The Animation Workshop

Animation Workshop

Established	1980s
President	Morten Thorning
Undergraduates	approx 150
Location	Viborg , Jutland , Denmark
Campus	Former military barracks
Affiliations	Via University College
Website	www.animwork.dk

The Animation Workshop, is an animation school housed in the former military barracks in Viborg, Denmark. It forms a part of VIA University College. Since the late 1980s, The Animation Workshop has educated and trained animators for the Danish as well as the international animation, computer game and visual effects industry. Teachers as well as students come from both Denmark and the rest of the world, as a result of which all classes are conducted in English. The Animation Workshop attracts teachers from all over the world, including professional animation artists from well known studios such as Pixar and DreamWorks.

Courses and departments

The Animation Workshop consists of six distinct departments:

• Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation - the core of the Animation Workshop
• Professional Training Course - aimed at industry professionals;
• Drawing Academy - traditional drawing courses;
• Open Workshop - facilities and know-how for arts and short film projects;
• Centre for Education and Animation - research and development in the area of children and youth animation;
• Midtjysk Animationsvæksthus - a regional centre for small companies within animation.

Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation

A character animation class at the Animation Workshop

The Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation is the core of the Animation Workshop with approximately 150 students. In 2003 the education obtained official recognition by the Danish Ministry of Education and after 3½ years successful students graduate as Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation. The Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation consists of two lines, Character Animator and the newly started Computer Graphics Artist (CG Artist) line:

The Character Animator line focuses on 2D as well as 3D animation of characters for animation films, TV, computer games and commercials. The Computer Graphics Artist line focuses mostly on 3D production and the creation of 3D universes and characters – popularly speaking the CG artists become the “scenographers” of the animation industry.

Due to the international character of students and teachers (of the latter, 85% are drawn from outside Denmark), all classes are conducted in English.

During the course of the program, an internship on a real production at a studio is mandatory for the students. All graduating students are encouraged to pursue internships with animation studios and visual effects houses around the world, and the school makes extensive efforts to place every student with an internship.

The majority of graduates find employment at animation or computer game studios and productions around the world. Among other places, bachelors from The Animation Workshop have achieved jobs at Cartoon Network, London, and Telltale Games, United States.

Professional Training course

Gateway to the Animation Workshop.

The Professional Training course offers further training and courses for professional animators, particularly from Europe. Here, professionals can keep up to date on the latest knowledge and attend courses on current animation technology. Professional Training offers courses at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, but the teachers can just as well train larger groups at workplaces with a special interest in animation.

Drawing Academy

The Drawing Academy offers drawing courses as well as master classes. The Drawing Academy emphasizes classical drawing, as it is known from the great masters of the renaissance. Many of the students continue their studies at the Bachelor of Arts in Character Animation education.

Open Workshop

The Open Workshop provides a place for new talents, amateurs as well as professionals, with a desire to work with arts and animation. The Open Workshop provides the facilities and the know-how needed by talents and artists in order to complete their projects. Through a screening process, the Open Workshop occasionally chooses to provide financial means for animation projects, which are based on a good idea.

Centre for Education and Animation

The Centre for Education and Animation is a center for research and development in the area of children, youths and animation. The Centre develops teaching material and teaching guides and organizes workshops in animation at schools as an alternative way to teach and learn. Centre for education and animation also has a traveling workshop that travels the world and creates projects with e.g. street children.

Midtjysk Animationsvæksthus

The Midtjysk Animationsvæksthus (MiJAV) is a regional centre for small companies within animation. Currently, MiJAV houses several small companies, many of them initiated and run by former students at The Animation Workshop. Among the companies are Happy Flyfish and Markfilm, which are both producing animation for various purposes, such as e.g. commercials and music videos.

Short films

The Animation Workshop acts as a production facility for student films, completed in the students' final year of studies. Recent film projects include:

• Space Stallions (2012)
• Ride Of Passage(2012)
• Vaesen(2012)
• Wing(2012)
• Slug Invasion(2012)
• The Backwater Gospel (2011)
• The Saga of Biorn (2011)
• Last Fall (2011)
• Out of a Forest (2010)
• Stop Motherfucker (2010)
• The Fox Sisters (2010)
• The Lumberjack (2010)
• Elk Hair Caddis (2010)
• Vegeterrible (2010)
• The Heart of Amos Klein (2008)

References

• Animation Workshop at IMDB Retrieved November 2011

External links

• The Animation Workshop homepage Retrieved November 2011
• Animation Workshop at Vimeo Retrieved November 2011
• Animation Workshop Channel at YouTube Retrieved November 2011
• www.animationsansfrontieres Retrieved November 2011
• Animation Workshop Summer Camp Retrieved November 2011
• www.studyindenmark.dk Retrieved November 2011
• International CG confererence, Turin, Italy, October 2012 Retrieved November 2011
• Via University College Official Website Retrieved November 2011
• The Animation Workshop at FLIP Animation Magazine Retrieved January 2013