Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art - Animation

Take your visual storytelling to the next level in Central Michigan University’s animation program. You’ll develop the artistic vision and technical skills necessary to create engaging characters and produce powerful visual stories. You can choose to work in a variety of media from hand-drawn animation to traditional stop-motion techniques and 3D computer animation. You’ll study character design, storyboarding, 3D modeling and lighting, character performance and effects animation. As you continue through the program, you’ll have a variety of opportunities to build a strong professional portfolio.​​ Animation is a process that involves a broad set of skills, practices and technologies that communicate through motion, design and visual narrative. Students studying animation at CMU will develop the artistic vision and technical skills necessary to produce powerful visual stories, in a positive, supportive and creative community. The animation program provides students with a broad exposure to animation as an industry and as an internationally celebrated artform. Students can choose to work in a variety of media from hand-drawn animation, to traditional stop-motion techniques, to 3D computer animation. The topics they study will include character design, storyboarding, modeling, character and effects animation, and more. As students progress they are encouraged to focus on specific areas of interest while contributing to a variety of advanced production opportunities. Students that graduate with a BFA in Animation will leave CMU with a broad set of skills and will be able to work in a variety of areas including the entertainment industry, illustration and advertising, prototyping and design for manufacturing, and the medical media industry. The Department of Art and Design has an active animation student organization (Animation Super Station) that meets on a regular basis to screen films, host speakers and support individual projects.