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2D Animation &
Digital Art
Learn 2D Animation from Industry Pros
2D Animation &
Digital Art
Learn 2D Animation from Industry Pros
Get Info Now
Earn Your Diploma in 2D Animation & Digital Art
Program Highlights
College for Arts and Technology’s 2D Animation & Digital Art Diploma is your direct route to working in the exciting and growing field of animation! In only 15 months, you will get the animation skills and industry connections to make your mark in this rewarding and creative industry. Not just for the big screen, animated characters and scenes now dominate social media, streaming, television, apps, and more! There is no shortage of animation career options for you.
This hands-on program covers the key skills you’ll need to get noticed and hired, including:
- Foundational skills in traditional drawing and animation
- Digital painting and digital character animation
- Prop, location and character design
- Studio workflow etiquette
- History and cultural significance of the animation industry
- Life Drawing (Including human and animal mechanics)
- Character animation processes and principles
- Storyboarding
- Rigging
- Digital editing and compositing
- Demo reel creation
- Industry standard software including Toon Boom Harmony
Our Grads Power the Arts and Tech Economy!
CAT’s creative and technical programs are directly connected to a creative sector that makes a $6 Billion contribution to the British Columbia economy every year. Graduates from our 2D and 3D animation, filmmaking, graphic design, audio engineering and other programs are among the over 120,000 skilled arts and tech workers employed provincially in this vibrant, constantly growing ‘creative economy’. Over the years, hundreds of CAT animation graduates have made their mark on the industry, contributing their skills and creativity to numerous award-winning projects. Industry accolades include five Oscar-winning works and over 40 movies, TV shows and games that have garnered Emmys, BAFTAs, and Game Awards including Game of Thrones, Fortnite and Spider-Man: No Way Home just to name a few!
Start Your 2D Animation Career
Animate Your Future
You want the best animation education. Here’s what our program will do for you:
Industry Connections
Animation industry professionals as your Instructors and mentors.
Let’s Get You Working!
Well-rounded, focused curriculum to get you successfully working as quickly as possible.
Degree Pathway Options
Established pathways with BCIT and University of Gloucestershire to further your education after graduation.
Top Tech
Latest technology, facilities and equipment in a dedicated animation lab classroom.
Become a Professional 2D Animator
Where Our Award-Winning Alumni are Working
When you’re backed by exceptional curriculum and an education team focused on your success and individuality, the future of employment is bright. Here are just a few studios and organizations where you’ll find our award-winning animation alumni thriving.
Alumni Feature
Experience the CAT Difference
Why the Best Choose Us
We understand that choosing a post-secondary school is a big decision that usually involves input from some of the most important people in your life. Tuition considerations, support after graduation and key industry connections – these are all part of choosing the best animation school for you.
Here are a few reasons why you’ll be happy you chose College for Arts and Technology:
Hands-on, employment-focused education.
Employment-focused programs delivering the soft skills you need for lasting career success and hands-on experience with the latest, industry-standard technology. Your career starts here!
Personalized support from start to finish.
Financial guidance? We’ve got you covered. Career advice after graduation? We wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re more than a student number to us. We create a personalized experience that you won’t get anywhere else.
More one-on-one time with your Instructors and mentors.
Small class sizes mean you get more facetime and critical feedback from your education team, to achieve real growth and success.
Quality you can fact-check.
College for Arts and Technology holds a full designation through Education Quality Assurance and the Private Training Institutions Regulatory Unit. You’ll only get the best at College for Arts and Technology.
Department Head
Sean Ridgway
After graduating in 1992, Sean jumped right into animating and developing CD-ROM games for an independent video game company in Oakville, Ont. In 1994 the attraction of the West Coast and the burgeoning Vancouver animation industry led Sean to work at major pre-production houses in the Lower Mainland such as ‘Studio ‘B’ Productions’ and ‘Bardel Entertainment’ designing for many television shows such as “The Magic School Bus”, and “Tales from the Cryptkeeper”. In 1996 ‘Disney’ came to Vancouver and over the next 4 years Sean helped animate many feature-length projects including the award-winning “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas”.
Always looking for a challenge and a chance to broaden his skills, Sean accepted a position as a computer graphic artist on the ‘NBA Live” team at Electronic Arts Canada in Burnaby, BC.
In 2000, Sean started his teaching career, joining the ‘College for Digital Imaging and Sound’ as an instructor while working full-time in the industry. In 2002, Sean was offered the full-time position of Animation department head at the ‘Center for Arts and Technology’ in Fredericton, New Brunswick and decided to make the journey back east with his family.
Sean returned to BC in 2007 to join the Kelowna team and has been with the College for Arts and Technology for over two decades in the role of Department Head and full-time instructor.
To learn more about working in the Animation Industry, you can listen to our PODCAST with Sean on our Soundcloud Stream.
Quarter Descriptions
Here’s How You’ll Build Your 2D Animation Skills
In this introductory quarter, you will learn the practical skills and knowledge that form the foundation of visual art in animation. In your initial Character Animation course, you will be introduced to the principles of animation and the application of traditional drawing in 2D animation. You will get an Introduction to the Animation Industry which covers the history of animation, its changing cultural significance, major past and current players/influencers, types of animation (2D, 3D, stop-motion, motion capture). In your first Life Drawing course, weekly life drawing sessions will train you to render the human form accurately – a skill essential to 2D Animation.
In your second quarter, you will build upon the fundamental principles of animation acquired in your first quarter with further traditional study of human and animal mechanics and acting. You will concentrate on fine-tuning your life drawing skills such as shading, perspective, anatomy, proportions, and other elements essential to artistically represent the human form. The principles and rules of linear and organic perspective are covered alongside other drawing elements. Digital painting and design for animation will be introduced to complement and broaden your artistic palette.
In your third quarter, you will transition from traditional animation into Digital Character Animation where, in addition to animating with studio-quality assets, you will be introduced to the tools and techniques of working in this digital medium.
You will continue with more advanced life drawing training in which you will gain further knowledge of anatomy, structure, composition, line weight and rendering for portraying the human and animal form alongside developing the techniques and principles for strong character design.
You will also become familiar with Storyboarding, where you will practice creating sequential art to convey story and character in visual media.
In your fourth quarter, you will continue honing the process and techniques of 2D Digital Character Animation through the application of industry-standard methods and software tools. You will add essential breadth to your 2D art portfolio through traditional mixed media study in life drawing with watercolour painting, marker and ink rendering, pencil and pastel as well as design principles and elements as it relates to design in animation. You will begin the pre-production process of pitching and developing an idea for your final project which allows you to explore the creative freedom of realizing your own idea while putting into practise everything you have learned about the process of an animated show pipeline.
In this crucial final quarter, you will benefit from the guidance and mentoring of your professional instructors and success coaches designed to aid you in securing employment after graduation. Digital Character Animation will continue to teach and reinforce more advanced techniques, allowing you to hone your animation skills to the level of employability. Your final project will enter the key production phase and you will learn to use digital editing and post-production processes in the delivery of this final project and professional demo reel and portfolio site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s Get You Answers
We love it when applying students are excited to share their passion for their industry of interest, and applied skills are great too! However, formal knowledge and experience in animation principles is not required. You will however, be required to submit a drawing portfolio for admission into the program (see next question), but we don’t expect you to have ALL the skills before starting the program- that’s why you have come to us!
For complete program details including Admission Requirements, please reach out to a Program Advisor by completing an online inquiry form.
Yes. When you apply, you will be asked to submit a drawing portfolio consisting of:
- 3 Pieces of Personal Artwork
- 1 Perspective Drawing
- 1 Animal Line Drawings
- 1 Human Shaded Drawings
- Character Design (A design of 1 original characters in 2 different action poses, OR 2 different characters in 1 pose each)
For further details on putting together your portfolio or information about other admission requirements, please reach out to a 2D Animation & Digital Art Program Advisor at 1.866.860.2787 or by filling out our contact form.
All of College for Art and Technology’s programs are backed by a designation through the Private Training Institutions Regulatory Unit and British Columbia’s Education Quality Assurance Program. For additional information on our designation, please visit our Designation page.
Our Program Advisors would also be happy to provide additional details on CAT’s accreditation. Complete an online inquiry form, and a Program Advisor will follow up with you!
We’ve got you covered here! Included in your tuition for the 2D Animation & Digital Art program, you will have access to all the hardware and software you’ll need to shine!
2D Animation students at CAT get to enjoy two dedicated classrooms on campus. You’ll take your animation drawing classes, including life drawing, traditional animation classes, and others in our Life Drawing Classroom, outfitted with drawing light tables, easels and anything else a budding artist could want. You’ll then bring your work to life in our Digital Animation Lab Classroom. This dedicated space is set up in similar fashion to real-world animation studios, complete with digital drawing tablets so you can get familiar with working in a studio setting before you ever apply for a position!
For complete details on what you’ll need to succeed in this program, complete an online inquiry form, and a Program Advisor will be in touch!
There are a number of reasons why CAT’s 2D Animation & Digital Art program stands out among the competition, including small class sizes taught by working animation pros, established pathways to universities around the world, mentorship, financial advising and support, and ongoing career guidance. Also, as a small and nimble institution, we have the ability to quickly adapt, giving our students the benefit of the latest industry trends and technology!
Our Animation Program Advisors are very knowledgeable and can share more in-depth program details. To contact an Advisor, complete an online inquiry form, and an Advisor will follow up with you.
We maintain close connections with our animation industry partners and studios. Throughout your program, you’ll have info sessions with animation industry guests and you will be exposed to many real-world projects, and become familiar with the animation production pipeline. This early familiarity means that upon graduation, you’ll be more than ready to join the team at any animation studio around the world!
After graduation, you can count on continued support from our Education and Student Success team who will share animation job opportunities with you and provide connections and resources to help you find a placement you love!
Our Program Advisors are able to share more specific examples of graduate career success stories. Please book an appointment by completing an online inquiry form to get started!
We have excellent graduation employment stats from our 2D Animation & Digital Art graduates, so a Degree is not necessary for employment in this industry. You can enjoy the benefits of our small class sizes, mentorship and focused education to get you working sooner! However, if you wish to carry on your education in pursuit of a Degree, we have established pathways from our program with the University of Gloucestershire in Scotland, Langara College and BCIT!
For a more in-depth discussion about our 2D Animation & Digital Art program, please reach out to one of our Advisors by completing an online inquiry form or by calling 1.866.860.2787.
We love this question! While there may be some benefits to being a “jack-of-all-trades” as an animator, we firmly believe that the best route to lasting career success as an animator is specialization. When you stretch yourself to learn both 2D and 3D animation simultaneously, you may find yourself in future work situations where you feel out of your depth or comfort zone. At CAT, we’ve chosen to deliver 2D and 3D animation separately. We feel the differences between 2D and 3D are too great for students to get to the level of comprehension and mastery required by animation studios in the industry, even for entry-level positions.
So yes, you will have to decide on 2D or 3D animation before applying to CAT. But don’t worry, if you decide to start in 2D, but feel drawn to 3D during your program, you can always transition to 3D and vice versa. No matter your path, we’re here to make this work for you. Book an appointment with an Animation Program Advisor, they can answer more in-depth questions and even arrange for a campus tour!
A day in the life of a 2D Animation & Digital Art student at CAT is varied and as a student, you may find yourself in a few different classrooms around campus. Schedules vary from Quarter to Quarter, so this is just an example of what you could expect.
If you drive, you’ll park your car in our student-designated parking lot and make your way across the Landmark Plaza to our campus! If you’ve opted to walk, bike or take the bus, you’ll find lots of great scenery on the short walk from the bike lock-up or transit stop to campus. You have a drawing class in the drawing room for your first block, Life Drawing, so you quickly check your backpack to make sure you brought your favourite sketching pencils. You’re really looking forward to this class; your teacher mentioned you’d be having a live model in class today! Next up is a class in the animation studio room! You love this room – filled with cool art on the ceiling and drawing tablets for every student. On the way to class, you remember you need to sign out a tablet pen from the Equipment Cage. So, you quickly stop by, say hi to the Campus Service Assistance Team, grab your pen and dash off to class. This class is Digital Painting and today you’re going to be learning how to make your own custom brushes in Photoshop!
After the second class, you have a free block, so you grab a spot in the Student Lounge and work on some digital painting for an upcoming assignment. Lunchtime! You take a break and hit up one of the many great eateries in the Landmark Plaza area. Mmmmm….pizza is on the menu today.
After fuelling up, you head back to the main campus building for a Professional Development class. Today you’re going to be diving into Personality Dimensions and starting on a self-portrait assignment. You’ll also be discussing how to find the balance between being a creative individual and securing success for yourself professionally, a topic we take great pride in at CAT. #nostarvingartistshere.
Time for your last class of the day; Character Animation, so you head to class to get yourself set up. Today, you’re going to be working on a new assignment where you morph one of your drawings into one of your classmate’s drawings. You’ve chosen to work with a classmate who has a very different style than you. Should be a challenge…and you love a challenge! After class, you feel like you’ve earned some downtime, so you decide to meet up with some friends to play some Magic The Gathering at a coffee shop downtown. Let’s do this again tomorrow, shall we? New day, new classes, new opportunities.
Interested in seeing for yourself? Book a time with one of our Program Advisors! They can give you a tour of campus, including the animation classrooms, and can even arrange for you to sit in on some classes. What better way to experience the CAT student experience than to become one yourself!
Animation Degree Pathways
Our Post-Graduation Pathways
Our graduates boast exceptional employment stats, so a degree is not necessary to secure a career in 2D Animation. However, should you wish to further your animation education after graduation from our program, we have established pathways with BCIT and University of Gloucestershire. For more information, book a time to speak with one of our Program Advisors or check out our Pathways page.
Financial Aid For The Diploma in 2D Animation & Digital Art
The Financial Guidance and Support You Need
You have options available to you when it comes to financing your education with College for Arts and Technology. Our Finance team can answer any questions you may have on payment plans, bursaries and grants, and student loans. We believe in empowering people through education and proudly offer the support and guidance you need to ensure finances are not a barrier on your path to higher learning.
2D Animation & Digital Art was reviewed and approved by the registrar of the Private Training Institutions Regulatory Unit (PTIRU) of the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Skills Training.
This program is not eligible for the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program. Learn more about PGWP eligibility on the IRCC website.