About School
ESMA is a school of applied arts with more than 25 years of experience, and has seen the birth of many graphic designers, photographers, space designers and CG artists.
Renowned for the quality and richness of its artistic teaching, the school offers two courses related to the professions of CG Animation Cinema, FX and Entertainment: an Entertainment Prep and a CG Animation Cinema and FX Master Degree.
Its objective: to prepare its students for the different artistic professions so that they can fully accomplish their creative desires.
With campuses in Montpellier, Toulouse, Lyon, Nantes and Montreal, our school of applied arts offers courses that are adapted to the professional environment, in order to facilitate the integration and success of its students.
Success Stories
We have more than 4000 alumni worldwide. Many of our students have been able to join prestigious studios. ESMA's Youtube channel has reached more than one million subscribers who enjoy watching our students' films.
Ruben Athouel
Senior Lighter, Walt Disney Animation Studios
Guillaume Arvieu
Associate Art Director, Ubisoft
Romain Lavoine
Lighting Compositing, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Garrick Rawlingson
Character Animator, Animal Logic
Pierrick Barbin
Senior Lighting TD / Compositing, Sony Pictures Imageworks
Mathieu Assemat
Central CG Supervisor, MPC
Employment Rates
100% professional integration rate 9 months after graduation.
•Karen SEGHETTO | First Assistant Director, TAT Prod
In my opinion, ESMA remains one of the reference schools for the CG Animation training. The school’s address book allows students to find their happiness in the panel of studios present during the final jury. It is a school that I regularly recommend.
Facilities
The teachers are all professionals from the world of 3D & FX animation. Training in French and English (Lyon and Montpellier campuses). Classrooms limited to a maximum of 30 students. Regular meetings with professionals and studios from the world of animation & special effects (conferences, masterclass, workshop). Organization of jobfairs for students. Classrooms equipped with the state-of-the-art equipment including a render farm.
Software
Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Adobe, Software Yeti, Marvelous designer, Renderman, Zbrush, Substance, ToonBoom storyboard, photoscan.
Hardware
Workstation HP (Z4 / Z6) screen 22’’’, render farm, graphics tablet (Wacom & Huan), 3D printers.
Staff Bios
Here are three staff members from the school that represent the level of professional experience and knowledge of the faculty.
Gérard Raucoules
Studio director, studio owner, animator and modeler, teacher for 17 years, founder of CG Animation & FX Master Degree at ESMA.
Yann Pannetier
Teacher for 12 years at ESMA
Baptiste Lebouc
Look dev, lighting & compositing : DNEG / MPC / Cinesite / Sony Pictures Imagework.
Student Artwork
1st year: work on photorealistic interior decorations individually in autonomy,
2nd year: rendering of an insect in a situation, creation of an animal, creation of a building facade, individually and independently,
3rd year: head / face exercise (redoing one's head in photorealistic CG), animating a character in a set by group of 4 students, in autonomy,
4th year: production of an end-of-study film, in groups of 6 to 7 students, independently.In addition to the courses relating to learning animation, rigging, scripting, fx, chara design, compositing, modelling...
Courses
Courses related to drawing / fine art / illustration, art history, image and film analysis, concept art / chara design, storytelling, storyboard, digital image processing (Photoshop), modelling, look dev, lighting/shading, texturing, compositing, animation, rigging, script, fx. Professional English courses.
CG Animation & FX Master Degree. 4 years. €7,080 year . All Year Intake.
Industry Networking
ESMA offers highly professional training. The teachers are all professionals from the world of CG animation and FX.
During their training, students are trained in CG animation and FX. 9 months after graduation, all our graduates are hired and work in this industry.
The school regularly welcomes studios and professionals for masterclasses and workshops (Pixar, Focus, Unit Image, DNEG, Dreamworks, Ubisoft, Digiblur, Sony, Framestore, MPC...).
Our students' short films are regularly awarded in the world's largest festivals such as Spark Animation or Siggraph. The school also organizes job fairs between students and professionals.
Studios Hiring
Framestore, Illumination Macguff, MPC, The Mill, Weta Digital, Focus, Technicolor, Dreamworks, TAT, Mill Film, Ubisoft, Fortiche, Cube Creative, ILM, Unit Image, Cinesite, Nwave, Blur...
Awards
- Spark Animation - “3D Student Film”
- Siggraph - Jury’s choice
- International Nature & Environment Film Festival - « Coup de Cœur du jeune public 2019 »Festival Aniwow - Beijing - “Best Directing”
- Tournus Animation Film Festival - ‘“Youth Prize”
- Festival Elliott Donnelley Youth Center International Children’s FilmFest - Best of Fest Prize
- Festival IAFF Golden Kuker - Student film
- Festival Les Nuits Magiques - Public Prize
- Palm Springs Festival - 3D Drama: Sci-Fi Fantasy Adventure / 3D Comedy: Family / 3D Sexuality on a Roller Coaster of Love, Romance and Insanity
- Free Screen Short Film Festival - Special Mention
- Bourg en Bresse festival - Grand Prix
- Paris International Animation Film Festival - Youth Award
- Espalion Film Festival - Public Animation Award
- Montreal Film Festival - Best Animation Film Category
- Farm Film Festival - Best Farm Animation
- Anima Mundi Festival - Best Student Film
- Vébron International Film Festival - Best Animated film
- Cartoon Club Rimini Festival - Signor Rossi Award
- Korterraza festival - Heineken 2nd prize / Korterraza Txiki-El Correo Prize
- FICA - First Prize
- La Nuit du Court métrage - Animation Award
- Les Marius du Courts - Marius d’or
- Animayo Festival - Best 3D Award
- Anima Festival - Best short film Award
- Animocje - Best Childrens Film Award
- Animex - Student – Character Animation Award
- MovieScreenPro Film Festival - Best Animation
- Paris Digital Summit - Genie Awards of best student film – VFX/CGI
- Annecy Festival - Final Year films
- Animayo Festival - Best 3D short (comedy)
- And more awards on our page: https://www.esma-3d.fr/en/palmares/
Links
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