‘It doesn’t matter how expensive your pencil is, if you don’t know how to draw,’ says Steve Dovas, professor and animation co-ordinator at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He is quoting veteran animator Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny, The Grinch), whose comments are particularly apt today – a time when basic drawing skills are back in vogue, taking priority over the high-tech computer expertise that peppered the animation industry throughout the ’90s, says Dovas.

Schools must give students the ‘artistic aesthetic to back up any technical skill they’re giving them with something that approaches art.’

In the early ’90s, art was all but eclipsed by the lure of video games, the Internet, and a stream of computer design programs that made students think all they needed was a few months of computer school to be the next Disney wunderkind. ‘The advertising said these are the tools and you don’t need anything but the tools,’ Dovas remembers. ‘So you’ve got schools that are essentially teaching button-pushing.’

Promoting independent films in the ’90s was difficult, says Marilyn Cherenko, an animation instructor at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in Vancouver. ‘These little artsy films didn’t go anywhere except to festivals and were seen only by other animators,’ she says. ‘All that seems to have changed. There are other venues screaming for all kinds of programming. The taste for a range of aesthetic has widened in the commercial marketplace. Animation has proven itself.’

The shift came when studios realized they were getting more computer technicians than artists, says Mary Jane Carroll, associate dean at Sheridan College in Oakville, ON. ‘The important thing is to remain true to the discipline,’ she adds. ‘While you might use different tools to animate, understanding how to animate is much more important – we’ve found with industry partners – than learning a particular type of software.’

‘I don’t think the standards were high enough a couple of years ago,’ says Toronto-based Nelvana’s director of recruitment, Deborah Fallows. ‘I think there were too many computer animation students that were graduating without the skills the industry was looking for. Most studios are looking for solid classical animation skills as the foundation, in addition to the technical training.’

That’s what Max the Mutt Animation School in Toronto has always tried to give. ‘We’re a vocational school founded by artists and animators. We teach animation as an art form,’ says director Maxine Schacker. ‘There’s no conflict between [the studios’] needs and educating people to be artists, because what they’re looking for is very talented people with a very high level of skill and a real ability to draw.’

Indeed, graduating students without fundamental drawing skills are at a disadvantage in the markeplace, says Jay Francis, VP and general manger, recruitment and acquisitions, Film Roman and Level13.net in Hollywood, CA. ‘You still have to go back to the traditional skills. You still have to put pencil in hand, you still have to draw, you still have to take life-drawing classes, composition. The fundamentals are absolutely necessary to make it, even as a computer artist. We look for computer artists, we don’t look for computer technicians.’

Graduates with pure drawing talent and storytelling ability are the ones who are getting hired. ‘The computer is just another tool. It’s not the most important element,’ says Dieter Mueller, head instructor, Vancouver Film School Classical Animation. ‘As long as the classically trained animator is willing to learn those programs, he or she will be relevant.’

Industrial Light & Magic, for example, looks at life-drawing portfolios before it hires, and DreamWorks recently told the school that 3D animators with a 2D background will get hired before a 3D animator with no classical training.

‘We’re looking for the next generation of storytellers,’ says Film Roman’s Francis. ‘Where’s the next Matt Groening or Mike Judge going to come from? It’s our bet that they’re going to come from these schools.’

Unfortunately many of the big U.S. studios can’t afford to send recruiters to campus anymore, but a few like Francis are on the road regularly visiting schools and industry fairs. Studios have set up mentoring programs with schools like VFS, and Nelvana’s Fallows is involved with school advisory committees, recruitment fairs and industry-sponsored events. The animation house is also working toward developing an internship program with animation schools.

‘I think we should all share this responsibility to guide the curriculum, provide input so the programs can change and adapt to industry needs,’ she says.

But even with the help of recruiters, finding a job requires more effort, which Fallows doesn’t think is a bad thing. ‘What happened five years ago was unrealistic. Student expectations became unrealistic, and now it’s leveled out.’

The advent of films like Shrek (which Sheridan classical animation grad James Straus worked on) and Toy Story have brought jobs in areas like lighting and texture, says Francis, and there are still a number of jobs in video games and TV commercial houses. There are also a lot of Sheridan grads working at Film Roman. The studio licenses many films from VFS students on its website.

Francis encourages grads to be persistent. He says artists and animators will soon be creating their own studios. ‘They can more or less control the stuff they do,’ he says. ‘I think that is the future. You don’t need everyone under one roof now to create content…you can basically do a TV show with people working out of their homes.’

Dovas suggests students make their own independent films to get noticed by studios. ‘The short film, while maybe not an incredible source of profit, is the best calling card you could possibly hope for,’ he says.

He also encourages students to do less following and more leading, and more independent thinking.

‘The ones that have been able to stay flexible and stay different have been able to make a go of it.’

-www.eciad.bc.ca

-www.sheridanc.on.ca

-www.vfs.com

-www.pratt.edu

-www.nelvana.com

-www.maxthemutt.com

-www.filmroman.com

-www.level13.net