Like so many 20-somethings who grew up in the digital age, Evan Lewis longed to someday see his name rolling down the credits at the end of a classic video game. And just one year after graduating from the College for Arts and Technology as a certified animator, that day has come. “It’s always the dream when you’re a kid, so I thought, ‘Hey, why not go for the dream job?’” Lewis said of his decision to attend the College’s Fredericton campus, one of the region’s leading digital art schools.

“Now, I’ve worked on games for consoles, games for iPhone and iPads – just everything.” Lewis graduated from the 3D Game Animation program in 2012. Within a day of sending out resumes, the 22-year-old was scooped up by Huminah Huminah Animation in Halifax. There, Lewis used the versatility he’d acquired at school to work on a number of projects across several mediums. In short order, the depth of his skills garnered Lewis an opportunity that would go down as a milestone in even the most accomplished animator’s career, much less one so fresh in the game.

Lewis recently returned from a two-and-a-half-month stint in New York City where he’d been contracted out to work on Activision’s blockbuster game, Skylanders Giants. “To land a job from Activision is quite a big deal,” he said, noting Skylanders was rated a AAA game and one of the company’s hottest sellers. “I’m definitely putting that at the head of my resume, because being able to say you worked with Activision and being able to say it was a huge AAA game is pretty big. In the future it’ll probably get me many a job.”

While his career is certainly going places, Lewis will always remember where it got started. “Listen to your teachers, because they know what they’re doing,” Lewis said. “At the College for Arts and Technology, my teachers supported all my different interests, and that’s what helped me get the job at Huminah. The more things you can do the more versatile you are in the industry, and they made us very well-rounded.”

College for Arts and Technology is a digital media based post-secondary institute with three campuses across Canada in Fredericton, Halifax, and Kelowna. The digital art college’s programs include Animation for Games, Film & Visual Effects and 2D Animation, among other emerging arts, entertainment and information technology careers.  For more information, visit digitalartschool.com or call 1.877.369.1888.

Written by: Jon MacNeil