10 Drawing Degree Programs in Canada

Learn the skills to bring your imagination to life in OCAD University’s new Experimental Animation program. OCAD U has a long history of graduating successful animators in art and film including George Dunning who directed The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and Richard Williams who was animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. More recently, alumni include computer animator Trudy Elmore and emerging VR artist Jawa El Khash. Shary Boyle, who represented Canada at the Venice Biennale, has achieved great success with her mesmerizing performances using hand-animated imagery. In this program, you’ll develop a personal artistic vision and push the boundaries of animation as a contemporary art form. You’ll mix traditional and digital media using 2D, 3D, stop-motion, digital compositing and augmented/virtual reality. At the end of this four-year program, you will earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

In the Drawing & Painting program, you will expand your knowledge of contemporary painting through traditional and experimental approaches.

Observe the world through drawing. Explore composition and layout, expressive mark-making, perspective, and basic value/texture drawing techniques. Gain the confidence and skill required to accurately depict subject matter in dimensional space and discover an inspiring range of ways to use pencil, ink, and watercolour. See the supply list below for items to bring.

The Foundation Arts Certificate is a one-year program that teaches introductory art and design skills in drawing, painting, sculpting, and basic digital art.

Drawing is a dynamic and open program of research, critique, and intensive studio and post-studio exploration tailored to each student’s unique voice. You’ll explore various media and forms using interdisciplinary concepts and approaches, as you develop and express your personal creative identity and philosophy. Shared studio spaces in first and second-year classes.

Are you an animation fanatic? The kind of person who hates waking up to an alarm clock for school but can always jump out of bed for Saturday morning cartoons? Does “taking notes” in class mean constantly doodling and day-dreaming about far-away fantasy worlds and colourful characters? If so, 2D Animation & Digital Art is the program for you!

The school's Character Animation diploma program at VanArts places your focus on character animation through body mechanics and performance, and strong foundation training in modeling, lighting, character building and art direction.

You’ve always been creative and had your finger on the pulse of the latest trends in technology. Video games are a bit of an obsession, and a career that requires a suit and tie is just not what you have in mind. Working with a team of talented colleagues on the next blockbuster game or animated feature is where you see yourself in the near future. It’s time to bring your dreams to life.

AUArts’s MFA in Craft Media is a collaborative, cross-disciplinary, studio-based program that gives you the freedom to explore possibilities, push limits, and reimagine your practice.

Learn how to tell dynamic and convincing 2D and 3D animated stories on screen from our talented professors who have worked on audience favourites like Tarzan, 9, and the Tom and Jerry Show.