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It takes dedication at Sheridan's Animation By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Sheridan College has built a distinction as the premiere institution to go to for animation. The school has its world-famous reputation, a resonance in the industry that cannot be argued and employers are constantly pleased with their recruits. The Animation Career Review ranked Sheridan as the best in the world for animation out of 100 schools, a distinction given to Sheridan for having the most sought after graduates. Five of its graduates worked on Pixar's Brave, which recently won the Golden Globe award for best animation feature. Another six graduates of the program are nominated for the Feb. 2 Annie Awards. So, what makes Sheridan's Bachelor of Applied Arts ­ Animation so special? "We've been teaching animation for 40 years. We have endurance and we have a real commitment to the art of animation," said Angela Stukator, associate dean, animation and game design, who is in charge of overseeing the Animation program. The commitment is firstly to the fundamentals of the art form before anything else. "We steer students clear of 2D and 3D digital animation until they have a real sense of how to pursue the art using pencils, paper, paint," she said. "It's a classical approach to the art form." Commitment is nothing, of course, without execution, and that's where the animation faculty at the school pride themselves. It begins even before students begin class. First, the program is tough to get into. Animation sees approximately 800 yearly applicants for its 125 spots. Over the course of five days, some 30 faculty members pore over the portfolios of each applicant, each one assessed for life drawing, character design, layout, storyboarding and personal artwork. "We don't bring in anybody into the program that has weak skills. They have to be good to get in," Stukator said. Once a student is in, it's competitive, she adds. "The students learn as much from each other as they do from their instructors. They're the cream of the crop. They're from all over the world and they're coming to Sheridan because they know it's the best." Then, for the next four years, each student must live, eat and breathe animation. For every hour of class time, each student can expect as much as three hours of homework. Having a part-time job during the school year is next to impossible. "I don't think easy comes into the lexicon of anything to do with animation. It's completely meticulous work. It takes a very special kind of person to have the patience and the precision to be an animator," said Stukator. Artscene 21 · Friday, January 18, 2013 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com marta iwanek / oakville beaver / @halton_photog on deadline: Greg Harron (front), an animation student at Sheridan College and production manager for the film Mashutaha, is pictured with his fellow students in a production studio at the Oakville campus. Despite the heavy workload, with students working in studios until the early hours of the morning, the graduation rate is fairly high in the program, something the faculty members Over these few weeks, The Oakville Beaver is exploring the award-winning Animation bachelor's degree program at Sheridan College. pride themselves on. Approximately 95 students will graduate at the end of the four-year degree program. This, Stukator said, is largely due to the stringent enrolment process and Part 2 of 3 student dedication. "We support the students. We give them everything they need to be successful and then it's up to the student how they respond to the environment," she said. If a student puts in their full effort all four years, the end results will be worth it, Stukator added. The program consists of nine full-time instructors and another 30 part time, all of whom are people from the industry, including from such production houses as Disney, DreamWorks, Pixar, Corus and others. Those instructors impart their knowledge to the students, teaching them what they will need to know to get employed. "The industry is now better than it's been in a long time because animation is in everything. Before it was features and Saturday-morning cartoons. Now, it's the Internet, simulation, advertising, mobile devices. For the students, the possibilities are limitless in terms of what they can do with their animation skills," Stukator said. Major production houses end up with boatloads of Sheridan graduates who get to work in big-budget, blockbuster films. Last year, more than 40 Sheridan graduates had credits on Academy Award-nominated films. "The graduates are out there. They're working and it feeds the reputation of the institution and it makes us know we're doing something right because our graduates are out there getting jobs and making a mark on the industry," Stukator said. There's a lot of interest in the program from the international community as well. The program gets students from places such as the U.S., Korea, China, India and Brazil. In addition to international students coming here for the program, schools abroad are even getting in on the local action. Sheridan animation has an ongoing partnership with a similar program at a university in China. This past summer, students from the animation programs at both schools collaborated on an animation film, titled Mashutaha, which is a Huron word for grandmother. It incorporates both traditional and 3D animation components. While most of the third-years at the Sheridan program were out on their internships over the summer, a group of 12 students did their internships at school, working on Mashutaha, which began with a group of students from the year before. "The film we started last summer is absolutely huge," said professor Michel Lyn Hannan. "The film they're working on that's left over from last summer is about 10 minutes long and it's huge. There's 3D, 2D, there's different programs like Flash and Flipbook. It's immense." This past June, the students flew to China and See Students page 22