3D Computer Animation Careers and Classes

Learn about the careers available to you in the 3D Computer Animation industry and the Polytech class preparing you for those careers.

Amazing Alumni

So, I have been teaching here at Hunterdon County Polytech for 14 years. I have some pretty amazing alumni that work as professional artists and designers throughout the country. I was fortunate to have many contribute to our art exhibit this past Wednesday night. Keeping in touch with my past students is extremely rewarding. It makes me happy to see them follow their dreams and make art for  a living. They have gone on to schools such as School of Visual Arts, Columbus College of Art and Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Pratt, Parsons, Maryland Institute College of Art, and University of the Arts. They are graphic designers, cartoonists, animators, 3D digital sculptors, interactive designers, visual development artists, illustrators, and fine artists. Above is Bryan Wiszniewski with his most recent painting of Beyonce. Check out our Facebook photo album of the event.
facebook.com/Polytech.Art.Department

CTE Advisory Committee

As a Career and Technical Education school, Hunterdon County Polytech strives to stay current in our fields of study. Each class maintains an advisory committee made up of professional members, students, parents, post secondary educators, counselors, and alumni. The art department advisory committee is essential to keeping us current with software, industry trends, and connections to the field. Our committee boasts 3D animators, illustrators, business owners, video game designers, graphic designers, photographers, and marketing professionals. It's through this committee that curriculum changes, field trips, guest speakers, and equipment purchases are discussed. For more information on becoming a member or to view our current list of members, click here.

Polytech Alumna Creates Animated Short!

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After taking an Intro to Animation class at Polytech, Kristine Marsh went on to study Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She began her career as freelance artist and became the owner of her own business, Knightingale Studio. She currently heads the company that creates characters, illustrations, 2D animation and graphics for children’s media including books, apps, and advertising.

While at Polytech, Kristine learned the basics of Adobe Illustrator and created a chinchilla character that she named “Fuji”. Through the years, she further developed this character transforming it into the main character in her new project, Samurai Chinchilla! “You never know where that doodle in your high school sketchbook will lead”, says Kristine.

Kristine recently held a promotional event sponsored by Women in Animation in New York City on May 6^th. Videos, concept artwork, notes by the creator, and more can be found at the following link.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/knightingaleart/samurai-chinchilla-the-animated-short

Kristine has been a wonderful supporter of the art programs here at Polytech. She sits on the Advisory Committee, holds workshops for current students on portfolio preparation and serves as a speaker for community presentations.

“I took every art class my high school had to offer, all the way up to G & T Honors programs, but nothing prepared me quite like Polytech. Getting an early jump on using design software and learning about the process of animation before college really gave me an edge going forward.”

We wish her much luck and success with her future endeavors.

SkillsUSA winners

Hunterdon County Polytech students Krystina Galvez (left) and Rebecca Smith (right) won 3rd place in the 2013 NJ State SkillsUSA competition for 3D Visualization & Computer Animation. They had 4 hours to create an animation sequence in Maya including modeling, lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering. Congratulations to our team!

Stop Motion Animation

Students in 3D Computer Animation study the history of animation long before getting on the computers to use Autodesk Maya. They study early inventions and innovations that led up to the amazing software that 3D animators use today. The above clip is a stop motion project by student Rachel McInerney.

Character Design

Designing a character begins with a good back story. I encourage my students to think about the personality of a character before beginning the visual part. Students research images and information learning about their subject matter and get ideas from live video and other artists in order to create original artwork themselves. The above character is a female vulture by 3D Computer Animation student Krystina Galvez. It is a digital painting completed in Adobe Photoshop.

Animation Careers

Being an animator is just one job to have in an animation studio. You could be a concept artist, character development artist, storyboard artist, layout artist, animator, inbetweener, background artist, inker, or painter. In the 3D world you could also be a texture artist, rigger, modeler, special effects artist, or lighter, just to name a few. The above image is a character design painted in Adobe Photoshop by student Ellen Strub.

3D Computer Animation

Of course everyone knows that 3D Computer Animation is used for movies and video games, but jobs are available beyond the entertainment industry. 3D artists work for architects, industrial designers, interior designers, and advertising designers. Virtual tours of buildings not yet constructed, animated samples of inventions not yet produced, light/color/furniture choices presented to clients, and television commercials, the evening news, intros to sporting events enhanced with 3D. The above sample is a character design by student Efosa Amegor modeled in Maya.

Careers in Art

Why not get paid to do what you love? People don't realize how many different places and different ways you could be employed as an artist. Everything you see in life starts with a pencil on paper. From the clothes you wear, to the car you drive, from the video game you play, to the food you buy in the store...you involved  the careers of fashion designer, fashion illustrator, textile designer, seamstress, industrial designer, video game designer, concept artist, 3D modeler, character development artist, animator, package designer, graphic designer-just to name a few. Above is a t-shirt design by student Bryan Wiszniewski.