Your way into a career as a professional storyboard artist!

Storyboard

Professional Training course

Are you a junior animation professional looking for a way to specialize in storyboarding? Then this course is what you need! Build up your portfolio and a set of skills that will significantly improve your chances to get hired as a storyboard artist on TV series, animated feature films and VFX live-action films.

About Storyboard

Facts

Title:
Storyboard Professional Training course

Language:
English

Credits:
30 ECTS

Duration of the course:
12 weeks. Monday-Friday: 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Course start:
Every year in September

Course dates:
Fall 2021: September 20 – December 10

Application deadline:
July 2

Place:
The Animation Workshop/VIA University College, Kasernevej 5, 8800 Viborg, DK

Fee EU/Non-EU Citizens:
EU citizens: 3.650 EUR (approx. 27.200 DDK)
Non-EU citizens: 6.720 EUR (approx. 50.100 DDK)

Open Education: Professional Training Course Storyboard is an Open Education program, part of the Bachelor in Graphic Storytelling at The Animation Workshop/VIA University College (TAW). Open Education is a wide range of educational programs in Denmark offered to adults who wish to undergo further training. It is open to anybody who has successfully passed our admission criteria (see “How to apply”) The Professional Training Course Storyboard consists of three subjects from the Bachelor in Graphic Storytelling: Sequential Storytelling 1 (20 ECTS), Pitching (5 ECTS) and Portfolio and Career Planning (5 ECTS).

COVID-19: Should it due to COVID-19 not be possible to run the course physically at campus for a longer period of time, we prepare and offer an alternative, online solution. There will be a reduced course fee in such an event. However, students who choose to take the course online because they cannot be physically present at campus will be charged the full fee.

More info
Download practical information (pdf)
Structure and content
This intensive 12-week Professional Training course gives you the opportunity to refine and expand your working knowledge of storyboarding for 2D and 3D animation, animated TV series and live-action films.
The Professional Training Course Storyboard is an intensive, hands-on course designed to prepare you for a career in storyboarding. During the course you will get the opportunity to refine and expand your working knowledge of storyboarding for 3D and 2D animation, animated television, and live action film under guidance of highly experienced industry professionals.

The course also contains an introduction to relevant related subjects such as screen writing, cinematography and drawing. Additionally, through the contact with the teachers you will get valuable inside information from the industry that will help you when applying for jobs later.

What you get

An intensive course developed with the help of industry professionals

Instructors are all active professionals brought in from animation studios around the world specifically for this 12-week Storyboard professional training course. Therefore instructors have updated and production-tested knowledge

Hands-on teaching and practice every day from morning to afternoon

Software: Toon Boom Storyboard PRO

Didactic material and art materials

A super useful professional network with the other participants and with the guest teachers – as well as to the rest of The Animation Workshop/VIA University College (TAW)

Advice and resources for further training and employment possibilities

Access to all extra-curricular activities at TAW

Download teaching plan

PLEASE NOTE: All students are required to bring a computer and a drawing tablet/Cintiq that will run Storyboard PRO from ToonBoom, which is included in the course fee.
How to apply
Applicants must have solid drawing skills and either have finished at least two years of study on a bachelor-degree or have some working experience with animation, film or similar.
In order to apply for the Storyboard course running in the Fall 2020, please click the link and fill out the online application form.

You will be asked to provide a CV, documentation for your bachelor-studies, if applicable, a motivation letter and a portfolio.

Your portfolio should represent you as a visual storyteller and should include your best work. It is important that we see a good demonstration of your drawing skills.

Requirements for your portfolio

Your portfolio can either be a PDF document or an online portfolio set up in Blogspot, Tumblr or similar.

Your name and contact information should be easy to find.

We will not accept portfolios using Facebook, DeviantArt galleries (DeviantArt portfolios are fine) or Flickr.

Consider the size of your images and other posts so that it loads easily and quickly.

We recommend uploading videos on Vimeo and posting images no larger than 2MB to reduce loading time.

Please also make sure that your blog, link or website functions properly. If it does not function at the time of the admissions review, we will disregard your application.

In the event of a successful application to the course, you will be asked to confirm your seat as soon as possible afterward.

The Animation Workshop/VIA University College (TAW) reserves the right to cancel the course should there not be enough participants.
Instructors

Your teachers are all professional storyboarders working in the animation industry. (More teachers to come.)

Jakob Worre Foged

graduated at The Animation Workshop 2007 (KAU) Has the last 10 years worked as a storyboard artist, on animated tv-series. Titles include: Ninjago, Star Wars Lego Freemakers and Watership Down.

Mireia Serra

Mireia Serra was born in Barcelona and raised in Mallorca. She studied Fine Arts and has now worked in storyboards for more than 20 years, mostly for TV series. Examples of clients are Cartoon Saloon & Dog Ears, Brown Bag Films, Boulder Media, Rovio Entertainment. Some of the TV series are: Puffin Rock, Vampirina, Angry Birds, Octonauts. Additionally she was a storyboard revisonist in The Breadwinner and a storyboard supervisor in the TV special of My Little Pony. Currently Mireia is teaching in La Salle Ramón Llull University in Barcelona.

Giovanna Ferrari

Giovanna is a 2d animator and storyboard artist. She has worked in the animation industry across Europe for about 15 years, on feature films and TV series for clients such as BBC, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Amazon. Giovanna has worked on films like The Breadwinner, Song of the Sea, and Wolf Walkers. She is now Senior Story Artist at Cartoon Saloon.

Mikkel Mainz

Animation film director and creative producer

. He is the founder of Skjald, a company focusing on developing worlds for 2D animated films, series, comics, RPG systems, and more. He also founded the 2D animation studio Sun Creature with two of his classmates right after his studies at The Animation Workshop in 2013. He created and directed the webseries and universe "The Reward - Tales of Alethrion", which raised around half a million dollars through crowdfunding and is developing his feature film "Spirit Seeker" with Jericca Cleland and Gone Badminton with Copenhagen Bombay. He has been animating on various other 2D projects like Ivandoe, Song of the Sea and Emara.

John Nevarez

Film and Storyboard Artist

John Nevarez has been an artist within the animation industry for more than 18 years. He was a storyboarder on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Secret Life of Pets and he has worked for Disney, Pixar Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Animation, Warner Bros. Feature Animation and many others. He has taught at The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Schoolism and The Nemo Academy in Florence just to mention a few.

Sune Elskær

Sune Elskær graduated from Danmarks Designskole, institute of visual communication in 2000. He works as a freelance illustrator and storyboard artist at the Gimle studio in Nørrebro, Copenhagen and has done storyboards and concept art for feature films, documentaries and advertising since 2000. He also illustrates fiction and non-fiction children’s books and works with archaeological visualizations.
Fees and finances

The fee is 3.650 EUR (approx. 27.200 DKK) for EU-citizens and 6.720 EUR (approx. 50.100 DKK) for non-EU citizens.

Please note that you will be asked to pay the fee upfront before the course starts.

Unfortunately we cannot offer scholarships.

Materials

All students are required to bring a computer and a drawing tablet/Cintiq that will run Storyboard PRO from ToonBoom, which is included in the course fee.

All other materials are included in the course fee.
Housing

TAW can provide opportunities for housing and help create contact to housing providers.

You will be offered a specific accommodation by the housing organization shortly after you have been accepted into the course. Rooms offered are typically located in the dormitory Camp Logos, which is located right next to TAW. Please note that TAW cannot guarantee that you get the specific room type you have requested. In some cases, we just have to accept what is currently available from the housing organization. The prices range between 3-500 EUR (2200-3500 DKK) per month.

Practical information

All rooms in Camp Logos are furnished with a bed, bedside table, bedside lamp, room divider, desk, chair and kitchenette. Please note that there are no kitchen utensils for the kitchenette in the room, but you can buy utensils at second hand shops in Viborg. The school will provide a duvet and pillow, so you will only need to bring bed sheets and towels. There is also a shared kitchen and common area at your disposal. If you have any questions in relation to housing during your course, please contact taw.housing@via.dk

As a PRO course participant, you only have to pay a reduced deposit of 2500 DKK (instead of 10.000 DKK).

You are also welcome to join our Facebook Housing group to team up with other students looking for roommates and new tenants for the apartments, they are leaving themselves.
Contact

Maria Skov Pedersen

Coordinator and teacher at The Drawing Academy and Professional Training

T: +45 87 55 49 44

E: marp@via.dk