About School
The Animation Workshop/VIA University College enjoys a strong and wide reputation due to the top education we provide for the international animation industry. We offer Bachelor Degrees in Character Animation (since 2003), Computer Graphic Arts (since 2007) and Graphic Storytelling (since 2013).
The Animation Workshop holds expertise in the areas of education, culture, communication and business development, consisting of 7 strong departments: The Bachelor of Arts Department, Open Workshop - Artist Residency, Professional Training, Visual Talent Center, Research and Development, Business Development, and Animated Learning Lab.
Success Stories
Our alumni is known for working and gaining success in a broad professional field of animation industry. To name a few notable alumni:
Pernille Ørum
Character Designer, Disney
Christian Bøving – Andersen and Eva Lee Wallberg
Cartoon Network/ Sun Creature Studio
Bodie Jahn – Mulliner and Sylvester Rishøj
Creators or Sybo Games company
Sandra Norup Andersen
Character Designer, Cartoon Saloon
Bo Juhl Nielsen
Creative producer, Sun Creature Studio
Slaven Reese
Senior Character Animator, The Spa Studios
Employment Rates
Our commitment to the students does not end once they have finished their studies. We make efforts to constantly stay in touch and monitor their progress in the creative industry. Currently, we have an employment rate of 88%.
•Bo Mathorne, Creative director of animation studio “Wicker.Works
The school’s ability to offer a challenging and rewarding environment to all students regardless of experience and skill level is directly a result of the unique reliance on guest teachers from the industry. The emphasis on industry veterans over full-time teachers is probably the most distinguishing factor of the school’s success as it creates an ever challenging, always rewarding, continually cutting-edge education that often feels ahead of even what the industry is doing.
Facilities
A part from nine full time faculty members for bachelor degree programs, during the last year (2019) we had around 100 part time faculty members – industry professionals working as guest teachers coming to teach at The Animation Workshop from all over the world, sharing their knowledge and contributing to the international environment of the school.
Among full time faculty members is Uri Kranot, his film “How Long, Not Long” received Fipresci prize at 56th Annecy International Animation Film Festival. A full list of his awards and exhibitions (along with his partner and filmmaker Michelle Kranot
The Animation Workshop facilities apart from classrooms and studio spaces include: stop motion studio, clay and painting workshop, sound studio, a large variety of camera, lighting and sound recording equipment, and access to 3d printing workshop at VIA University College.
Software
Motion capture – Rokoko VR – Anim VR and medium, Occulus & Vive, Dreams, Unity, Houdini, Substance painter, VRay, Arnold Redshift, Renderman, TV paint, Toonboom, Da Vinci, Adobe suite, Shotgun, Autodesk, Nuke, Mudbox, Zbrush, Mari.
Hardware
HP Z640 Workstation CPU: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2640v4 2.4 2133 10C – 20 Physical cores in total. RAM: 64GB DDR4-2400 GPU: NVIDIA Quadro M4000 8GB Storage: HP Z Turbo Drive G2 512GB, Wacom Intuos tablets, Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 (DTK-2420)
Staff Bios
As described above, during the last year we had around 100 part time faculty members – industry professionals working as guest teachers, sharing their state of the art industry knowledge and skills with our students.
Some of the full- time staff members continue their training to develop further academic qualifications. Uri Kranot received his Master of Arts from MOME (Hungary) in 2018. Martin Holm Agersnap-Grevy will become associate professor (“lektor” in Danish) in spring 2020 and Leigh Russel - associate professor in 2021. Uri Kranot, Martin Holm Agersnap-Grevy and Leigh Russel are required by the university to work on research and development projects to develop relevant knowledge to share with the students and industry.
Uri Kranot
Together with partner, Michelle Kranot, Uri has made numerous internationally award-winning short films, among other “Hollow Land”, which was shortlisted for an Oscar Academy Award in 2014, and VR-experience and short film “Nothing Happens”.
Martin Holm Agersnap-Grevy
Graduated from The Animation Workshop as Bachelor in Computer Graphic Arts in 2011. Since August 2016 has been working at The Animation Workshop.
Leigh Russel
Leigh Russell has been making digital images for over 25 years. He has been working on projects like “Star Wars”, “Interstellar”, “Hunger Games” and “Harry Potter”. Since November 2015, Leigh works and teaches at The Animation Workshop.
Student Artwork
During the Bachelor program in Animation, students acquire foundational skills in animation filmmaking according to their line of study - Character Animation or Computer Graphic Arts. Furthermore, students have a chance to specialize during project work (Short Film Project, NGO spot, Bachelor project) and by selecting elective course during Spring semester in their second year of studies.
Courses
The Animation Workshop offers three Bachelor degree programs: 3,5 year Bachelor degree in Character Animation, 3,5 year Bachelor degree in Computer Graphic Arts and 4 year Bachelor degree in Graphic Storytelling Character Animation and Computer Graphic Arts study line admits 25 students per year each, Graphic Storytelling admits 20 students every other year. Total number of students in our Bachelor programs: around 220.
The Professional Training department organizes high quality, short training courses and masterclasses for animation professionals. Currently offering the following courses: 3D Character Animation course (17 weeks), Visual Effects course (17 weeks), Houdini & Simulation for Film and Games (12 weeks), Illustration (18 weeks) and Storyboard (12 weeks). New course – Animation Film Production will be offered from March 2020.
In addition, following training programs takes place in collaboration with Professional Training department/The Animation Workshop: Anidox:Lab and Animation Sans Frontiers.
Visual Talent Center consists of The Drawing Academy and Visuel HF. The Drawing Academy offers semester courses in classical drawing (TDA Classical) and in developing a portfolio (TDA Portfolio). Visuel HF offers upper secondary level education in visual arts and communication and is a collaboration of The Animation Workshop and Viborg Gymnasium & HF.
- Bachelor in Character Animation
- Bachelor in Computer Graphic Arts
- Bachelor in Graphic Storytelling
- Professional training: 3D Character Animation course
- Professional Training: Visual Effects course
- Professional Training: Houdini & Simulation for Film and Games
- Professional Training: Illustration
- Professional Training: Storyboard
- The Drawing Academy: TDA Classical
- The Drawing Academy: TDA portfolio
Industry Networking
Apart from nine full time faculty members for Bachelor Degree program in Animation, during the last year (2019) we had around 100 part time faculty members – industry professionals working as guest teachers coming to teach at The Animation Workshop from all over the world.
Furthermore, we have a career start month every January prior to graduation where companies come to make presentations and host recruiting interviews with the coming graduates and interns.
Each Bachelor Degree program also has an Educational Committee Board, made up of international industry professionals advising the staff on the development of the program. Furthermore, as part of the ministry of education requirements for higher education, we participate in various research and development projects with industry professionals and collaborating universities.
Studios Hiring
Following studios hire our graduates:
The Mill, MPC, Framestore, Double Negative, Chimney, Cinesite, Cartoon Network, Cartoon Saloon, Giant Animation, Illumination, Sony, Mikros, Buck, Bron Studios, Aardman, Team To, Pixomondo, Psyop, The Third Floor, Ghost, Hydralab, Feed Me Light, Nexus, Studio AKA, Blink Ink, Passion Pictures, Golden Wolf, Media Molecule, Sybo Games and countless more...
Awards
Bodil Awards
- Received “Sær-Bodil” (Special Bodil award) in 2018 for its contribution to Danish Animation industry. Bodil Awards is the most important Danish film awards given by the Danish Film Critics Association.
Wiesbaden International Festival of Animation
- Winner - Prize of the Office of Cultural Affairs of the City of Wiesbaden
The Animation Career Review
- 9th Best Animation School in the World - 2019
- 5th Best Animation School in Europe - 2019
Rookie Awards 2019
- Production Excellence - 2D Animation School of the Year - Runner Up
- Production Excellence - 3D Animation School of the Year - Top 10
- Production Excellence - Console & PC School of the Year - Top 10
International animation festivals
- Animals (2019) won the Talent Award at OFF – Odense International Film Festival, won the Lotte Reiniger Award at Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film and was a finalist for Film of the Year for the Rookie Awards.
- Forglemmegei (2019) won the Audience Award at Oslo Short Film Festival as well as being short-listed for the BAFTA Student Film Awards
- Deepness of the Fry (2019) won the Jury Diploma for the Most Special and Unique Film International Animated Film Festival KROK, won Miguel Guillem Award for Best Experimental Short Film at Prime The Animation, received a special mention in the category of International Student Animated Short at Animattikon project in Greece and was awarded Film of the Year – 2D Animation by the Rookies
- Bacchus (2018) won the EKKO Shortlist Award and Sparks Animation Festival in Vancouver
- Vermine (2018) was nominated for the Berlinale and won the Special Jury Prize at Siggraph Asia
- Reverie (2018) which won the Best Student Film at Siggraph Asia and was short-listed for the Robert Prize (Danish Academy Award) in 2019.
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