Animation | Cal State LA

The Animation Option provides a thorough education in the creative, practical and historical uses of animation. The option encourages an experimental approach to animation that combines traditional and contemporary techniques.

The aim of the Animation Option is to bring out the artist in the animator by giving students critical and creative goals. Our faculty and curriculum maintains that animation is, essentially, an art form and medium of personal expression. Animation at Cal State LA is extremely unique in comparison to other state university programs. Experimentation and abstraction of the animated form is just as emphasized as narrative or traditional storytelling. Animation is extolled entirely as an art form in and of itself, not just a medium for entertainment. We encourage a bold new use of animation to connect to adult audiences that are critical and sophisticated, as well as farcical and humorous.

Animation majors can choose courses involving: stop-motion animation, digital 2D and 3d animation, computer graphics, hand-painted abstract animation, story and visualization, as well as other art and film courses that galvanize their understanding of art-making, animation production, mixed-media, narrative, and cinema. Our labs include professional software such as the Adobe Suite, Maya, Blender, DragonFrame, Harmony ToonBoom, and Z-Brush.

The Animation Option boasts multiple platform capability in the creation and production of animated content. Having a state-of-the art facility in stop-motion animation, and the only dedicated stop-motion facility at on CSU campus, we have the most diverse and up date facility for the production of physical animation. The opportunity to blend analog captured images with digitally processed images puts Cal State LA at the very forefront of diversity of animation tools.

A guided tour through the Animation Option (part one):

Recommended Course Roadmap

Student work on social media:
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Vimeo