Bring Your Art to Life with an Animation Major
Create new worlds and characters through a solid foundation in drawing, script writing and sequential art.
Our Animation major will guide you through visual design, storyboarding and sound design as you build your own films in 2D, 3D and stop-motion animation.
Why earn your Animation degree at St. Edward’s?
Studying in an animation hotspot like Austin opens doors for interning with local studios and getting involved at world-renowned events like South by Southwest and the Austin Film Festival. Our animation program also hosts current professionals in the industry. Animation faculty work closely with the office of Career and Professional Development to identify jobs and internship opportunities to help you learn from the best.
Learn from Austin Animators
Previously, students have heard from a writer for DC Comics and for various animated shows, the voice director for multiple Triple-A video games. Employers like Powerhouse Animation Studios and Minnow Mountain have helped establish Austin as a leading hub of animation jobs in the country.
Hands-on Experience
In this personalized program, your animation classroom provides workstations with Cintiq pen displays and stop-motion cameras. You can also book a time that works for you to create in our specialized studios with tabletop stations and lighting for both 2D and 3D animation.
Outside of the Classroom
Share your talents with the hilltop and get involved in student organizations. If you’re an editorial cartoonist, submit your work to the student paper, Hilltop Views. Create art through programming with the St. Edward’s Maker Club and work on projects using 3-D printing, soldering, and programming LED strips. You can also take part in screen-printing and risograph workshops through the Command G graphic design club or discuss all things anime in the Asian Pop Culture Club.
Reap the Rewards of Austin
Austin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. and home to nearly 100 Fortune 500 firms. Our Austin location, partnerships and connections allow you to immerse yourself in the city’s dynamic business, government, nonprofit and academic environments.
What will you learn?
You’ll audition for the program in the spring of your freshman year, after you’ve had a semester to take theater arts classes and meet the faculty. Then, dive into your craft with chances to study period styles and practice working on camera. Gain valuable experience through the Professional Development Series, which includes workshops on voiceovers, commercial copy and other media.
A few examples of courses students take in the major:
- In Foundations in Animation, you’ll learn a range of techniques that will empower you to create short animation projects including stop motion, traditional hand-drawn, and even sand animation.
- In Animation Production, you’ll pull from all your animation experiences and spend the entire semester planning, writing, designing, recording, and creating the audio for your own short animated film.
- In Kinestasis and Motion Graphics, you’ll focus on traditional and digital techniques designed to make images and text more lively across a range of implementations appropriate for animated films, video games, presentations and web design.
- Compositing and Visual Effects is an advanced digital animation course that builds upon fundamentals from prior courses to explore a range of techniques that combine multiple visual elements within a single shot, including rotoscoping, digital motion capture, transformation, lighting, and particle effects.
What skills will you gain?
Upon completing the Animation program, you’ll be ready to…
- Form a foundation for your animated films using traditional drawing, script writing and sequential art.
- Create a storyboard for your own animated films and piece together audio to accompany your work.
- Develop characters through script writing and bring them to life with kinestasis, rotoscoping, stop-motion and vector-art animation, capture-rendered 3D animation and visual effects.
Potential Careers
A Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation will prepare graduates for a variety of careers. Here’s a sample:
- Cartoon and game animator
- Content creator
- Motion graphics specialist
- Commercial artist
- Sketch writer
- Producer
Explore Details About the BA in Animation
The Asian Pop Culture Club is your home for discussions of all things anime, K-pop, and other aspects of Asian pop culture.
Are you an editorial cartoonist? Submit your work to Hilltop Views, the weekly student newspaper, which covers news from the campus and greater Austin community.
B. Hooved is the student humor journal, inspired by our Hilltopper goat mascot.
Command G is the graphic design club. Members visit local museums and design studios, host critique nights, and create their own designs in button-making, screen-printing and risograph workshops.
The St. Edward’s Maker Club attracts tinkerers and programmers who have worked on projects involving 3-D printing, soldering, programming LED strips, and creating art through programming.
Topper Studios is the digital media club. Members are involved in creating podcasts, YouTube channels, short films, music videos and comedy sketches, and helping their fellow students produce digital content. Students in Topper Studios also frequently make promotional videos for other clubs at St. Edward’s.
The Digital Media Center in the Munday Library is a resource for creating your own content and learning new skills. Here you can produce and edit videos, podcasts and visual design projects with the help of your fellow students. The lab is equipped with top-of-the-line computers running the latest software including the Adobe Creative Suite. It also has a group editing/podcasting room, a green screen room and a “whisper room” used for voiceovers. If you are skilled at software, hardware repair, graphic design or video editing, you can apply to work in the lab as a digital media specialist.
Major Requirements: The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation requires 60 hours of coursework. The Animation program offers a mixture of video game animation courses and fine arts courses to support both technical and conceptual development that is essential for emerging animators.
General Education Requirements: The degree requires 54 hours of general education courses that students compete over four years, in addition to their major courses and electives.
View and download the full degree plan for our Animation major.
For more information about the Animation minor:
Contact Robert Denton Bryant, director of Video Game Development and Animation.
At St. Edward’s, our faculty are outstanding scholars, thought leaders, teachers and mentors who bring energy and enthusiasm to our vibrant learning community. They take pride in getting to know you, helping you achieve your goals and celebrating your successes.
View a list of our faculty members and their contact information on the Department of Visual Studies webpage.
