Love in the Club: KPU Animation Club

Animation club looks to fill a niche

Kwantlen Polytechnic University offers a variety of art classes, but none for the art of animation. John Holt, who has animation degrees from Bellevue College and Vancouver Film School, hopes his newly founded Animation Club can fill the missing niche.

“There are plenty of classes that you can do an animation for (as a project). But there are no classes on how to actually animate,” says Holt. In starting the Animation Club, Holt wants to get people learning and create new opportunities for students interested in animation.

“I thought at the very least I could promote an animation-fostering environment to get people into wanting to learn about it,” says Holt. “Maybe even see if there are people here who aspire to be animators, and they can find out more about the different options they have open to becoming animators.”

Holt hopes the club can eventually meet on Wednesdays for regular movie screenings and instructional meetings on the craft of animation. According to the club website, these instructional meetings will cover everything from, “the history of animation to the 12 rules of animation.”

“Another thing that really will get people to want to learn about animation is just watching some of what it has to offer,“ says Holt.

The Animation Club plans to screen animations from around the world, and from a variety of studios. As a student at VFS, Holt made connections within the local industry and feels these could bring value to running the club.

“I am planning to use some of the connections I made at VFS for tours of actual animation studios,” he says.  “One of the coolest things is to go to an animation studio and just see how it all works. The differences between studios is interesting and can be very vast. Getting to see the magic happen  is actually very fascinating.”

The Kwantlen Animation club had its first meeting on March 2 and currently has a second meeting planned for March 16. Find out more at kpuanimation.wix.com.