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Becoming an AnimatorStudent

Becoming an animator takes time, research,and patience - here are advice and tipsfrom one of PortPrep's student on how to

become an animator.

ByKaren Kesteloot

How I Plan to Follow my Dream of Becoming anAnimatorBy Puneet Jagwani

Applying for college can be stressful, and waiting for youracceptance (or even rejection) letters even more so. Don’t worrytoo much if you aren’t accepted; plan for it!

I want to go to Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario Canada tostudy traditional animation, one of the most competitive anddifficult programs to get accepted into. The only way I know this isbecause of the research I did about the program beforehand.

Research Where to Study and Know the Odds

I looked into a few animation schools before deciding I wanted togo to Sheridan. There is a lot of demand for the program, and itmay be obvious now, but before I did some research, I thoughtjust anyone could apply to the program. I was very wrong aboutthat. On average, approximately 2500 people apply to thetraditional animation program with only 150 acceptances. Andcomputer animation is typically what animation students do aftergraduating, where 200 people apply and a mere 30 get in!

For the next few days, we’ll let Puneet Jagwani, one of PortPrep’sstudents, take the stage on the blog to tell his experiences what he’sbeen doing to turn his dreams of becoming an animator come intoreality. In his guest post below, he suggests ideas to reader that he’sdone himself in order to get to Sheridan College and to inspirereaders to follow his lead and pursue their dreams of becoming aprofessional artist!

To even be considered for the program I need to be very skilled inthe traditional arts (something I barely did in high school). Soinstead of applying directly to animation, I have to work on myfoundations first. This means thinking about what courses orprograms I need to take in college, how much work I have to putin outside of school practicing, and doing anything I can to getmyself ahead.

Get My Basic Skills Down: Take a Local Drawing Course

Puneet’s drawing before Karen’s instructor.

The first thing I did was sign up for a basic adult interest drawingcourse at the Guelph School of Art with Karen Kesteloot. Thelessons were invaluable and I came back for a follow-up coursebecause I liked it so much! The improvement between my beforeand after drawings have amazed both me and my classmates!

Puneet’s drawing after Karen’s instructor.

Find a Portfolio Coach or Arts Guidance Counselor

Karen happened to be a professional portfolio coach at PortPrep.That was a lucky break! After learning so much from her, I washappy to write this blog when she asked me to for her website. Iam so grateful that she has taught me so well and has given somuch great advice on the strategy of my education plan. She’sbeen really straight forward and to-the-point about where my skillsare now and where they need to be; and has told me what I needto do in order to develop my skills to the level that they will needto be to get accepted into such a high level and sought afterprogram.

Apply to the Right Foundations Study College Program

While working on my basic drawing skills, I also applied and gotaccepted into Sheridan College’s Visual and Creative Arts (VCA)program (a 2 to 3 year diploma course). I could have consideredArt Fundamentals at Sheridan too but I learned that with it beingonly one year long that it would be insufficient to get accepted intoAnimation. So the VCA was the better choice since I don’t havethe skill level yet to get accepted into the Illustration programthere. It’s probably the most common route that the students take;to first study in the Illustration program and then apply toAnimation. But that is not an option for me yet…

To read the rest of the article, click here or go tohttp://bit.ly/becomingananimator.