Courses for the Summer 2020 term are open for registration! Check out new tracks and the Animation Master Academy program available at CGMA.
CG Master Academy is open for Summer 2020 registration—featuring new courses, a brand new program, and a new classroom platform! Our students can receive the full learning experience — expert training from industry professionals, collaborative virtual classrooms, personalized expert feedback, and live Q&A — completely online, at any level and from anywhere in the world.
Students can take courses that speak to their individual goals under the guidance of the world's most talented artists from Marvel, Dreamworks, Blizzard, and more.
If you have any questions regarding registration or portfolio review requests, please contact the CGMA Admissions Department at registration@cgmasteracademy.
Check out our new and improved platform!
The leader in online digital arts education just got better, We've completely rebuilt our virtual classroom, making it easier for students to learn new skills, refine their work, collaborate with classmates, receive feedback from instructors, track and organize weekly course progress, submit homework assignments, and more. Check out the improved features below!
Animation Master Academy
Learn from the animation industry’s best!
You are invited to take your passion for movement, acting, staging, timing, and storytelling to the next level! The Animation Master Academy was created to be the next evolution in online animation education. We do this by providing you with the best mentors and artists in the animation industry.
Matte Painting
w/ Eric Bouffard
In this course, students will go through the complex discipline of matte painting, utilizing many different skill sets and primarily working in Photoshop. Students will combine photography into their pieces to create skyscapes, landscapes, cityscapes, and seascapes while building different design possibilities and lighting scenarios. The course will address the history of matte paintings and how traditional pieces and techniques are still applied today to current matte work with the newest technology and tools.
IP Development for Production
w/ Mark Molnar & Pixoloid Studios
This class is designed to help students create a compelling presentation of their story with visually striking images. Over the course of 10 weeks, students will be guided through the creation of a pitch package so that they can showcase their ability to come up with a suitable design language for a story and carry that across the different aspects of creating a visually cohesive world. While covering the principles of character, prop, environment, and key frame design, students will be encouraged to use the work they have created prior to the course and polish an IP they've already started to build. The goal is to create a final presentation of the development of the heroes, villains, the world they live in, and the adventures they experience. Throughout the course, students will gain feedback from the art directors and senior artists of Pixoloid studios (currently: Mark Molnar, Gaspar Gombos, David Metzger, Janos Gardos).
3D for 2D Artists
w/ Sergio Castaneda
This class will help students understand how powerful 3D is and how to take advantage of different techniques to translate 2D skills into full 3D scenes. Students will render multiple scenes while learning to incorporate 3D techniques into their concept art workflows. The course will initially focus on the essential 3D tools to quickly generate great 3D base images that can be presented as blockouts ready to be polished in a painting software like Photoshop. As the course progresses, students will start working with more complex organic scenes. Finally, students will create an entire environment based on their own 2D drawing or sketch, getting multiple shots to tell a story. The course will also demonstrate why 3D workflows require knowledge of 2D composition and color to have a professional piece. This course uses Blender for the 3D techniques, but the skills and workflows demonstrated can be adapted for other 3D software packages.
Narrative Illustration and Characters
w/ Miguel Iglesias
Illustrators working in entertainment will spend their careers creating compelling imagery for narrative and marketing purposes. The best illustrators in entertainment inject a sense of gravity, mood, and energy, which draws consumers and players into the world the art portrays. This course focuses on the skills essential for good image-making, and also on those skills which elevate an illustration to the next tier of professionalism. Students will discuss what makes a lasting, impactful piece of art, cover some of the techniques and tools they can use to maximize their chances of success, and build the habits necessary to conduct themselves in a professional environment.
Background and Layout for Animation
w/ Jonathan Hoekstra
In this course, students will cover: composition, prop design, designing a focal point, and building layouts around it, style exploration, layout construction, and design principles. By the end of the course, students will have a strong grasp of the job of a Layout Artist/Background Designer and will be able to use film theory to design any composition and complete the layout. Students will learn what it means to be a background/layout artist on a production, and what is required of an artist in that role. They will learn how to adapt to different design styles and different productions (a versatility required of artists working in the industry) and how to design layouts using a storyboard as a guide as well as how to move the camera in the scene (reverse shots and tilts).
Environment Art for Games in UE4
w/ Peyton Varney
During this class, students will get to experience the environment pipeline creation from start to finish. This course will go over the process of creating an environment from concept to bringing an idea to life using industry-standard tools and techniques. Students will have a better understanding of how to use their creativity to make something of their own and how to push a piece to a further benchmark. The goal of the class will be to create several high-quality assets that will come together to create one cohesive scene that is well presented.
Procedural Modeling for Production in Houdini
w/ Sean McEwan
This course will be an in-depth look into procedural modeling in Houdini. Throughout the course, students will gain a strong understanding of how proceduralism can be used to create powerful modeling workflows. They will explore a variety of concepts used to create procedural assets, with each lesson having a finished product demonstrating the principles of that week. Students will learn how to organize their workflows and create artist-friendly interfaces for reusability.
Claim your seat for as low as $175*! This Summer 2020 term, students can take advantage of our new payment system by splitting tuition costs into up to 4 installments. The 4-payment split option is only available for the first week of registration, with payments scheduled to post monthly. After the first week, students can split payments in up to 3 installments starting at $233*.
At the time of the final purchase, you will be presented with a few payment options: PayPal, credit card, or through our “Installments” option. For new students, this will be at the end of the registration form you complete after making your class selection(s). For existing students, this will be after you log in and make your class selection(s). In either case, the rest is pretty simple!
*Payment increments are dependent on the price of the course.
Cover image by Peyton Varney