Learn to draw a standout portfolio this summer!

New APW in-person class! 

Our full comprehensive 228 hour curriculum – 8 weeks of  classes Monday to Friday in our studio.

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

Drawing excellence
is essential.

If your dream is to get into animation school, you need to know how to draw. No “short cuts” or “tips on portfolio-making” can ever substitute for doing the work. 

Our curriculum covers exactly what you need to know in order to produce your best portfolio yet and be prepared to meet the challenges of learning animation.

Summer Session : July 2 - August 27, 2024

In Person

Animation Portfolio Workshop is Canada’s first and original animation portfolio preparation program. For 23 years, APW has set the standard for pre-art college training in drawing.

Each APW animation portfolio preparation course consist of 228 hours of live, comprehensive, and interactive in-class learning. You will cover character design, life drawing, perspective, layout, storyboards and more to build your animation school portfolio.

 

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but now with the new semester at Seneca I’m compelled to finally say it: Animation Portfolio Workshop is really making a difference in the quality of students that come into my first semester Life Drawing classes.”

Details

In the Summer Session, our 228 hour curriculum is designed to have you prepared with a complete portfolio by the end of the program. The program lasts 8 weeks, with a 5-day break from Aug 3rd-7th.  Classes are Monday to Friday, 10am – 5pm.

The Summer Session format offers an in-person learning environment and extended one-on-one personal critique sessions offer input and feedback to each student while thoroughly covering drawing practice and portfolio crafting.

While housing is not provided as part of our program, we understand the importance of finding suitable accommodation during your stay. We recommend exploring options such as Homestay (www.homestay.com/canada/toronto) or Airbnb (www.airbnb.com) for a wide range of choices. Bernadette will be available to offer feedback and advice on the spaces and neighbourhoods that students have found to help ensure a comfortable, convenient, and safe stay. 

Course Outline

Our program consists of two modules: Life Drawing for Animation and Drawing for Animation. These two modules cover all of the required drawings in an animation portfolio and together make up a typical session of the Animation Portfolio Workshop. 

The Life Drawing for Animation module exposes students to a series of drawing exercises that help to develop the skill set needed to create all the observational drawings that comprise an animation portfolio. 
The Drawing for Animation module rounds out our animation portfolio preparation program by introducing and covering solid, structural object drawing, linear perspective, layout, character body construction, character design, storyboarding and composition. 

One day of classes has a three hour Life Drawing for Animation class, a lunch break and a three hour Drawing for Animation class. Two courses, one workshop.

Sections

IN-PERSON

Monday to Friday: July 2th – August 27th, 2024 | 10:00 – 5:00 PM EST 
$5,300 CAD (Plus 13% HST and/or 4% surcharge where applicable)

 

Your portfolio matters.

Learn from the best.

Our students have been admitted to top animation schools around the world.

Summer Session 1
Summer Session 2
Summer Session 3
Summer Session 4
Summer Session 5
Summer Session 6

Frequently Asked Questions

To get into a top animation school you need to submit a portfolio of your drawings that demonstrate skills in the areas of observational drawing, perspective, character design, life drawing and more. We’ve designed our animation portfolio preparation course to cover exactly what you need to know in order to get into animation school and perhaps more importantly, to be able to meet the challenges of learning animation.

If you want to be an animator, layout artist or storyboard artist, you need to go to animation school and if you want to go to animation school you need to know how to draw. As a standard part of the application process, all of the top animation schools like Sheridan, Seneca, Calarts, Ringling, SVA (School of Visual Arts) and many more require each applicant to submit a portfolio of drawings that show a demonstration of skill in Life Drawing, perspective, drawing various objects from daily life, animal drawing, character design, storyboard and more.

Yes. We offer our full comprehensive program online for students who do not or cannot attend in-person. It’s interactive and engaging with plenty of one-on-one attention.

No, we are all about starting at the beginning and building up a solid understanding of drawing fundamentals.  Anyone who is interested can register. If you feel that you are an absolute beginner and you are concerned that you may not be able to keep up with the pace of our full program then you might want to try our Drawing Basics first.

Since at least three of our courses are under six months in duration, it is covered by a simple Visitors Visa. Plan to receive your visa well in advance of the Intensive start date to allow enough time to make adequate travel preparations.
Government of Canada Visitor Visa information
Processing times for Visitor Visa Applications
Check your Eligibility

No. A session of APW focuses from start to finish on drawing. All paper-work involved in the application process is handled by the student or by the parent or guardian of the student – APW does not contact schools on behalf of individual students. Our focus is on the development of foundational drawing skills and on helping each student assemble the strongest portfolio they can.

Fill out the form for the program you’re interested in and we’ll contact you to walk you through the rest.

Please review our full Frequently Asked Questions page. You can also book a call with our Admissions Director.

Have questions?
We're here to help.