Last week VanArts was excited to receive a special visit from Frances Valintine, CEO of Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand (pictured here with VanArts President Alan Phillips).  Frances visited our campus to share with our students in Character Animation, Game Art & Design and Visual Effects about the new degree pathway options available for successful graduates of our programs. 

Through this articulation, graduates of our diploma programs in 3D Character Animation,Game Art & Design and Visual Effects can receive academic credit to transfer directly into their 3rd and final year of a Bachelor of Art & Design or Bachelor of Creative Technologies.  This means a student can earn a professional diploma from one year at VanArts, followed by a BA degree after one more year in New Zealand. 

Upon receiving their degree, they may also be eligible to apply for a work permit.  Media Design School is one of the top graduate employers for WETA Digital and they have an overall 90% placement rate for industry employment, including close relationships with local studios Oktobor Animation, Sidhe and Gameloft.

Click here for more information >>

On September 6th 2012, VanArts hosted its largest-ever graduating class, comprosing of grads from Character Animation, Game Art & Design, Visual Effects, Digital Photography, and our first official class for Broadcasting & Web Development! 

A packed house at SFU's Goldcorps Centre for the Arts got to celebrate the graduates' achievements and view their work on the big screen.  Congratulations to everyone!

(Photos by Kelsey Derksen-Hatt and Cindy Bekkedam)

See more photos on Facebook >>

VanArts is pleased to welcome our new Department Head for Visual Effects and Game Art & Design, Mr. Wade Howie.

A pioneering artist in digital visual effects, Wade Howie's production career spanning 3 decades has included 12 years with George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic as VFX Supervisor/Director, Head of Modelling and Animation, & Creative Director for animated TV and commercials.  His other roles include Art Director for games at Electronic Arts, on-set Supervisor for various CG/live action hybrid productions, and journeyman FX and lighting artist for film & TV. His feature credits include Terminator 2, Star Trek VI, Jurassic Park, The Mask, Casper, The Wild, Watchmen, TRON:Legacy and The Thing. As well as training and mentoring new CG artists in industrial settings across Europe, US, Canada and Africa, Wade has worked as a college professor and consultant for new studios bringing CG artists online. He has also contributed at software development firms Alias Research Inc. (Maya) and Side Effects Software Inc. (Houdini), and has a background in traditional art and design as well as filmmaking.

Wade Howie @ IMDB >>

We would also like to welcome Mr. Izmeth Siddeek to our esteemed faculty for Game Art & Design.

Izmeth Siddeek has over a decade of professional experience in the film & video game industry as a Lead Character Artist, Visual Development Artist, and Modeler. He has worked on titles at Electronic Arts Canada, Frantic Films, Bioware, and most recently at Vancouver’s Capcom Games Studio on Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising: Case Zero and The Bigs. He is proficient in several software packages and has presented his work at the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.

VanArts had a blast participating as an exhibitor at Vancouver's Anime Revolution convention, from August 17th to 19th.  Here are some of the colorful characters who visited our booth! 

Check out more photos on Facebook >>

According to the website of Vancouver's Mayor Gregor Robertson, a motion is being brought forward to support our local digital media sector.

Vancouver’s economy has been bolstered tremendously over the past three years by the creation of well over a thousand new high-skilled, high-paying jobs in digital media and visual effects. These sectors now employ a total of over 25,000 employees in 1300 companies, and Vancouver is now one of the world’s top three global clusters for digital media jobs.

This could spell only good news for graduates of VanArts, who continue to contribute to our local industries for animation, games, and visual effects, not to mention the new frontiers in digital photography and web development which make Vancouver the "new media center for Western Canada."

Click here to read the full motion, including links to recent press stories about our booming industry >>

(Photo courtesy Metro Vancouver)

VanArts is pleased to announce our new articulation and degree pathway partnership with Laureate University's Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand.

Through this articulation, graduates of our diploma programs in 3D Character Animation, Game Art & Design and Visual Effects can receive academic credit to transfer directly into their 3rd and final year of a Bachelor of Art & Design or Bachelor of Creative Technologies.  This means a student can earn a professional diploma from one year at VanArts, followed by a BA degree after one more year in New Zealand. 

Upon receiving their degree, they may also be eligible to apply for a work permit.  Media Design School is one of the top graduate employers for WETA Digital and they have an overall 90% placement rate for industry employment, including close relationships with local studios Oktobor Animation, Sidhe and Gameloft.

Entry Criteria for the articulated degree program is:

1.   Successful completion and pass of designated program of study at VanArts
2.   Transcripts from studies at VanArts
3.   Presentation of final portfolio
4.   A 2500-3000 word research essay to demonstrate education and written ability to be successful in a third-year degree class

For more information, visit www.mediadesignschool.com or contact us for more details. You can also visit our Degree Pathway Partnerships page for an overview of the articulations we have with different universities.

Our photo album entitled Life at VanArts at our official Facebook page has been updated with over 100 new photos which give you a sneak peek through the halls & classrooms of one of the world's top schools for media arts studies. 

Enjoy our gallery of photos here >>