with a strong portfolio and a well-rounded sense of artistic and technical confidence.

Professional practice is a compulsory component of all instruction and every animation major benefits directly from interaction with world-renowned visiting animation artists, scholars and professionals. These generous mentors present their work and engage with students in one on one critiques and group workshops.

Upon graduation, students are fully prepared for entry-level work within the animation industry or to seek and create opportunities as freelance independent artists. Professional opportunities may include animation studios, feature film and television production, independent short-form film festivals, museum exhibition, teaching and corporate media.

Many of our graduates have gone on to further their studies at top graduate schools such as Cal Arts.

Current software applications being taught include Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Flash, Autodesk Maya, Final Cut Pro and Dragonframe.

Jobs and internships

In addition to an ever-growing list of screenings in national and international film festivals, such as the Ottawa International Animation Festival, three of our graduates won a silver Student Academy Award in 2010 for their film, "Dried Up." Visit our YouTube channel to see the film.

KCAI Animation majors have worked or interned for the following studios and institutions: Disney, DreamWorks, Digital Domain, Nickelodeon, Hallmark, Shadow Machine Films, Bill Plympton Studio, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Bazillion Pictures, T2, MK12, Intake Studios, Encyclopedia Pictura, Dream Studio, Fuzzy Duck Design, Titmouse Inc., Panda Panther, Grasshorse and Threehouse Studio.

Check out the animation blog

Animation Faculty

  • Doug Hudson, associate professor and chair of animation

    Douglas Hudson is a multimedia artist, musician and educator. Hudson is associate professor and chair of the...Read More
  • Christoph Steger, assistant professor

    Christoph Steger is an animation director whose films explore the grey areas between traditional animation and observational...Read More
  • Liz Van Verth, assistant professor

    After graduating cum laude from Syracuse University in 1995 with a B.F.A. degree in illustration, Liz Van Verth moved to Brooklyn, NY...Read More.
  • John Baker, lecturer

    John Baker joined KCAI in 2010 and teaches courses in digital media and animation. Previously he was an animator with MK12, a Kansas...Read More

Samples of Work

Careers

Careers

Thinking about life after KCAI? We've got some ideas. And plenty of alumni success stories to prove our point. Start planning your future.

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