| Ranking | School | City |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Iowa | Iowa City |
Our 2018 ranking of the top animation school program in Iowa. For an explanation of the ranking criteria, click here.
Founded in 1847, University of Iowa is Iowa’s flagship comprehensive research university. The school, which serves 33,334 students from 114 countries and all 50 states, offers majors, minors, and certificates in more than 200 areas of study across 13 colleges and academic units. With 68 majors and 17,500 undergraduates, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is U of I’s largest college.
It houses the School of Art and Art History, which is home to the Studio Art Division: Media, Social Practice, and Design (MSPD) area. Here, students can earn a BA or a BFA in Studio Art-MSPD with a Concentration in Animation. MA and MFA degrees are available as well.
The interdisciplinary MSPD program allows students to work across the disciplines Animation, Design, Photography, and Intermedia. The school says that wide varieties of skills are explored to animate images into motion graphics, produce digital video to create imaginative stories and adding voice and sound through the post-production process.
Combining art and technology, students will use computer hardware and industry level animation software to perform tasks in the entire animation pipeline from preproduction to post production, says the school. Concept art, storyboarding, character design, computer modeling, texturing, rigging, lighting, animation, rendering, compositing and sound design are all areas students will have the opportunity to conceptualize.
Other program highlights include the studio laboratories, a visiting artist series, internship opportunities, and a media theater, which showcases animation on a 40-foot screen.
