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."

Rahul Dabholkar @ IMDB

(Images courtesy of Disney & Attreo Studio)

If 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: 

Digital Photography

Acting

Art & Animation

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

In 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.

Our 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)