Navigating the 2023/2024 Sheridan Bachelor of Animation Portfolio Requirements

Are you passionate about animation and ready to embark on a journey towards making it into a career? Sheridan College's Bachelor of Animation program is a fantastic 4-year program to nurture your artistic talents and gain the knowledge and skills you need to excel in the animation industry. To apply for this program, you must meet certain admission requirements, and the most crucial part of the application process is submitting a portfolio. In this blog post, we will guide you through the portfolio requirements for the 2023/2024 intake.

The Selection Process

Sheridan's Bachelor of Animation program is highly competitive, and they are looking for applicants who have a strong foundation in drawing, storytelling, and character design. It's important to note that the program does not accept any existing cartoon characters in your portfolio. Plagiarism, tracing, copying, or rotoscoping images from secondary sources are strictly prohibited and will result in a zero grade for the portfolio.  The average acceptance rate changes year to year, and there are a certain # of spots available for students that are domestic to Canada, and a certain # reserved for international students.  The average acceptance rate of each year depends on the number and quality of applicants applying, as there are 140 seats in the program.  As of this writing, 2023 was the highest grade requirement to be accepted at 91% for domestic students, and 95% for international — shockingly high.  When I applied in 2008, the grade requirement was 76% for domestic.  This means that artistic excellence is of utmost importance.

Upholding Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is also incredibly important at Sheridan College. By submitting your Admission Requirements, you are committing to adhere to Sheridan's Academic Integrity Policy, which emphasizes values such as honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. Any attempt to falsify transcripts, or submit fraudulent documents is considered a breach of academic integrity and will result in disqualification from admission. Those found in violation will be ineligible for admission to any Sheridan program or course for at least 5 years.

Additional Admission Requirements

To get started with your application, you must first apply online. For domestic students, the online applications opens on October 1, 2023, but you can only submit a portfolio in late February.  There is usually a window of 3-4 days to submit, and the deadline for submission is February 21, 2024, at 11:00 am EST. Mailed-in portfolios will not be accepted, so make sure you meet the online submission deadline.

Portfolio Requirements

Your portfolio is a reflection of your artistic abilities and will play a significant role in the admission process. The portfolio requirements are divided into several sections, each showcasing a different aspect of your artistic talent.

1. Observational Drawing

In this section, you need to demonstrate your knowledge of gestural concerns, structure, and form. Shading is not required; line drawings are sufficient. Show construction in your drawings. This section includes:

1.1 Figure Drawing

Submit four drawings of a human figure, clothed or nude, drawn from life. Avoid drawing from photographs or books. Two of these drawings should prioritize movement (the shorter poses) and two can be still (the longer poses), but all should show form and structure.  Please note that nude models are an essential component of the program, especially in life drawing courses.

1.2 Hand Drawing

Create two freehand line drawings of a human hand performing specific actions. The first drawing should depict the hand holding or gripping a small object, and the second should show the hand tossing or throwing this object.

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2. Character Design and Animation

This section evaluates your ability to depict characters appropriate for the medium of animation, and a short animation of an object. It includes:

2.1 Character Rotation

Draw an original character and rotate the design using specific views. The poses should all turn in one direction and be displayed on one page.

2.2 Short Animation

Create a short animation with a minimum of 24 images and a maximum of 48 images. Any medium is acceptable. If using drawings, color and shading are not necessary. You can transfer this design into CG or stop motion if you prefer.

Note: Sheridan hasn’t been very descriptive of what exactly 24 to 48 images means.  I’ve been personally frustrated with the lack of clarity here for several years.  Does this mean 24 - 48 frames (animation is rendered at 24 frames per second or fps, so this would mean 1-2 seconds), or 24 - 48 actual drawings?  In traditional animation, there are only 12 drawings a second that each are held on screen for 2 frames each (so 12 drawings for 24 frames or 1 second).  So if they mean 24 - 48 drawings, this would actually mean 2 - 4 seconds of animation.  I have had many past students hand in 4 second animations, and it has always been fine to do so.  Please Sheridan, if you read this, please be more specific!

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3. Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a crucial skill for animators. In this section you must make a storyboard:

3.1. Storyboard

Using the provided character, tell a simple visual story in four panels. Your story should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and you can choose whether or not to include dialogue.

Note: This section is notoriously the most difficult, and arguably the harshest marked.  I have found that many students try to do too much with the camera, when making things a bit simpler would have been better.  The difficulty is coming up with a story that can actually be clearly told in 4 panels. Check out my Storyboarding Fundamentals Course!

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4. Perspective Line Drawings

This section assesses your ability to draw environments with a focus on perspective, composition, and design. It includes:

4.1. Perspective Line Drawings

Create two drawings of an environment, either from your imagination or observed from real life. Avoid drawing the same place twice, and include one or more characters interacting with the environment.  The first is an interior, with a focus on linear perspective, and the second is an exterior, with a focus on nature, though some human-made elements can be present.

Note: I personally recommend drawing an environment from your imagination, and with a sense of animated story present in the scene.  If you are taking inspiration from real life, this is great, but you should also add a slight animated flare to it too.  The biggest problem that I help my students with is understanding the scale of characters and objects in relation to one another.  I find this is the biggest challenge students face with this exercise.

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5. Personal Artwork

In this section, you have the opportunity to showcase your personal artwork. It should include a variety of works that demonstrate the range of your artistic abilities and style. Examples of what you can submit include:

• Sketchbooks

• Paintings

• Caricatures

• Animations (ideally a demo reel of your best animated work)

• Cartoons

• Three-dimensional art (optional)

• Comic book or graphic novel pages (optional)

• Animation performances (optional)

Please ensure you follow the guidelines for each category.

Note: The personal work section is really where you get to shine. It’s where you truly demonstrate your passion to study animation, and where you can also demonstrate your knowledge of what is required in the animation process, as there are many steps along the way to creating a complete production.  There are plenty of under-utilized skill sets to demonstrate, which I can talk to all about in any of my online training.

Additional Information

Here are some key points to keep in mind:

• Classes for the Fall term begin Tuesday, September 3, 2024

• Candidates to the program will be selected based on their academic achievement (in progress or completed) and the results of their portfolio evaluation, but it skews heavily towards relying on the portfolio rather than academics

• Notification of admissions decisions are made through email and the applicant portal. Decisions are not released over the phone

• As this is a high-demand program, it is suggested that you apply to additional programs in the event that your score is not high enough to gain admission to the program (Explore our Complete Animation Portfolio Bundle)

• Sheridan’s Honours Bachelor of Animation program has computer systems and software for students to use. A home computer and a drawing tablet would also be beneficial when working on homework

• A recommended computer system would be a machine that can run the Adobe Creative Suite (specifically Adobe After Effects and Toonboom Harmony). If the budget allows, a machine that runs Autodesk Maya would be ideal.

• A recommended tablet would be a Wacom Intuos. If the budget allows, a Wacom Cintiq is ideal. However, there are many cheaper alternatives that we’ve linked in our online shop

Prepare for Your Animation Journey Today!

Are you eager to embark on your animation journey at Sheridan College? Ready to make your dreams of becoming an animator a reality? The Sheridan Animation Bundle by The Animation Tutor is a comprehensive program designed to equip you with all the essential tools you need to secure your spot in the prestigious Animation Program at Sheridan.

• Both courses in the Bundle cover the entirety of the Sheridan Animation portfolio requirements, including some weeks dedicated to developing your personal work

• Master observational drawing, hand drawing, figure drawing, and imaginative assignments

• Emphasizes character development that feels integrated into a story, not just created in a vacuum

• Learn to draw interior and exterior environments with effective camera positioning, and choosing a perspective angle that actually is ideal to show the kind of environment from your imagination

• Dive deep into animation principles, storyboarding, and visual storytelling

• Explore various artistic styles and push your animation abilities to new heights

• Benefit from interactive versions with valuable feedback directly from the Animation Tutor

This course bundle was specially designed for aspiring individuals aiming to gain admission to Sheridan College's competitive animation program. This bundle covers the minimum requirements for applying to Sheridan College’s Animation Program. For a more extensive bundle, check out the Complete Animation Portfolio Bundle, which includes another four courses on top of the two from the Sheridan Animation Bundle, and includes a bonus textbook, an Animation Careers Lecture, and a lecture on presenting your portfolio artwork nicely.