Rhythm & Hues presents to VanArts Students
January 30th, 2012On Wednesday, January 25th, VanArts was excited to welcome Recruiter Maggie Lee and Recruiting Supervisor Joe Caggiano from Rhythm & Hues Studios to give a presentation to our students & staff. The award-winning studio from Los Angeles has opened a branch in Vancouver and is busy gearing up for full production. Maggie and Joe showed us production reels from their feature films, talked about how to apply to their studio, and took many great questions from our students in Character Animation, Game Art & Design and Visual Effects.


A big thanks to Rhythm & Hues for taking the time to spend with us here at VanArts!
Inside VanArts: Animation Students
January 27th, 2012Check out our first episode of Inside VanArts for 2012, where our students in 2D/3D Character Animation work hard, have fun, hang out and tell us how they came to arrive to VanArts.
Want to jump on board? Limited seats going fast for March 2012 start date!
VanArts Graduate works at Walt Disney Animation Studios
January 16th, 2012
Disney's animated classic Beauty and the Beast is now back in theaters in 3D, and playing before it is a brand new short film, Tangled Ever After. VanArts is proud to say that our own animation graduate Rahul Dabholkar contributed to the new short as a Senior Character Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He also contributed there to the recent Prep & Landing Christmas specials.
Rahul, originally from Mumbai India, graduated from our 3D Animation program in 1999 and has since enjoyed an illustrious career at studios such as Sony Imageworks, Industrial Light & Magic, Framestore and many others. His feature film credit list includes box office hits such as The Smurfs, Arthur Christmas, Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
In a recent CGCoach interview, Rahul shared how his career got started: "I started my career in 1996 when 2D animation was still in demand. Soon after I graduated from University completing a BFA in Graphic Design and Illustration I was hired by an animation company, trained on board, and promoted as a Lead Animator. When 3D computer animation began growing due to successful films like Jurassic Park and Bugs Life, I decided then that I wanted to work for these amazingly talented studios. The obvious choice was to take my 2-dimensional drawing knowledge and translate it to the 3-dimensional computer world. I chose VanArts, and got my first gig even before I graduated, which helped me boost my confidence."
(Images courtesy of Disney & Attreo Studio)
DHX Media Presents to Animation Students
January 10th, 2012VanArts was pleased to receive another visit today from Anne Denman, Director of Human Resources & Recruitment for DHX Media. Formerly known as Studio B Productions, the DHX studio in Vancouver is one of the top animation studios in town, where several of our past graduates have been lucky to find employment. Anne spoke to our students today and answered questions about how to network and apply for jobs in the industry.

Thanks Anne for taking the time to spend with our animation students!
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Part-Time Courses 2012
January 3rd, 2012If your New Year's Resolution for 2012 is to learn some new skills or explore the arts, VanArts presents its annual part-time courses throughout the year which typically meet once a week in evenings or weekends.

For a list of courses, click on any of the following links by category:
Click on any course to learn dates, times and costs. We hope to welcome you into our part-time courses in 2012!
Questions? Contact us at 604-682-2787 x104
VanArts' Grad Survey shows High Placement Rate
December 16th, 2011VanArts is proud to share our most recent survey of graduate and placement statistics, with very promising results for our grads finding work relevant to their field of study. Surveys were conducted six months after our last two graduating classes, and the average job placement rate was 88%!
According to school president Alan Phillips, "This high placement data speaks volumes about what a great job VanArts is doing at offering first class, industry-relevant education."

Inside VanArts: Actors' Voices for Animation
December 14th, 2011In this 24th episode of our Inside VanArts video series, we see our various departments for Acting, Character Animation and Broadcasting combining their skills and resources to provide voices for student animation projects. Acting students and grads are called upon by the animators to provide voice-overs for animated characters and for history projects.
Animation Grads Collaborate on Short Film
December 7th, 2011Animation Graduate Patrick Colquhoun, originally from the UK, is calling out to his fellow alumni and upcoming grads at VanArts to collaborate on an independent animated short film. Patrick first came to our summer intensive course in 2007 and afterwards returned for 2 years of full-time study in our 2D & 3D Character Animation diploma programs from 2008 to 2011.
Today he paid us a visit to give a presentation on his short film currently production with a growing team of other VanArts grads. The results so far are exciting and we look forward to seeing how the project unfolds.
Visit Patrick's website at www.wunderwurld.com.

Animation Grads document their year at VanArts
November 24th, 2011Our recent graduates from 3D Character Animation have cut together a video using footage they took themselves throughout their year at VanArts. It is a moving tribute to our city of Vancouver, the fun that goes on between all the long hours of hard work, and the lifelong friendships that are born as a result. Thanks for sharing your year with us!
(Animation by Warner Brothers. Music by Coldplay)
VanArts' Mission for Excellence
November 18th, 2011At VanArts, our mission, newly displayed in our front lobby, is "to contribute to the development of the individual student's artistic and career potential by bringing together world-class instructors to teach, inspire, motivate and pass their knowledge on to students and support the development of their talents and realization of their dreams in the visual, media and performing arts."

As fulfillment of this mission, we have recently received some encouraging comments from students and graduates in our full-time programs.
Britton Nosbisch, currently studying in our Visual Effects program, says, “While living in Nashville, I spent 18 months doing research on schools for Visual Effects. As part of this research, I flew out to Los Angeles twice and applied to another school in Vancouver. The schools I investigated in downtown Hollywood (not a very glamorous place) were in the area of $80,000 in tuition and the facilities were comical at that price compared to the Vancouver schools I looked at.
After deciding upon Vancouver and being accepted to a major school there, I discovered some testimonies by many of their graduates who had been very frustrated with the large numbers of students & intakes being held every few months. It began sounding more like a big-name factory pushing people through to collect their tuition. After staying up all night reading these comments, I took another look at VanArts, which had only two intakes a year and more reasonable class sizes. I sent them an e-mail and got a call from their Director of Admissions within 10 minutes. She thoroughly listened to my dilemma, explained what they have to offer, and asked if I'd like to speak with the Head of the Visual Effects Department. It was great being able to do this so quickly, and I was impressed by his knowledge of the industry, of Maya software across both gaming and film platforms, and the fact that all of the instructors are working professionals from the major studios.
Overall, I was simply encouraged by VanArts to make the best decision for myself and what I was looking for in my search for a school, and after 8 months of the program here, I can assure you I've become more confident in my investment every day. The one-on-one time I get with professionals that are excited to help me succeed is simply unmatched!”
As for our graduates, the stories speak for themselves. A graduate from our 2D Character Animation program wrote us saying, "As a current intern with a high profile studio in Hollywood, I realized how much I learned about Story in just one year at VanArts. I am better prepared than most of the others who attended four-year programs at other schools. Go VanArts!"
...and contact us today to get started on your own!




