Animation Training in China–Animguru Animation

China’s animation industry has developed to be a certain scale, and the animation products have increasingly attracted the attention from not only professionals but also animation fans. The animation industry is also undergoing industrial processing and the cultivation of talents has always been a concern to the major companies. In addition to colleges and universities that have trained a group of talents with basic knowledge of animation,, the training companies and production studios also set classes to train people who can quickly enter the production pipeline and accumulate the production experience and technology. These people will be the strong talents reserve for the industry and will be the main power of the industry.

Today, we will discuss with experts from Shanghai Animguru  Company. What’s their opinion of the animation talents training and how they carry out the training classes. We hope more and more people who have both technical and artistic background will join animation team.

CGGE: Could you briefly introduce your company?

Animguru: Shanghai Animguru Co., Ltd. was officially established in 2019. The founder has nine years of experience as a senior animator for Blizzard and five years of experience in the film industry. He is also an international lecturer at the Communication University of China in Beijing. Ray, the founder has been abroad for many years. As a Chinese, he wanted to bring the best resources and training course back to China; so that the local students can reach the world resources. Our teachers have years professional background in movie  and game produciton. Those from Blizzard will provide thorough human animation training for students, and those from Pixar and other well-known film companies will train students in character modeling. In addition, the company also invited senior Disney designers to prodcue character and models for students use.

The purpose is to train the students for next generation with the high standards so that they can enjoy such a high level standards of training without going abroad.

All animation tutors have many years of experience in well-known companies in industries. Through the company’s platform, domestic students not only connect with the front-line production team;but also have more options and opportunities in future.

CGGE: Why did you choose to found the animation school in Shanghai? What is the requirement for enrollment ?

Animguru: In China, Shanghai and Beijing are both cities with rich art and cultural resources, and there are also many animation companies as well as many art universities, which allow students to cooperate easier!

Including the university students major in art and professionals, we also recruit those who have strong interest in animation. Those who are fond of animation and art can be our potential students as well.

CGGE: How long does the course last? In addition to teaching some animation production techniques and skills, are there any special course about art cultivation and internship ? What are the main types of the internship? What does the domestic students lack most? How to improve it?

Animguru: The school is divided into four semesters a year, each class lasts eleven weeks with a total of thirty-three hours plus a weekly video class with the tutor. Each class has 12 students.The there six animation classes, from the initial level to the advanced performance class. It took about a year and a half to complete all the courses successfully.

The school will then cooperate with domestic companies to provide students with internship opportunities and help students find jobs in the industry. At present, what the domestic students lack most are storytelling and acting. Domestic students are very well trained in painting and 2D animation. If their drawing techniques are well introduced to 3D animation, in animating and concept developing, they will get very useful help.

Most students also lack resources! For example, after watching those movies and understanding the analysis of movies, the instructors will lead the students to analyze the sample movies; so that students can apply the same concepts to their aniamation works.

CGGE: As a team with many years of industry experience, do you also lead students to participate in some animation projects? Are these projects original designed or service provided? What are the positive implications for schools and students?

Animguru: We do have plans for instructors to lead students on projects. This is also a very important part of the school in the future! Experience are very critical for theose students who have just entered the industry ! They can learn different technologies and ideas from different companies and projects. We will not restrict students to think about their future development. On the contrary, we hope that they can have excellent technology and create excellent animations and IP. There is a lot of space for them to play in animation field. We also look forward to the cooperation and development of our students with the tutors and animation companies in future.

CGGE: Does the school also organize some overseas exchange activities? What is the biggest result for Chinese students in such activities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of domestic students? Does the gap between our students and overseas students in professional courses get shallower?

Animguru: There will be some overseas exchange activities later, and we will also invite the expert to school.In my opinion, the biggest difference is the culture.

The students can learn the western culture and communicate with the western artists. To review their works and understand their concept are very important. It’s necessary for artists to see more works, try more and impact each other. These are also very vital for animation creation. Through our platform, the students can reach the world stage, inspire and influence each other.

I believe that no matter for the local students or foreign students the love and interest to the arts are the sames.

The advantage of foreign students is that the creativity. It’s all because of their growing-up environment. They can watch a huge amount of the movies in the different styles.

When they animate something, it’s easy for them to find the similar plots and character in other movies; their interest in movie make their works sensational.

When I was in Beijing Communication University, I noticed that the students’ creativity is also very impressive. But few people are grown up with western movies, so they are not good at telling a llod story or build a good character.

Trained with the western movie language and by the foreign instructors, I believe the gap will get shallower.

CGGE: You have also been in the industry for many years. Waht’s your opinion on the development of the animation industry and animation training industry in mainland China in the past ten years? Can you give some suggestions to the young people who are about to enter the industry in the future?

Animguru: In fact, China’s animation training has been developed for many years, and that animation industry has grown very well in China in recent years. And many animation features have been released. The progress is rapidly.

Many animation teams are keeping trying. I thin this is good. The younger generation is smarter, and they will intuitively look for information and study online. This is actually a very good way. There are many great videos for learning on the web. Young students are also very self-conscious. I still remember that when I was a student, I regard those mentor from the big companies as gods, and I will revise all the mistakes that the mentor pointed out immediately. I think it’s great that the younger generation has a lot of their own ideas! We, as trainers, want to keep their original ideas but guide them with the right storytelling methods and techniques.

Finally, for the young people who want to enter the industry in the future, I usually give some suggestions. As long as you have this enthusiasm for the industry, even if the company you go is not Blizzard, nor Pixar at the beginning, please keep practicing and accumulating the experience, then you can definitely reach the company you want to go to. This is what I can guarantee! But first of all, you need to work hard, to learn and to practise; because the threshold for animation is not low. Animation is actually a time-consuming or even a difficult technique.

How to enter this industry faster is to find the right resources; led by the right mentor. When I was a student, my mentor was the animation director of Ratatouille and UP.

I was fortunate to have entered  SONY Films before graduation. Our classmates also went to very good companies in the industry, so I think it is the fastest way to find the right mentor to lead. The other is to observe people and the environment around us, because animation is related to humans. It is helpful to draw more and watch more movies.

Thanks to Animguru for these valuable experiences, and I hope that in the future, with the development of the animation industry, animation training will become more professional, and in line with international standards, face its own weaknesses, and continue to get better. We also continuously improve our self-cultivation through communication with overseas professionals. For the development of the industry, talent is always the most important. Only strong and excellent talents can promote the development of our animation industry.

By:Sophia