Animation Schools in New Delhi

Sure, one sees bad Franchisees everywhere, but in your posts you've tried to generalize your findings, which would be misleading to simple newcomers. There are thousands who have benefited from Arena Multimedia which has been around for 10 years. The elite institutions cater to the elite crowd. However the private institutions are the ones who took animation and multimedia to the masses. The same way that NIIT and Aptech took Programming to the masses - and in a way responsible for the big leap india took in the world IT Arena. Even for animation these masses (most of them may even have no connection to art) are able to join the mainstream and support the elite ones achieve their dream. They are the production guys, the workers and the ones talented amongst them rise higher. It is the same thing like 80-90% of the directors in the film industry are not coming out of FTII, Pune, and certainly the best ones known, never passed through the hallowed portals of a great edifice ;-)

So let us encourage talent, not discourage them. Let the masses come in.. roll away the doors - O Keepers of the Gate of Heaven! :rolleyes:

To share a little more information. Since I am dealing with Arena Chandigarh, I got a little information that can be shared. For e.g. Arena Chandigarh passouts are working with:

[LIST]
[*]Macromedia, US as Product Manager (Breeze)
[*]Quark Inc, Mohali
[*]Tata Interactive, Mumbai
[*]Adobe, Gurgaon
[*]HTA, Gurgaon
[*]HTA, Chandigarh
[*]Crayons, Chandigarh
[*]Focus, Pune
[*]Wanandu, US
[*]Genovate, Singapore
[*]Hindustan Times
[*]Times of India
[*]Indian Express
[*]The Tribune
[*]Net Solutions
[*]Pugmarks
[*]Sebiz Technologies
[*]VirtualSoft
[*]Smartdata
[*]Red Alkemi
[*]Partners India
[*]NetSoft Global
[*]Second Foundation
[*]A1 Technologies
[*]MAAC
[*]Government College of Arts
[*]Apeejay College of Arts
[/LIST]

well I think this would give some idea on how things have changed.

I am also a student wanting to pursue animation as a career. I am average at drawing and have improved a lot with practice.However I'm doubtful about my skills at writing stories.Do u still think it wise for me to pursue a career in animation? I'd like to know the best scools in Hyderabad that are offering this course.Please help. I have ColourChips and Arena multimedia in mind. Are these good enough?:confused:
I also have been offered a job in multimedia in a company here.Is it beneficial if I join this job though my B.Tech degree gave me no proper knowledge regarding multimedia.

Hey are u on the forum today?

Hey there! IM an ex student from NID ahmedabad, and that is the only school which will teach you animation and its also one of the best if not the best place to learn animation from south asia. they take only 10 students and their entrance is held in january. A bit of skill in sketching, strong passion and good portfolio, is what your equire once you crack the main written test. due to the subjective nature of the tests, there is no preparation reqrd. Else you can try IDC tahts IIT bombay but it is hardly a one yr course and people end up being software warriors and not animators..animation requires time, skill patience id say at laest 2 years minimum to get your basic skills right.. its not at all an easy road.. but since you want to involve animation with games, im wondering is your passion truly animation?> then usually you'd ALSO do games but mainly ull be a storyteller and film maker first and then look at character design in these fieldds which can ALSO involve games. But NID has a program in new media, and they have facilities for you to do your animation etc as it's a multidisciplinary course and you can always explore the field of new media(gaming/interaction design) wtih the medium of animation. Since youre showing a propensity toward animation in new media like games etc..id strongly suggest you to go to www.nid.edu and look at that course...

also read up on new media on internet, if you think you want to pursue animation purely, then thats the only goal you should ahve, games etc are really just a part of its application and my question is : do you love to write stories/make films, and invent new characters and do you have an excellent sense of humour inherent in you? else please look at the new media option. eveyr palce else..like maac etc. yeah they'll teach you the softwares like 3d etc.. but animation as an art requires time and the medium has to be 2d first..else you'll end up modelling mobiel fones and tupperware flasks in 3d in the name of animation. have a strong goal first, then attack! if its animation, pls try NID as taht is the best option youll have here.

I am also a student wanting to pursue animation as a career. I am average at drawing and have improved a lot with practice.However I'm doubtful about my skills at writing stories.Do u still think it wise for me to pursue a career in animation? I'd like to know the best scools in Hyderabad that are offering this course.Please help. I have ColourChips and Arena multimedia in mind. Are these good enough?:confused:
I also have been offered a job in multimedia in a company here.Is it beneficial if I join this job though my B.Tech degree gave me no proper knowledge regarding multimedia.

Start reading novels - I'll recommend Enid Blyton, Arthur Hailey, Jeffry Archer, amongst others. Watch soaps like Here's Lucy, Mr. Beans, for sense of timing. Also find time to read poetry. You decide where you want to be. You can be what you want to be... if you are ready to slog it out.

I am a BE and an MBA. I am not an Animator but I run an Animation company. I am doing all of what I preach (recommend). Sketching is a skill. Period. Skills can be improved any day. Making stories needs imagination - try to improve upon imagination by doing things ina different way all the time. For example try to find 30 different ways to reach your home from your college for a start!

I hope you get the idea. Arena Multimedia and ColourChips should be able to get you going.

Hey are u on the forum today?

I'm online now

Thanks a lot virtualciti.
I do read a lot of novels and my imagination is limited to a permutation of all the scenes I come across in all the stories I read. So is imagination instictive?:confused: I also did improve my sketching skills in art classes. I used to draw like 6 yr olds but the I took classes and even wrote my architecture entrance where I did score 80/120 in the aptitude test. You're right about the skill part I guess, but I am a little doubtful of myself(wether I can draw as well as animators do?).
I know that I really love watching animated stuff but is it possible for a person to not be a professional animator and yet be an enterpreneur in that field?:)
I mean how do u go about it? Do u animate by yourself or do u just employ people who do the jobs necessary?Do tell me about how u came to start an animation company.

If you could score 80/120 you must be doing pretty ok. I was more instinctive and had a very good hand right from my childhood. That's how I chose animation to be my business.

Sure, every artist needs a promoter, whether it be Van Gogh, or Hussain. Even Sachin needed a Mascerenhas to get him value. So you canbe an enterpreneur after learning the stuff. Every artist requires a mentor and the entrepreneur can be the mentor.

If you'd like to study in Chandigarh, I can maybe guide you here.

It was interesting reading your letter and understanding your position. I wanted to share the following with you:

A good animator is:
- a good artist
- a good story teller
- a good actor
- a good director
- a lighting expert
- a good sense of humor

The good news is:
- there are hardly any persons having all of above
- the above is true for any successful career, say even doctor, or lawyer, all require multiple skill sets
- there are several positions in animation that one can take based on which of his skill sets are best developed
- most of above are skills (except last which may not be necessary for serious stories) and can be developed over time.
- there is a huge demand suppy gap

I read all replies above as well, and indeed NID is a good institution for design. However, NID is catering to only 10 top class students from india each year who are so talented that making a successful person out of them is not an issue at all. Now coming to the masses who would like to make a career out of Animation depending on the skill set they have, it waters down to choosing between 10 odd options, though you have a very short list. Let me share my knowledge (there'd surely be some more)

1. Arena Animation Academy (DAE Program in Chandigarh and Chennai - focus on both 2D and 3D)
2. Toonz, Trivandrum (focus on both 2D and 3D)
3. Toonz Webel Academy, Calcutta (however focus is on 2D only)
4. Heart Animation, Hyderabad (however focus is on 2D only)
5. MAAC (however focus is on 3D software only)
6. Gecko (however focus is on 3D software only as I could make from their website)
7. Picasso

there would surely be some more..

I happen to have a tie-up with one of the above and am hiring animators from them. If you want I can ask some one to mail you details of that course.

However in the end, please realize that the Animation Area is a much misunderstood area, animation is about story telling, not software. If you'd like to use the medium to tell your stories, or any one else's stories (for e.g. movie directors tell other people's stories and there is nothing wrong in going that way if you're not a story writer), or you can be a producer and produce other people's stories in the way they want - that could be like a movie actor who tell's other's story in the way they want. There is immense scope to make a career based on the skill set you have, so I'll suggest that if you're not NID material, there is no need to get depressed ... millions of people are not NID material and they may end up making a career far better than them. Even a simple graduate (like Dhirubhai Ambani and many such other people) doing own business may contribute more to the world than a Harvard/ IIM MBA serving an MNC. I hope you get the idea!

Also you need to have good 2D/ sketching/ storyboarding skills or 2D principles knowledge to become a good 3D animator as well. So look for a course that has a good amount of focus on 2D or at least 2D principles. Latest 3D successes like "Incredibles" are purely based on 2D principles than the earlies 3D based "Shrek" which took fun out of animation. No wonder Pixar has been successful where Disney, the originators of animation failed. Disney forgot their own principles and handled 3D in a way different from their own style and flopped grandly, whereas a computer whiz Steve jobs could grasp the whole idea and delivered 6 hits in a row. I will never underestimate a grad from a lower institute...

FIRST of all dear friend, ALL these private institutes have hidden agendas.

I am really keen to know what could this hidden agenda be :)

We all know that all institues are there to 'Make Profits though making careers of their students'. We all now understand that 'Profit' is not a bad word. We all know that some of them may not be able to make careers and hence in the long run would cease to earn profits.

I just hope they are not brainwashing people to rebel against the country, which is one of the things that qualify as an 'Hidden Agenda'.

Thanks a lot virtualciti.
I do read a lot of novels and my imagination is limited to a permutation of all the scenes I come across in all the stories I read. So is imagination instictive?:confused: I also did improve my sketching skills in art classes. I used to draw like 6 yr olds but the I took classes and even wrote my architecture entrance where I did score 80/120 in the aptitude test. You're right about the skill part I guess, but I am a little doubtful of myself(wether I can draw as well as animators do?).
I know that I really love watching animated stuff but is it possible for a person to not be a professional animator and yet be an enterpreneur in that field?:)
I mean how do u go about it? Do u animate by yourself or do u just employ people who do the jobs necessary?Do tell me about how u came to start an animation company.

[QUOTE=steelwheels]FIRST of all dear friend, ALL these private institutes have hidden agendas.

I am really keen to know what could this hidden agenda be :)

We all know that all institues are there to 'Make Profits though making careers of their students'. We all now understand that 'Profit' is not a bad word. We all know that some of them may not be able to make careers and hence in the long run would cease to earn profits.

I just hope they are not brainwashing people to rebel against the country, which is one of the things that qualify as an 'Hidden Agenda'.

Hidden agendas are making promises about infrastructure, faculty, and worse case, career prospects which private institutes hardly meet. There ought to be a balance in profit and promise right? I dont know about your experience. Well my experience with arena multimedia etc haven't been really worthehile, when someone's trying to SELL a course to you on the pretext of pretty lame entry tests to show that you you discard the "untalented" and RETAIN the "chosen" ones. Profit is not at all that bad provided you can keep the facade the way you advertise it.

As for NID taking only talented people who need to be nudged forth, my experience proves they are pretty run-of-the-mill really, who may have pretty good skills as fine arts grads, well most fine arts grads to have good skills. When it comes to character building and stroytelling many unfortunately SUCK, even if they are from nid! So it's not really a right brain chip implanting factory, its really subjective.. the atmosphere and the constant bombardment of excellent work from schools abroad forces students to assure a certain delivery standard at least in the visual look and feel. Hence... but NID or no NID.. at least in animation it can be compltely upto the individual to fill their own void.

please give me a list of the schools and i may be able to help you better.
in the mean time check out iit bombay who have an animation course. also check the nid ahedabad.
oh and please give me some time to go through your list
i ll try and help as best as possible
shreyas

Hey steelwheels thanx a lot for the info...but I have a problem. U see I dont think I can get into NID. I've considered that option and first of all movin to another city is not an option for me. Secondly, I have my doubts that I can get into NID as the number of seats there are only 10 for animation. I've shortlisted my options and these are MAAC, Gecko and Picasso.

MAAC is well known and the students there have a lot of exposure as there are many companies in this field backing MAAC. Its also the most popular choice for aspiring animators right now. There are also animation competitions and opportunities exclusively for MAAC students.

Gecko seems to be good too coz its director has studied from NID then Academy of Arts San Francisco and then he worked at ILM finally movin to India to work for Maya Entertainment Ltd and the curriculum has been designed by him which means that its industry specific.

And then there is Picasso...which is in collaboration with Centennial College Canada. The main advantage there is that the faculty there is mostly Canadian. And also the diploma that I will receive at the end of the course will be from Centennial College Canada. Also, the whole curriculum is from the Canadian College.

So I'm really confused and have no idea what to do. Help me in choosing from these 3.

FIRST of all dear friend, ALL these private institutes have hidden agendas. There is no hidden agenda in NID as they have chosen you to be a torchbearer in that discipline to meet the best requirements for an animation FILM MAKER. You graduate as FILM MAKER and not just an ANIMATOR. as a PURE animator, yes MAAC, all these other schools will give you an inotroduction to the medium, introduce you to the "WONDERFUL" world of 3d and its highly complex OVERDONE OVERRATED counterparts. Based on these skills you can work as an ANIMATOR in several companies if it is really a good job scene there. If you're looking for employment as just an ANIMATOR, then firstly noone cares WHERE you've graduated from , it could be canada, u.k. or mars. Because the skills are instantly evident by SOLELY your portfolio, it really really really doesnt matter. The animation ball is almost always lying in your court. And im saying, if you come out of NID, you come out as a FILM MAKER as a STORYTELLER. Are you content with working one someone elses content for years and years as long as you get to USE the medium? Are you happy with being handed down storybaords, charachters and keyframes for you to fill up those in betweens. If yes, then you're willing to be a labour intensive WORKER of a third world country satisfied with the thrills executing someone elses work. But if you are a STORYTELLER and see animation as a medium of YOUR expression(a strong inclination to creative expression is indicated ie) instead of a means of earning solely, then please try NID. WHY are you giving up NID even before trying. This test requires NO preparation and ive gotten in first for new media and then i quit and gave it again for aniamtion and i got in again but i decided not to spend anymore time on formal education so i quit. Its really not as diffu\icult as you think, you think it is because thats the way indian education system has made you. NID has much broader scopes of identifying your strenghts for this course.

My personal warning is, no doubt maac arena etc will promise many things, but the animator's ball is always in his/her court after the basics. Realize they, the private insitutions, do not have any ideological bearings to serve YOU as much as serve themselves unlike NID which is government aided and sticks to 10 student orthodox intake for its non profit endeavours. Do not be tempted by so called, jobs at CREST/DISNEY etc where you'll 99% be working on someone elses ideas (that too if youre lucky) or for all we know, putting fur on some carpet or scales on some octopus from across the atlantic. Animation as a skill, requires LOTS of time and patience, and only NID with its post grad 2.5 yr program and similar places with dedicated curriculum can help you be a well rounded animator. Also if you're not getting to animate, dont get swayed by all these mighty fantastic worlds of maya/3d etc just because some matrixes or some shreks came out of it. Tell me, how uch is it going to be if i give you my recipe and my kitchen and ask you to just cook and i dont care what you think as long as you give me whats there on that paper, exactly at that time? As a balancing act, career in animation after maac etc is something im not sure of and i dont know, if you can manage this balancing act of doing your skill oriented tasks in your private lmtd. and build up your own creatures in the attic privately, if you're capable of taht , only then id advise you either MAAC or any other lucrative "career" in animation. Dont be tempted by the CREDENTIALS of your CEO or DIRECTOR. In animation, it usually ends up with you looking at yourself in the mirror saying, no where the hell do we go?? Else plaese dont give up on NID even without trying if your reasons are not valid enough to stop you from pursuing your heart.

If by the strenght of your portfolio you can get a job in any "good" aniamtion firms in india, then see if you can join as a trainee and learn on your job. Else if you want to be a film maker and you think fiolm language is not inehrent in you, then take up GOOD formal training, either NID or IDC(which has a very good if not best animation faculty called Shilpa Ranade)

However dont be in a rush, sit back on that lounge , take a deep breathe and consider all your options. I wanted to do animation because i have ridiculous goals like having my characeters beam down on 1 million homes for people to SEE and get entertained. Whats your goals in animation? And please, start thinking as a FILMMAKER and not just another fun loving animator. the chef and the cook are different.