If you’re looking to brush up on a specific skill or continuing adding to your creative toolbox, don’t miss the Spring 2018 Registration for CGMA, which opened up this week.

CGMA, one of the top online providers of mentored arts education, is back with new courses and a brand-new Storytelling Electives track for artists looking to further develop and pitch their IPs and ideas.

Below, we take a look at some of CGMA’s new course offerings for the spring, followed by information on how industry professionals who need help paying for their courses can take advantage of Employer-Sponsored education opportunities. Click on any of the course titles for additional information.

NEW COURSES
KEYFRAME ILLUSTRATION FOR FILM

Teacher: Alexander Mandradjiev – Cinematic Illustrator (Marvel)
Part of creating cinematic illustrations requires a good understanding of human figure drawing, landscape painting and perspective. The goal of this course is to create good looking and interesting cinematic illustrations. Students will be focusing on composition, mood, lighting and color. Assignments and topics covered will gear towards creating illustrated key frames that help tell a story moment for cinema. We will constantly be observing and studying film composition. The point is to surrender to what drives at your imagination and inspires strong emotion. We want to express our ideas in an honest and intelligent way.

CREATING COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

Teacher: Jason Brubaker – Comic Artist & Art Director

During this course students will bring their own stories to life using images that will efficiently aide in creating a short or long-form visual story. The lectures and assignments will touch on all the major aspects of developing original story and imagery for comics or graphic novels: writing, character and world building integration, among many other topics. Most importantly, students will learn how to create comics or graphic novels that are relatable and emotional, with characters and stories that will resonate with audiences. By the end of the course, students will have completed the beginning pages of their comics or graphic novels, and will have a road map for going all the way to the finished product! The students will use and develop their own stories throughout the course.

THEMED ENVIRONMENT DESIGN

Teacher: Luc Steadman – Principal Designer (Steadman Design Studio)

Build a portfolio displaying a deeper understanding of environment design by creating an immersive story driven experience with responsibility to real world spatial restraints. In this introductory course, students will refine their use of design fundamentals and gain an understanding of master planning, guest experience, iconic attractors, architectural scale and spatial responsibility. Students will tell their story through the use of character, prop, vehicle, and architectural design. This class is a rare opportunity for designers who want to learn to translate their imagination to reality through this unique design process.

CHARACTER DESIGN FOR ANIMATION

Teacher: Nate Wragg – Senior Character Designer & Art Director
Credits: Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, The Croods, Mr. Peabody & Sherman

In this course, students will be exploring the various and important aspects that go into designing characters for animation. Students will be exploring how shape language relates to the characters personality. They will dissect how one adapts to designing characters in various artistic styles, and they will ll begin to discuss what it takes to mold themselves to becoming a professional designer.

NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION

Teacher: Mitchell Malloy – Concept Artist (Riot Games)
Credits: S2 Games, Privateer Press, Modiphiuus Entertainment, Onyx Path Publishing, Mechanical Muse, Posthuman Studios, Conceptopolis, Fantasy Flight Games, Present Creative, Supergenius, Wyrd Miniatures, Broken Egg Games

Illustrators working in entertainment will spend their careers creating compelling imagery for narrative and marketing purposes. The best illustrators in entertainment inject a sense of gravity, mood, and energy which draws consumers and players into the world the art portrays. This course focuses on the skills essential to good image-making, and also on those skills which elevate an illustration to the next tier of professionalism. We will discuss what makes a lasting, impactful piece of art, cover some of the techniques and tools you can use to maximize your chances of success, and build the habits necessary to conduct ourselves in a professional environment.

EMPLOYER-SPONSORED EDUCATION

It’s imperative that professional artists always improve their skills and continue to grow. This not only benefits them, but more importantly, benefits their employer. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Over the years, CGMA has seen artists develop new skills and techniques that allow them to further excel at their craft and it’s always amazing to see employers invest in that growth. Employer-Sponsored education is something that some companies offer, but most employees are not aware of.

Over 35% of CGMA students receive tuition reimbursements from their employers, and it’s estimated that U.S. companies spend over $160 billion dollars on employee training per year (source).

An investment like this not only creates highly valuable employees, but can also provide tax advantages for several companies. As an artist, all you have to do is start the conversation. Ask your supervisor or HR department if this is something your company offers.

They might have a training budget for this, and classes could be paid upfront or with tuition reimbursement. CGMA provides certificates of completion that can aid with this process, and further financial assistance can also be gained through the Animation Guild and our payment plans.

Here are just a few of the companies that have invested in their employee’s growth through CGMA: Walt Disney, Ubisoft, EA, Dreamworks, Riot Games, Blizzard, Gorilla Games, Zynga, Google, Zenimax, Certain Affinity, WMS Games, Creative Assembly, Rareware, Cartoon Network, Fox, Hasbro Games, Marvel Animation, Nickelodeon, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures.

If you are an artist with further questions regarding registration or portfolio review requests, please contact the CGMA Admissions department at registration@cgmasteracademy.com or call by phone at (818) 561–9542.

To sign up for classes, visit the CGMA website.
Read More:

Cartoon Brew Connect

This is a sponsored post produced through CARTOON BREW CONNECT, our in-house creative shop which connects Cartoon Brew readers with companies who have something useful to offer our community.

Latest News from Cartoon Brew