WANIC Art & Animation

Program Description:

The DigiPen Academy WANIC Art and Animation course helps students develop the skills necessary to pursue post-secondary education in the field of fine art and animation. The program focuses on traditional art skills including basic drawing, composition, line value, and perspective drawing. Upon learning these skills, students are introduced to essential animation skills like character concept and design, basic keyframe animation, motion studies and digital hand-drawn animation.

Exciting career opportunities for digital artists have never been greater, but whether producing art assets for a video game, creating a digital hand-drawn animation, or compositing visual effects, today’s artists must have strong traditional skills to be competitive. DigiPen’s Art & Animation track focuses on establishing this foundation, concentrating on both art and animation techniques that strengthen artistic skills. No prior art or animation skills are required as this structured program covers the basics including perspective, color, form, value, design, composition, and timing. Like learning a new language, students gain an understanding of the “grammar” of art and develop a fluency with their digital art skills, they apply critical design process to create the amazing visuals and animation expected by today’s audience.

In this full-year, 3-period Skill Center class (3 high school credits) students will:

• Practice the nature of drawing with emphasis on perspective and effective use of depth cues to create the illusion of form and space
• Discover how shape, color, and value work together to create 2D visual artworks
• Understand the role and responsibilities of a production artist in solo and group settings
• Apply critical animation principles such as timing, spacing, and keyframes
• Utilize 2D and 3D digital tools and techniques to aid in the art production process
• Practice the Video Game production process including pitches, design documents, scheduling, milestones, testing, time management, and working on interdisciplinary teams

Two Year Program Available.

Course Descriptions

Art & Animation Year 1

For 2025–2026, students have the option to earn college credit for the following courses:

ART 1100 Drawing Design I – This course explores the fundamentals of drawing with line. Emphasis is placed on applied drawing goals and critical thinking skills. Topics include design elements, principles, processes, and basic research strategies.

ANI 1000 Animation I – This course introduces the principles of animation and how movement is conveyed through timing, spacing, and drawing. Emphasis is placed on bringing sequential images to life through motion analysis. Topics include animation theories, research, planning, keyframing, and in-betweening.

Art & Animation Year 2

For 2025–2026, students have the option to earn college credit for the following courses:

ART 1120 Drawing Design II – This course expands on applied drawing goals, practices, and design. Emphasis is placed on the concepts of construction drawing, analysis, and extrapolation for the design and creation of representational imagery derived from imagination. Additional topics include composition, value, and perspective.

CG 2000 2D Digital Art – This course introduces 2D digital art. Topics include digital drawing, painting, material studies, conceptualization, and illustration.

Click to view full 2025-2026 DigiPen Course Catalog.