Calarts Academy of Arts is the birthplace of Disney animators. It is one of the top 10 top art creation research institutes in the United States. As an ace major, animation has a success rate of less than 3%, let alone an exceptional admission. It is the first in the United States and only 60 people are recruited worldwide. BFA of character animation is only undergraduate, and it is rumored that there are only 1-2 places in mainland China.
CalArts is an animation design school with a very low enrollment rate, and our natural light student Shi successfully applied to the CalArts character animation major, and won the offer on the spot in the interview without passing the language! Exceptional admission.
Shi applied for undergraduate study in animation in the United States, and his collection of works was awarded CalArts Ringling College of Art and Design , New York Institute of Visual Arts and other schools offer. You should know that Animation Career Review, an authoritative website for animation in the United States, gives the top 50 ranking of the top animation schools in the United States. In this list, only CalArts and Ringling are rated as top 1% of schools consistent! When Shi is studying in natural light, everyone usually calls him "Xiangzai" kindly. Xiangzai often haunts the study area, so in natural light, he has a special nickname - Sister in the study area!
As for animation design studying abroad, he said this: I hate hypocrisy, so I can get the CalArts character animation offer. What I want to say is, I'm good at it. After all, I spent time, used my hand, used my brain, and made a wish remotely. Why can't I go there? It is believed that most students can sympathize with this sentence. Everyone's way of study is full of hardships, and only you know what you have to pay. The secret of Xiangzai's collection of works, the first sister in the self-study area, still needs serious interview content.
Interview with Shi's animation works:
Q: Congratulations on Xiangzai's winning the offer! How long has your portfolio course lasted? Have you taken any basic courses?
Shi classmate: After about 8 months, I have taken basic animation courses, as well as some courses on motion rules, some of which have become the final Demo Reel.
Q: How many projects have been done in the animation collection? Let's briefly talk about these projects.
Shi: There is only one big project, which is a hunger project set in the early stage of animation. The inspiration comes from the contradiction and feelings between the image of the shark and human beings in the Chinese classics of mountains and seas. This project tells the story of a young monk and a mermaid before they met and loved each other, but they never got together. Finally, they both died because of their beliefs and original needs, as well as the ethics of traditional society.
This project includes the character design of monks and mermaids, as well as the main scenes in the story: the design of fairs and temples, and the story version of the climax of the story. When I was doing my first big project, I actually saw a lot of student works from famous animation schools such as GOBELINS and CalArts, which inspired me greatly in lens design and style.
The deep meaning I want to express is: I want to explore whether people should sacrifice their own persistence, beliefs and personal life for others. The rest are some observational paintings required by CalArts.
Q: Can you elaborate on the observational painting required by Calarts?
Shi classmate: Observational painting should include some things, such as scene, animal, and character. In short, what you think you will draw when you do animation in the future. First, cultivate visual experience, and create characters and scenes in the future when you can draw reasonably. The second is to develop a style. In fact, there is no need to be serious about observational painting. As long as you can be solid, and then present your style, it will be totally OK.
Official website requirements: The requirements of observation human body sketch include short and long time actions, and the picture includes the face, hands and feet of the model. It is recommended to use nude models as the main model, but they can also be dressed. Students applying for CalArts character animation major are required to have at least one year of experience and practice in human body sketch and still life sketch. Sketch and sketch works include people and animation in life, indoor and outdoor scenes, such as city sketch, place sketch, coffee shop, etc.
Note: Sketch sketch works must be observed in life. Exploring elements include shape, shape, outline, contrast, atmosphere and emotion. Do not erase the structural lines. These will help the admissions officer to better understand your painting and understanding of the work. Do not hand in the copy.
Story telling of continuous pictures: The work needs to reflect your ability to tell stories and structure characters. The performance of works can be storyboards, illustrated novels, hand turned books, short animations or short stories in miniature.
Digital works (dynamic or static): A work that you create or manipulate using a computer program. This can be expressed in two-dimensional digital works, illustrations, concept maps, character design, props design, cartoons, photography or computer images.
Q: Which project is your favorite?
Shi classmate: I like them all because I didn't make the style of the project to cater to the mainstream American aesthetics, but kept my favorite oriental style and did some content that must be included in the pre animation settings.
Q: Which project is more difficult in the process? How does the teacher help you solve problems in this project?
Shi classmate: I think it is in the thinking of the story plot, because the story cannot be too long or too short. While keeping the length suitable, it includes some turns and echoes. My teacher gave me a lot of advice, including getting inspiration from the plot of some classic movies, and then using this technique to make the story more meaningful.
Q: How do you understand the specialty of calarts character animation?
Shi classmate: I think animation requires not only solid painting skills, but more importantly, to express itself in the works. Whether from the action of the character, and the diversity of the character and appearance, you need to enrich your works with the characters and stories you have observed from life in the past. Animation is a highly comprehensive subject, which includes a set of tools, from painting, time, rhetoric, action, logic, comic, creativity, empathy, etc., all of which are possessed by every animator.
Q: Is there any difference between having classes in natural light and having classes in school before?
Shi classmate: Yes, the natural light teacher will guide students according to their characteristics and ideas, and most of them are guided and highlighted by teachers. Although domestic university teachers are also very responsible, because there are many students, professors cannot give precise guidance, and there are restrictions on many creative themes, so it is difficult to express what they really want to express.
Q: What do you think is the greatest help to the works collection in the teacher's teaching?
Shi classmate: I think that basic teaching, whether animation or painting, has inspired me a lot. On the basis of these inspirations, I can have a deeper and better understanding of knowledge through my own thinking.
Q: Have you ever participated in natural light activities before? Is it more helpful for your later works?
Shi classmate: Yes, I participate in the course of natural light body painting every month. The course of body sketching provides me with a good platform to enrich my existing theoretical foundation through observation. Because animation students need to understand the muscle structure of the human body and how people move when creating animation professional work sets, animation students need to submit a large number of body sketches when submitting work sets.
In the process of human body sketching, we will train long-term human body sketching and short-term human body sketching. The teacher also encourages us to observe and paint from various aspects to achieve a deeper understanding. Solid basic skills will be a very important pillar of future creation, and the school can feel that your work is written from scratch rather than drawing some photos or video materials.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for younger students who want to apply for this major in the future?
Shi classmate: The suggestion is that your time and energy will be directly reflected in the final results. At the final stage of application, we should make efforts to improve the collection of works. I used to sleep four hours a day, but now I think it's really sad, but it's worth it. In a word, don't forget your initial goal. The so-called "never forget, there will be repercussions". No matter what the result is, don't forget that the real treasure is only in yourself.
Q: Have you finally decided which school to go to? Why?
Shi classmate: Of course CalArts California Academy of Arts, because it is my first love hahaha. In fact, I decided on the school I would go to at the beginning of the collection, either Ringling or CalArts, but there are few cases of CalArts. It is said that the major of character animation does not accept mainland students, so I didn't have much hope, but I didn't give up when I finally applied. I mailed the sketch book and rearranged the animation collection, Then I began to prepare for other schools.
Q: Can you share the interview process? Did you get the offer on the spot?
Shi classmate: Yes, I got the CalArts character animation offer on the spot. At that time, the language was not enough. In fact, at the later stage of the application, I was very flustered, because the basic minimum requirement of American colleges and universities was 80 points. Finally, I applied hard, and when I received the CalArts interview notice, I began to regret why I didn't achieve the language score, so that I could be admitted directly. After preparing for the interview for a day, I slept and began the interview the next morning. When I saw the admissions officer in the video, I was not nervous at all. Because he said that the professor of the Animation Department liked my work, so this interview was to see if I could communicate with him, and his tone was very gentle. I immediately relaxed a lot.
During the interview, I talked about a lot of family affairs. He said that he had been to many places in China, but he had not visited my current city (Shenzhen). I invited him to Shenzhen to have fun. In the end, he said directly that he thought I had the ability to study abroad and that I had been accepted exceptionally. I was stunned and cried incoherently. The offer came in about 10 minutes. (Although Xiangzai has never passed the CalArts offer, it is not that language is unimportant. On the contrary, the admission rate of Calarts is relatively low, and the language test is still an indispensable and important part of studying abroad. Only by submitting qualified English scores can we meet the admission requirements, so you should try your best to meet the professional English requirements.)
Q: What do you think about the future?
Shi classmate: After successfully applying to CalArts, I went to review my own works and other applied big shots, and found that I still had many shortcomings. As my teacher, Lao Xia, said, why doesn't she praise the students. "There are mountains outside the mountains, and there are people outside the people. I praised you today. Tomorrow you will find a bigger world outside. How can I explain it to you?" There is still a long way to go. No matter what, I finally embarked on this path that I am willing to devote my efforts.
The above is a summary of the interview content of Xiangzai's animation professional work collection. It can be seen that the animation professional needs a very solid painting foundation, and the natural light body painting course can well meet the professional demands. The output of the painting can be directly put into the work collection, which eventually becomes a great advantage in the application. Natural light focuses on students' personal expression in addition to their training. As the support behind it, the tutor will give precise guidance to students' characteristics and ideas, and fully provide opportunities to show yourself to express what you really want to express.
Cheung Tsai's professional animation portfolio instructor, Mr. Xia, has declassified the exclusive introduction of CalArts character animation BFA to study abroad!
Miss Xia
Besancon Institute of Fine Arts
Art major DNAP graduation
After graduating from the Oil Painting Department of Chuanmei, he participated in the group exhibition of young artists in the instrument space as an artist, and then went to the Besancon Academy of Fine Arts in France to study pure art. Worked as an intern in the MC2A Aquitaine Region African Immigration Culture Foundation in Bordeaux and the FRAC Contemporary Art Museum in Besancon, and had a deep understanding of French contemporary art, artists and the courses of the French Public Academy of Fine Arts. After many years of studying in France and traveling in Europe, I have made friends with many artists. In the exchange and interaction with them, facing the differences between Chinese and Western educational concepts, I have very rich experience and experience in how to carry out thinking transformation, which can lead students to find accurate learning methods and self characteristics, and quickly integrate their thinking into the courses of top European and American universities.
The first thing to be clear is the difference between character animation and experimental animation. Although both majors are animation, character animation is an animation focusing on character development and story telling, and it is a continuous talent reserve base for Disney. Compared with the pioneer of experimental animation, character animation BFA only, in other words, whether high school students, undergraduate graduates or those who have already participated in work and want to improve, if you want to apply for role animation, you can only start from undergraduate education. You need to have a very strong ability to stand out from the competition in a large number of people.
Work requires study:
The requirements for animation works set officially given by CalArts California Academy of Arts are very clear. To sum up briefly, observation painting, professional related creative works, video introduction and sketchbook are indispensable. After investigating many works, we also found some small secrets:
1. The number of works is 1-40 items. Compared with other schools, the number of CalArts submissions almost doubled.
2. Observational painting is not only the observation of objects, but also the observation of events, emotions and atmosphere.
3. The solid structure helps to understand the general. You can try to understand the structure more than drawing a lot of light and shadow.
4. Please fill every page of the sketchbook with content as much as possible. It doesn't matter if you overlap it repeatedly.
Stylized discussion:
CalArts can accept all kinds of strange and personalized styles, but the rambling style is easy to be rejected because they are too stereotyped. How to avoid falling into a routine? First of all, we must return to the most basic observation, first understand the precise structure, remove the redundant undulations and decorations, and extract the simplest form; The second is to find its characteristics and exaggerate them. The big ones are bigger and the small ones are smaller. Once there is a strong contrast, your sense of form will come out; Finally, we will combine the research and fill in the elements you need.
Can tell stories:
It's not easy to tell a story. In 200 words, you can tell your story outline concisely and clearly, which reflects your ability better than the daily account that you spend half an hour recording all the details. When writing a story, it is not recommended to build a grand world view that needs 5 or 6 movies to explain clearly. It is your best choice to extend a reasonable beginning, climax and end from the small actions and scenes observed in life. Of course, language is also very important!
Student sharing+tutorial guide, hoping to bring some inspiration and inspiration to you who also use CalArts California Academy of Arts Animation as Dream School! Although Calarts has a low admission rate, we still applied for the offer of CalArts character animation. For more questions about professional animation works, please come to natural light for free advice.
Natural light shares more topics for you:
California Academy of Arts animation application, California CalArts Disney ancestral recipe here!
This article belongs to the original article of Natural Light International Art Education Team. Without permission, it cannot be reproduced commercially in any form. If it is found, it must be investigated for legal responsibility.
