About School
School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for nearly seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprised of more than 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and nearly 37,000 alumni in 75 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world.
Success Stories
Recent graduates have gone on to work at animation and VFX studios such as Disney, Blue Sky, Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, Nickelodeon, MPC, Framestore, the Mill, ReelFX, Sony Imageworks, Cartoon Network, and more. Our alumni have worked on Academy, Emmy, and Annie award winning movies, television shows, and VR experiences.
Nicholas Manfredi
CG Layout Artist, Disney Animation
MontaQue Ruffin
Animator,Pixar
Hannah Roman
Blue Sky Studios
Melody Shih
Motion Graphics Designer, CNN
Dana Terrace
Director, Disney TV
Branko Kljajic
Storyboard artist, Warner Bros Animation
•Christina Faraj (2016), Set Modeler at Pixar
Being in New York, and then being at SVA, I feel like you have the most endless opportunities. You have to believe in yourself first, and once that happens, I think the whole world opens up to you.
Facilities & Staff
Since the College's inception in 1947, the faculty has comprised of industry professionals that include producers, directors, designers, VFX artists, animators, game developers and researchers who ensure that the technology offered to students reflect industry standards.. They work at the world's top animation studios, from Blue Sky to Disney to Pixar, as well as the top design firms, motion graphics and 3D production houses, and VFX studios in New York City and nationwide. Their achievements include Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Visual Effects Society Awards, and various animation film festival selections.
Adobe Suite, Maya, Cinema 4D, Houdini, Nuke, TVPaint, ZBrush, Toon Boom Harmony, TVPaint
We provide updated Mac Pros or Minis and HP z820s or z840s in the BFA Computer Art labs. Each station has an Intuos 5 Wacom Tablet with the option of renting out a 13” Wacom Cintiq. Other labs include 22” Wacom Cintiqs and animation light disks.
Terrence Massonr
Chair of MFA Computer Arts at SVA has 30 years of production and education leadership experience including feature and short animated film, VR/AR, video games and interactive media.
Ellen Su
Ellen is currently a director/designer at Nathan Love. Her experience includes internships and freelance work at studios such as Pixar, The Mill, Psyop, Moonbot Studios, Nathan Love and R/GA.
Niko Guardia
Niko is currently a background artist working at Titmouse in New York City. He is an illustrator/painter who has worked on projects such as Moonbeam City, China,IL, Superjail, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Student Artwork
Students create work for every step of the animation pipeline including concept and look development artwork to initial motion tests and models, to rendered visual effects, motion graphics, and 3D animated characters in short films.
For 2D animation work, students create all concepts both traditionally and digitally and are encouraged to explore the wide spectrum of narrative animation and storytelling arts with storyboard, visual development, film language, and character/world design
Courses
Our courses give students a broad overview of the general 3D animation and VFX pipeline with the opportunity to specialize in specific areas like compositing, modeling, animation, or lighting. We give special attention to narrative and story as the building block of student projects.
| Course |
Duration |
Cost |
Intake |
| Narrative Workshop |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
Freshman |
| Computer Animation I & II: Animation and 3D modeling |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
Sophmore |
| Thesis Research |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
Junior |
| Narrative and Visual Storytelling (MFACA) |
1 Semester |
- |
- |
| Motion Graphics: Strategy, Design and Creative Thinking (MFACA) |
1 Semester |
- |
- |
| 3D Modeling & Animation (MFACA) |
1 Semester |
- |
- |
| Career Strategies for Animator |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
Junior/Sophmore |
| Developing the Animated Series |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
- |
| Experimental Animation |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
- |
| Color Theory for Animation |
1 Semester |
3 credits |
- |
Industry Networking
SVA hosts recruitment sessions and portfolio reviews with the industry’s leading companies including Nickelodeon, Netflix, Technicolor, Pixar, Blue Sky, and Disney Animation. We have also given students the opportunity to travel to San Francisco to visit the west coast studios such as Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic. We invite industry guests to our thesis screening events, giving our graduating seniors a chance to network with professionals who might be interested in hiring them for internships or staffing opportunities.
Our Career Strategies courses allow students exposure to current industry professionals with exercises such as mock interviews and direct communication with them through the faculty members and SVA Destinations’ ‘SVA In LA’ program allows students first person experience talking to studio artists and seeing the process of animation production up close.
Studios Hiring
Recent graduates have gone on to work at animation and VFX studios such as Disney, Blue Sky, Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, Nickelodeon, MPC, Framestore, the Mill, ReelFX, Sony Imageworks, Cartoon Network, and more. Our alumni have worked on Academy, Emmy, and Annie award winning movies, television shows, and VR experiences.
Student Academy Award, College Television Award, Rookie of the Year, ADC Young Ones, ASIFA East Festival Award, Animafest Zagreb, Adobe Design Achievement Awards, Taiwan International Student Design Competition, INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS CREATIVE AWARD 2018, New Media Film Festival, Hiroshima Animation Festival. Top Ten VFX Schools - 2018 & 2019.