The DePaul Animation Program - Chicago

03/03/2022

Read all about DePaul Animation's recent #18 ranking, our sixth straight year ranked in the top 25 and third time in the top 20!

The ranking places DePaul’s program at number two within the Midwest and among the top 10 Animation MFA programs in the U.S.

05/30/2021

Animation Masterclass with DePaul Animator in Residence Brian Ferguson
“Keeping Your Structure Consistent”
11am Sunday, May 30
https://depaul.zoom.us/j/94150514466
FREE and open to the public!

Brian Ferguson is a 25-year veteran film animator with many major projects to his credit, including some of the highest grossing films of all time. His filmography includes 15 feature films, several as supervising animator, for Walt Disney Animation Studios, including the critically acclaimed Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan, Fantasia 2000, and Winnie the Pooh. Brian is especially skilled at conveying humor and appealing personality, as can be seen in his characters among these landmark films.

Brian holds degrees from the New York Institute of Technology (Photography, Computer Graphics), Sheridan College (Classical Animation), and the University of Alberta (Zoology, Physics).

Brian joined DePaul as Animator in Residence in 2015, and since then regularly teaches classes such as Hand-Drawn Character Animation, Animation Mechanics, and Animation Figure Study.

06/04/2020

Find out about DePaul University's 11th annual Game, Cinema, & Animation Summer Academy - RSVP to attend a LIVE Zoom info session Monday, June 8, 1pm Central/11am Pacific/2pm Eastern
https://tinyurl.com/y9kwvocx

06/04/2020

Find out about DePaul University's 11th annual Game, Cinema, & Animation Summer Academy - RSVP to attend a LIVE Zoom info session Monday, June 8, 1pm Central/11am Pacific/2pm Eastern

05/28/2020

OPEN TO ALL CURRENT, POTENTIAL, and ALUMNI DePAUL STUDENTS

The DePaul Animation Program and the School of Cinematic Arts Visiting Artist Series present

A Live Zoom Visit with Independent Animator
Amanda Bonaiuto

hosted by Animation MFA Co-Chair Amy Lockhart

May 29, 5 PM Central Time

Amanda Bonaiuto (b. 1990) is a freelance animation director, artist, and educator currently splitting her time between Los Angeles and New York. She is best known for her short films and commissioned pieces which have screened at film festivals and galleries worldwide. She received a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2012 and an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts in 2018. She is currently a visiting professor at Pratt Institute and makes films and commissions in her studio.

Watch Amanda’s incredible award-winning short film Hedge https://vimeo.com/271910394

RSVP required, and you will receive the Zoom link the day of the event, Friday, May 29th.
https://tinyurl.com/yc9fesd5

05/25/2020

The DePaul Animation Program and
the School of Cinematic Arts Visiting Artist Series
present

A Live Zoom Visit with
Adventure Time Lead Designer and Storyboard Artist
Andy Ristaino
May 27, 1:30 PM Central Time

Character designer, storyboard artist, and cartoonist Andy Ristaino is best known for being former lead designer, character designer, and storyboard artist on Adventure Time. He began working on AT during its second season, and most recently contributed to the upcoming HBO Max’s Adventure Time: Distant Lands specials. Andy won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation in 2013 for character design.

If you are at all interested in animation visual design and storyboarding, this talk is for you!

RSVP required, and you will receive the Zoom link the day of the event, Wed May 27th.
https://tinyurl.com/ybnbz9uq

05/16/2020

OPEN TO ALL CURRENT, POTENTIAL, and ALUMNI DePAUL STUDENTS
The DePaul Animation Program and
the School of Cinematic Arts Visiting Artist Series present

A Live Zoom Visit with
Warner Animation Group Storyboard Artist
Nora Earlie
May 20, 2 PM Central Time
https://depaul.zoom.us/j/98014482995

Nora Earlie, an alumni of DePaul Animation, lives in Los Angeles and works as a storyboard artist on television and feature films. She has been working at Warner Animation Group since 2018, and previously worked at BixPix Entertainment/Amazon Digital Studios. Some of her credits include The Lego Movie 2- The Second Part, Dave Made a Maze, Amazon’s Tumble Leaf, and the upcoming animated feature Scoob!

If you are at all interested in storyboarding and animation, this talk is for you!

RSVP required, and you will receive the Zoom link the day of the event, Wed May 20th.
https://tinyurl.com/yd9sdrpd

Hello! Please add your email to RSVP for this event. You will be emailed the Zoom link on the morning of the event, May 20th.

02/04/2020

DePaul VR Film Hominidae Premieres at Sundance - Selected for New Frontier Exhibitions Program

The CG-animated VR film Hominidae, directed by professor Brian Andrews and modeled and animated by students in Project Bluelight with animation contributions by DePaul Animator in Residence Brian Ferguson, premiered at Sundance on January 24th as part of the New Frontier Exhibitions category.

Hominidae follows the life of an arachnid hominid as she struggles to raise her young in a hostile environment.

Production of the film was a collaboration between Film & TV and Animation students in the School of Cinematic Arts, with a voice cast from The Theatre School. It was recorded in the School of Music.

In May 2019, the film was also selected for a showcase and demo at the Marche du Film XR Development Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival.
Visit the official site for the project at http://hominidanimation.net.

Against a landscape of X-ray imagery and wild anatomical reimagination, a mother and her children struggle for survival. Trailer for Hominidae, a VR film coming…

12/12/2019

Watch DePaul Animation students' group stop-motion Christmas film!

A group of more than 30 animators, led by DePaul Animation professors Meghann Artes and Devin Bell, worked for months on this magical film, now playing in a window display in downtown Chicago at State and Jackson.

Chicago station WLS recently produced a news story about the film:

"DePaul animation students' stop-motion Christmas film to play in Loop campus window through holiday season"

By Zach Ben-Amots
Friday, November 8, 2019
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A group of animation students at DePaul University have unveiled a stop-motion short film that will run as a window display for the school's Loop campus on State Street throughout the holiday season.

"It's been Christmas for us for the last year," said Meghann Artes, animation professor at DePaul.

"I hate Christmas now," added Devin Bell, animation professor at DePaul.

"No, but it feels like we have all these packages under the tree and they've been there for a year. And we finally get to open them," Artes said.

More than 30 students worked on the film, from storyboarding to fabrication, animation, camera work and color correction.

"Everything you see in the film was made by student," said Artes.

Stop-motion animation involves what Artes described as "frame-by frame object animation, moving everything, little increments here and there."

The project came together through DePaul's Idea Realization Lab, a resource available to the entire DePaul Community.

"We're one of DePaul's maker spaces here in the Loop campus," said Thomas Newsome, lab manager. "A whole bunch of cool stuff happens here, ranging from building custom wheelchairs for students during Halloween to creating cool Christmas sets during the holiday season and everything."

The lab provides machines, tools and materials at no cost, as well as offering workshops to teach people how to use the equipment. The lab's goal is to educate people in areas they may not be exposed to in their everyday life.

"You give them something like this and this is where they soar, right?" Artes said. "And so it showcases the amount of talent we have here at DePaul."

"It's so time-consuming and painstaking, but it's actually worth it," Bell said. "When you see animation, on a screen, that you made, to this day I'll just giggle. I'll be like, "Hahaha, it's alive.' And that magic, you can't get it any other way."

https://abc7chicago.com/community-events/depaul-students-stop-motion-christmas-film-to-play-on-state-st-through-holiday-season/5684892/

Lavish Christmas window displays along State Street have been a tradition in downtown Chicago since the late 1800s. This holiday season, animators from DePau...