Mission
The mission of the Animation + VFX program is to support students in developing their creative voices, educate them in the creation of time-based media, and shape critically engaged practitioners who are passionate about contributing to the advancement of the animation profession and global community. Each student is encouraged to strive for artistic excellence and professional expertise in the development of individual vision.
Portfolio Requirement
Freshman and Transfer Students
All incoming freshman and transfer students majoring in Animation are required to submit a portfolio as part of their admission process. When applying to the Animation program, please consider the following questions when you are creating your portfolio:
- Is this my best work?
In this case, less is more: Identify your best work and make sure it is foremost in your portfolio;
- What is my passion within animation?
Do you create extraordinary characters? Can you tell a joke visually? Do you like creating environments?
- Is my work original?
There should be very little (if any) fan art. We want to see your individual style and creative approach.
Please limit your submission to 10 pieces of art that are divided into two categories:
- Observational Artwork—This can include life drawing of the human form or animals. It also includes the plant world, still life, and environmental (indoor and outdoor) drawings. You may include observational drawings from real life or rough sketches with visible construction lines. Sketchbook work really helps us see how you are thinking and approaching image-making. Other work we are interested in seeing include: a page of drawings of hand poses; a page of drawings of foot poses; and a page of drawings of facial expressions.
- Personal Creative Work—This is an opportunity to showcase your creativity and give us drawings and sketches from your imagination. Cartoons, illustrations, and sequential images that tell a story, photography, and digital work would also fit into this category. You may also include sculptures that you have created. It would be interesting to see how you are exploring 3D space if that is your medium.
Transfer Students
In addition to the above portfolio submission guidelines, please familiarize yourself with Woodbury Animation curriculum and courses. If your school does not have an articulation agreement and you would like to request credit for specific courses (for example: FOUN 101, Beginning Drawing), read the course descriptions and submit work relevant to specific classes. Contact your admissions counselor to request an evaluation for course credit.
Portfolio Submission
Submit your portfolio via the SlideRoom link below. SlideRoom charges a nominal fee for this service. Full instructions are listed on the site. For general artwork, we recommend scanned images rather than photos for best resolution. URLs can also be submitted by uploading PDFs or documents containing links. Requirements can be found on the SlideRoom site.
Upload your portfolio at: https://woodburyuniversity.slideroom.com
Additional Learning Opportunities/Requirements
Woodbury’s Career Services and Outreach Office offers a variety of programs, services, and resources to assist students in exploring careers and securing internships. The staff works one-on- one with students to develop successful internship search strategies and to help students connect with employers through internship postings, résumé collections, on- and off- campus interview opportunities, alumni connections, and employer outreach in the United States. The Career Services and Outreach Office hosts an annual virtual career fair where stop-motion, visual effects, and 2D and 3D animation studios participate and present to the students.
Woodbury University Animation faculty members are dedicated to providing students with enriching experiences outside the classroom. Internships or work experience give students a hands-on experience in the professional world of animation. Local organizations as well as on-campus student clubs offer lectures, conferences, and screenings of a wide range of animation, including games, experimental animation, and related arts.
Opportunities to explore the rich Los Angeles entertainment and arts communities and to study away either in a summer program or as an exchange student are encouraged parts of the program.
Program Learning Outcomes
Program Goal 1: Communicate Stories and/or Ideas in Written, Oral, and/or Visual Form
1.1 Research, develop, communicate, and create animation art (i.e., storyboarding, concept, figure drawing, visual, and character development).
1.2 Organize content in time-based media using narrative, non-narrative, and/or other structures such as linear, non- linear, thematic, cinematic, etc.
Program Goal 2: Apply Principles of Animation and Acting in Animation
2.1 Apply the principles of animation and combine them in the development of animated projects.
2.2 Effectively combine principles of animation with acting.
Program Goal 3: Use Industry-standard Animation Technologies
3.1 Use 2D, 3D, stop-motion, visual effects, and/or experimental animation techniques in creating an animated film.
Program Goal 4: Analyze Animation and VFX Theories, History, and Context
4.1 Critique, analyze, contextualize animation, and VFX.
4.2 Identify and discuss the artistic and technological evolution of animation and VFX.
Program Goal 5: Apply Professionalism, Ethics, Career Competence
5.1 Apply industry copyright and other attribution standards to non-original work.
5.2 Work independently and/or in team collaboration where appropriate.
5.3 Evaluate, experience and participate in critiques and discussions of own work and in the work of their peers.
Assessment Process
The Animation curriculum is designed to systematically assess student performance and learning throughout the four- year program. Students are assessed both formally and informally within individual courses. Course final reviews include assessment by industry professionals as well as faculty members. The department has identified two specific points in the curriculum for measured formative and summative assessments. The outcomes of these assessments are used to promote continuous improvement, assure program quality, and evaluate individual student performance. The two points include the Progress Portfolio review submitted at the end of Animation majors’ second year, and the summative review incorporates the Juried Showcase Committee feedback of the senior thesis films that caps their fourth year.
The Progress Portfolio review provides faculty with the opportunity to evaluate student performance as well as assess whether the lower-division courses in the major meet the course and Program Learning Outcomes. At the end of the second year, all students must submit a Progress Portfolio to the Progress Portfolio Review Committee. This portfolio will consist of work from specified studio courses taken prior to the review. Faculty reviewers and the department chair will evaluate whether the student is demonstrating the skills necessary to advance to the upper-division studio courses. These skills include: drawing the human form using proper anatomy and proportion, principles of animation in paperless and puppet pipelines, appropriate use of time-based media, visual storytelling using cinematic language, 2D, 3D, and stop-motion animation production proficiency, and a sense of acting and storytelling conveyed within the animation. Students who fail to pass this review with a minimum rank of “Meets Expectations” in all categories must remediate based on the reviewers’ recommendations and resubmit their portfolios for review prior to the fall semester of their junior year.
In-Studio Assessment
Studio courses are designed to give faculty ongoing opportunity to provide informal and written feedback and critique of student work. Guided by this input as well as that of their peers, students are able to improve their projects during the course of the class. Evaluation rubrics are used to provide written feedback to the students. Each studio course ends with a juried review of the students’ course work. Industry professionals—along with other faculty members—attend and provide students with direct feedback. The faculty can then informally assess the success of the course based on professional critique. In order to develop the ability to critically analyze their own work and the work of others, students are encouraged to participate in the formal critique sessions and at final reviews. Additionally, as students work in-studio outside of class hours, they often provide each other with the most immediate feedback.
Summative Assessment
Our Juried Showcase Committee screens the senior thesis films and evaluates the work based on the following criteria: quality of story; quality of animation; and quality of artwork, including background layouts, character design, models, puppets, textures, lighting, environments, rendering and visual effects.
Student Work
The Animation program is committed to supporting its students in ownership of their creative work. The University reserves the right to retain student work for archival, accreditation, educational, and marketing purposes. Digital copies of work may be kept indefinitely, based on the decision of the Animation department.
Academic Standards
Below-average work is not acceptable for a professional degree. Students must maintain a grade of “C” or better for any Animation studio in order to continue in the department’s studio sequence. A student whose grade drops below a “C” must repeat that studio prior to enrollment in the succeeding studio. In order to meet these standards, it is strongly recommended that students not enroll in more than nine studio units per semester.
Internship/Career Experience
Prior to graduation, students must complete 120 hours of work experience in the animation or visual effects professions or a related field. This may be paid or unpaid and should be accomplished during the summer between the junior and senior year. With the aim of maintaining the highest level of excellence in coursework, full-time students are encouraged to work no more than 10 hours per week. Students are responsible for completing an internship contract between the sponsoring company and the Career Services Office and having the department chair approve of the internship before beginning the experience. Students are responsible for assuring that their supervisors submit evaluations and for maintaining written journals (that may include artwork) detailing the experience, what learning objectives were met, and what professional skills were gained from the internship. At the completion of the internship, the sponsoring company must complete an evaluation of the student’s work and include a statement of number of hours completed. This signed evaluation must be submitted to the department chair to complete the requirements of the internship.
Study Away
The School of Media, Culture & Design offers summer study-away programs exploring topics such as animation, design, fashion, and photography. Past locations have included London, Paris, Cuba, Italy, and Turkey.
Lectures
Each year, full-time Animation faculty hosts fall and spring animation events, inviting alumni and professionals from local studios to present their work and speak to students about a variety of topics: recent lectures have focused on character design, pitching TV shows, and using motion analysis in gaming animation. Some classes offer course credit to students who attend these lectures as part of their coursework.
Local Events and Organizations
Because we are located in the heart of the Los Angeles animation and visual effects industries, there are many local events and organizations that can enrich and expand the Woodbury Animation student’s experience:
CTN Animation Expo
The CTN Animation Expo, the largest talent-focused animation conference, is held annually in the Burbank area. It brings together artists, educators, and students from the global animation community, including film and video, gaming, and education. Woodbury University is a proud sponsor of this event and encourages our students to volunteer and attend this unique gathering of animation talent.
SIGGRAPH Conference and EXPO
The SIGGRAPH Conference and Expo is the world’s largest and most influential annual conference on the theory and practice of computer graphics, 3D animation, and visual effects. Woodbury students volunteer at this annual event and network with leading animation, visual effects, motion graphics and post-production artists, producers, and studios.
Lightbox Expo
Lightbox Expo is an annual festival that aims to connect fans with the artists and creators behind their favorite films, animation, games, TV shows, and illustrations. It’s a place for aspiring artists to learn and be inspired, and it’s also an artwork marketplace like no other.
ASIFA-Hollywood
ASIFA-Hollywood (the International Animated Film Society) is the largest chapter of ASIFA International, a UNESCO- chartered non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the art of animation. Woodbury University and the Animation program are happy to sponsor many ASIFA- Hollywood events on campus, including screenings, book signings, and panel discussions led by industry professionals. Students are encouraged to join ASIFA-Hollywood to receive the many benefits of membership, including opportunities to network with industry professionals.
Student Computer and Other Equipment Requirements
While Apple computers are excellent for Adobe CC applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator, students in our major are required to have a 15” or 17” Windows laptop by their sophomore year. PC computers are the ideal platform for the hi- end, industry-standard 2D, 3D, stop-motion, and visual effects software applications we use in our department. Required software includes Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite.
The Animation department also requires incoming students to purchase external hard drives based upon individual budgets for use in classes and to catalog their work. External SSD drives, though costlier, are reliable, mount quickly, and are highly recommended.
The ideal computer configurations are:
- 15” or 17” Windows Laptop
- Processor: 13th or 14th Generation Intel Core i7 or i9, Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9
- Memory: 16GB or more
- Storage: 512GB or more SSD (Solid State Drive)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 or higher, or Nvidia Quadro RTX 3000 or higher
- Pen Tablet: Huion (store.huion.com) or Xencelabs (xencelabs.com/us) sell a wide variety of pen tablets and displays and are a lower-cost alternative to Wacom products and are recommended by our IT department. A good entry-level pen display tablet is the Huion Kamvas 13.
- External Hard Drive: Required to store your projects and move them between your computer and WU workstations. We recommend an SSD (Solid State Drive) with a minimum storage capacity of 1TB, USB 3.1 (or higher) connection. For HDD type drives, we recommend a speed of 7200rpm, minimum storage capacity of 500GB and USB 3.0 (or higher) connection. Though an SSD drive is more expensive, it will transfer your files 5-10 times faster than a traditional HDD and significantly reduce wait times.
Lab Fees
Some courses require lab fees, which are applied to instructional supplies utilized in the studio. Specific fees are outlined in the Fee section of the catalog.
Curriculum Summary
Program Major Curriculum
| Unit Type (UT) |
Number of Units (U) |
| Major (MA) |
68 |
| General Education (GE) |
49 |
| Unrestricted Electives (UE) |
8 |
| Work Experience (WE) |
0 |
| Minimum Total Units Required |
125 |
Suggested Sequence of Courses
First Year
Fall Semester
| AVFX 100 | Animation Principles 1 | 3 |
| AVFX 103 | Industry Insiders | 1 |
| FOUN 101 | Beginning Drawing | 3 |
| FOUN 102 | Design and Composition | 3 |
| WRIT 113 | First-Year Academic Writing | 3 |
____ ___
| Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Spring Semester
| AVFX 161 | Introduction to Digital Media | 3 |
| AVFX 101 | Animation Principles 2 | 3 |
| FOUN 105 | Introduction to Figure Drawing | 3 |
LSCI ___
| Information Sources | 1 |
____ ___
| Social Science Elective | 3 |
____ 2__
| Mathematics Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 16 |
Type:
AVFX 161, AVFX 101, and FOUN 105: MA.
LSCI (Information Sources), Social Science Elective, and Mathematics Elective: GE.
Second Year
Fall Semester
| AVFX 262 | 3D Animation 1 | 3 |
| AVFX 263 | Introduction to Stop Motion | 3 |
| AVFX 246 | History of Animation & Visual Effects | 3 |
| MDST 120 | Public Speaking | 3 |
INDS ___
| Interdisciplinary Core Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Spring Semester
Third Year
Fall Semester
| AVFX 350 | Junior Thesis | 3 |
| AVFX 310 | Production Design | 3 |
| AVFX 320 | Figure and Animation Drawing | 3 |
____ ___
| Art History Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Natural Science with Lab Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Spring Semester
| AVFX 300 | Acting in Animation | 3 |
| AVFX 380 | Animation Thesis 1 | 3 |
AVFX ___
| Major Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Ethics Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Art History Elective | 3 |
____ 3__
| Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Work Experience | 0 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 18 |
Type:
AVFX 300, AVFX 380, and AVFX (Major Elective): MA.
Ethics Elective, Art History Elective, and Upper Division Interdisciplinary Elective: GE.
Work Experience: WE.
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
| AVFX 485 | Animation Thesis 2 | 3 |
| AVFX 495 | Portfolio Production | 3 |
| FOUN 107 | Gesture Drawing | 3 |
____ 3__
| Upper Division Art History Elective | 3 |
____ 3__
| Upper Division General Ed. Elective | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 15 |
Type:
AVFX 485, AVFX 495, and FOUN 107: MA.
Upper Division Art History Elective and Upper Division General Ed. Elective: GE.
Spring Semester
| AVFX 486 | Animation Thesis 3 | 3 |
| AVFX 430 | Figure Drawing Workshop | 3 |
AVFX ___
| Major Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Unrestricted Elective | 3 |
____ ___
| Unrestricted Elective | 2 |
| Total Credit Hours: | 14 |
Type:
AVFX 486, AVFX 430, and AVFX (Major Elective): MA.
Unrestricted Elective: UE.