Art Degrees Online

In the Animation Art & Design program, you’ll learn to conceive and design 2-D and 3-D images using both traditional and digital techniques. You’ll alter, manipulate, and reconstruct characters to interact with audio and video elements. Graduates are prepared to seek entry-level employment such as storyboard artist, character designer, special effects artist, background painter, clean-up artist, 3-D character animator, modeler, and video postproduction artist.

Fine art principles and practices are the essential forces guiding the mission of the Program in Experimental Animation—a course of study designed for independent and adventurous artists who are interested in personal expression and who regard animation as a highly dynamic, ever-evolving art form. This program offers a framework in which students explore, develop and refine intellectually demanding, aesthetically progressive concepts and professional practices in their personal cinematic artmaking.

The curriculum begins by building a foundation understanding of a variety of animation techniques and concepts. Courses in 2-D drawn and direct animation, stop-motion, and 2-D and 3-D computer animation blend practical knowledge with creative stimulation, while animation history courses provide a detailed examination of all forms of animation art—with a special emphasis on the history of experimental forms. Once foundation studies are completed, students work closely with their mentors and other members of the program’s accomplished faculty as they experiment with and extend their own unique artistic visions. At the advanced levels of the curriculum, students chart a more individualized course of study in consultation with their mentors, who help to custom-tailor coursework according to each student’s particular interests.

The Program in Experimental Animation enjoys a long-standing international reputation for excellence in innovative animation production. Its faculty, students and alumni have consistently won top awards at film festivals in the United States, Europe and Asia, and are widely credited with helping to define the art of animation as we know it today.

The animation certificates are designed to provide academic and hands-on learning experiences for individuals planning on a career in the field of animation. This program offers two options, classical animation and digital animation.
Students interested in pursuing a Bachelor’s degree, should meet with an academic and/or transfer counselor to discuss transfer requirements.
To explore major-related career information, click on the Career Profile link to find out what you can REALLY do with your degree.

PREREQUISITE COURSES
REQUIRED COURSES FOR CERTIFICATE
UNITS
CLASSICAL ANIMATION

ART 101or
ART 102
Art History: Prehistory-Gothic or
Art History: Renaissance-Modern
3 or
3

ART 130
Design I
3

ART 201 or equivalent
ART 146 or
ART 210
Visual Literacy
Animation Storyboards
3 or
3

ART 150
Drawing I
3

ART 150 (may be taken concurrently)
ART 152
Life Drawing I
3

ART 152
ART 153
Life Drawing II
3

ART 152 or equivalent
ART 201 Drawing for Animation
3
ART 201 or equivalent
ART 205 Fundamentals of Animation I
3
ART 205 or equivalent
ART 206 Fundamentals of Animation II
3

Corequisite: DANCE 140
Corequisite: T ART 103
T ART 108 or
T ART 103 and
DANCE 140 Introduction to Acting
Fundamentals of Acting (Vocal Interpretation)
Movement for Theatre I
3 or
3 and
1

TOTAL UNITS REQUIRED
30 – 31

PREREQUISITE COURSES REQUIRED COURSES FOR CERTIFICATE
UNITS
DIGITAL ANIMATION

ART 101or
ART 102 Art History: Prehistory-Gothic or
Art History: Renaissance-Modern
3 or
3

ART 146 Visual Literacy
3
ART 150 (may be taken concurrently)
ART 152 Life Drawing I
3
PHOTO 121 or equivalent
ART 220 Introduction to Motion Graphics
3

ART 230 Introduction to 3-D Computer Graphics
3
ART 230 or equivalent ART 231 Inorganic Modeling 3
ART 231 or equivalent
ART 232 Organic Modeling
3
ART 230 or equivalent ART 233 Character Set-up – Kinematics 3
ART 130 or PHOTO 101 or equivalent
PHOTO 121 Imaging with Photoshop I
3
PHOTO 121 or equivalent
PHOTO 122 Imaging with Photoshop II
3
TOTAL UNITS REQUIRED
30