Art Foundation

A strong Art Foundation is the key to creating interesting and powerful visual media. Through drawing, design, storyboards, animation and video editing, this program will not only help build a portfolio but also provide students with the fundamental skills and knowledge necessary to pursue a career in the arts.

Courses are designed to teach the technical and conceptual aspects of media production and prepare you to pursue further study in a specific area of the arts like Animation, Visual FX, Photography, Web & Graphic Design, the world of Video Games, and Acting.

IN PERSON OR ONLINE

This program may be taken in person at our Vancouver campus, or 100% online from anywhere in the world.

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PT Harmony

From Art Foundation to 2D Animation

Emily Thorward’s artistic dreams led her from New Jersey to VanArts!

Emily first joined us for the 6-month Art Foundation program to hone her skills and develop a portfolio. Today, she’s in our 1-year 2D Animation program.

Learning and living her dream every day, she recommends VanArts to anyone looking to explore and excel in the media arts.

What is Art Foundation?

Find out here in this video tour of the program with your Department Head and Master Instructor Scott Hastings:

Curriculum

Term 1

The first term (3 months) of the program introduces visual language, exploring how and why an image has an impact on the viewer.

Composition, design principles, colour theory, and perspective are explored through drawing, illustration, and photography. Imagining characters and environments are developed and refined from scratch. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere are used to create these concepts through manipulating photos, layout and design, and video editing.

By the end of Term 1, you will have laid the groundwork for the basic concepts needed to dive deeper.

Term 1

Life Drawing Design Theory Concept Art Visual Language Photography

Term 2

In the final 3 months, you build further on drawing skills and art theory, and the courses take concepts, characters, and landscapes to a more refined level.

Characters and environments are brought into storyboards and come to life by adding music and sound to animations and reinforce visual language concepts. Animation is explored through motion graphics in Adobe Premiere, 2D character animation in Toonboom Harmony, and modelling, texturing and animating in 3D using Autodesk Maya.

By the end of the program, you will have enough material to develop a portfolio for admission into further study towards the right art career for you.

Term 2

Concept Art Animatics 3D Modeling Motion Graphics Figure Drawing

Faculty

Scott Hastings

Head of Art Foundation

About
Scott Hastings

Head of Art Foundation

Primarily a visual artist producing illustrations, graphic designs, motion graphics, websites, and video production, Scott Hastings is also an active musician and entertainer. Some of his contracts include Layout & Design for Rogers Communications, Graphic Design for Actress Rebecca Romijn, Album Designer for Ludwig Recordings, and Producer of an animated explainer video for MS Filter Systems Inc.

Scott’s career started at the Gulf Islands Film & Television School as 3D Animation Program Manager, Soundtrack Composer, Video Mentor and co-producer of the school’s official YouTube Channel launch. He won awards for his short 3D animated music video Frog Song and created opening credit animations for the documentary Contact the People (2002 Sundance Film Festival premiere), Sound design for National Film Board short films Suckerfish by Lisa Jackson and The Collector by Kassia Ward, and Richard Reeves’ camera-less animated film 1:1.

Thomaz Magno

Instructor

About
Thomaz Magno

Instructor

Thomaz Magno has been drawing professionally since 2006, starting as a graphic designer in Brazil.
In 2010 he moved to Canada to pursue a career in animation, and here in Vancouver he has worked full-time for animation studios such as Icon Creative, Titmouse, and Atomic Cartoons as a designer and concept artist.
He has participated in traditional live painting and online competitive digital speed painting forums,
illustrated two published novels, works on sculpting in clay and VR, and freelances from his home studio working on concepts for clients like Framestore NY and Spark Animation.

Onno de Jong

Instructor

About
Onno de Jong

Instructor

Onno de Jong has 20+ years of experience in the animation industry working on animated features, TV series, commercials, and streaming platforms for studios in Canada, the US and other companies abroad. Onno has also taught various art, color, and animation classes at Santa Monica College, The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, and Local 839 & 938 CAG through Eido Education. Currently, Onno is working as a freelance Storyboard Artist.

Overview

Program Duration

6 Months

Next Start Dates

September 3, 2024 March 10, 2025 September 2, 2025 March 9, 2026

You know you want to get into the arts, but you're unsure of how to get started. That is precisely what this program is designed for.

By providing experience in courses related to Film and Television, Photography, Animation, 3D Modelling, Video Games, Visual Effects, Graphics and Web Design, you will not only gain a clearer idea of which industries are of particular interest to you, but also develop a portfolio to admit you into the next step: ideally a one-year diploma program of your choice at VanArts!

Skills You Will Learn:

• Life Drawing
• Concept Development
• Art & Design Theory
• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator & Premiere
• Basic modelling and texturing in Autodesk Maya
• Fundamental concepts of animating in 2D & 3D
• Storyboarding & Animatics

Career Opportunities:

Art Foundation is designed to expose you to aspects of our various one-year diploma programs so you can make an informed decision on the career path you wish to pursue. Once you narrow your focus and decide, venturing into further training will open doors to your dream career.

PTIB Approved

This program has been approved by the Registrar of the Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB) of the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training.

Tuition

Canadian

$12,750.00 CAD

International

$14,750.00 CAD

Additional Information

Payment Schedule

10% deposit upon acceptance to hold your seat
40% six weeks prior to start date
50% by end of Term 1 – Week 7

International Students

Please note: For international students, a student visa is not required for this 6-month program, but a visitor visa might be required. All other guidelines and policies for travel determined by IRCC must still be followed and adhered to.

Supplies and Equipment
In addition to tuition, most programs have some costs related to supplies and equipment.

General Supplies – $350*

  • Notebook for taking notes during lectures
  • Data storage: 16-32 GB Flash Drive and/or External Hard Drive 250GB
  • Plain newsprint (16 x 20 or larger)
  • Pencils (graphite, conte, whatever suits your fancy)
  • Art Erasers (White Staedler)
  • Sketchbooks as needed – the size that you are comfortable sketching in
  • Peel-off China marker
  • Stick charcoal and a charcoal pencil (*note: packs of stick charcoal go a long way, instead of buying 1 pack each, split the coast among 3 of you and that will last you fine)
  • 1 kneaded eraser
  • 1 sharpener or exacto knife
  • Sandpaper (for sharpening)

Optional

  • Digital Tablet (Consider: Huion Pen Tablet, Huion Pen Display, or Wacom products)
  • Cellphone or Camera with Photo & Video Capabilities

*These are estimates only and assume that no required supplies or equipment are currently owned.

Interested in Art Foundation?

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Attending one of our upcoming webinars is the next best thing to visiting VanArts in person.

We are very proud of the education received at VanArts and encourage you to register for a webinar to learn more.

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