Preparing for the next wave of animation in China

The Centre for Creative Communications, Centennial College is involved in a special project training emerging digital animation instructors from China. Teacher training sessions takes place at SuOn College in Toronto, a Chinese owned and operated collage.

The aim of this initiative is to expose Chinese educators to our way of teaching and relating to learners, and to share our curriculum and general information about North American animation and the VFX industry. Students are college and university level teachers and professors who teach 3D animation, Flash 2D animation, motion graphics, graphic design and fine art, mostly from the Jiangsu province, mainly from Nanjing and surrounding areas, hence the name SUON (SU is short for Jiangsu and ON for Ontario.)

The animation training course is usually 3-4 weeks long, and it is truly a fun experience for both instructors and students who are extremely interested in the material and are very knowledgeable in their fields, but require industry experience.

"They are all professional educators, often teaching classes that have more than 30 students at the time," says Centennial College instructor Dalibor Dajanovic. "Their conditions simply don't allow them to have same interaction that we have here at Centennial College."

"Often at the end students leave with tears in their eyes, pointing to the fact that they never expected to find such passion for learning and teaching, generosity and welcome," Dajanovic says.

Dalibor Dejanovic, is a Senior Character Animator and Digital Artist at C.O.R.E. Digital, Red Rover, Nelvana and Elliott Animation. He teaches Intro to Animation, Character Animation, Character Design and Final Project at Centennial College.

Media contact: Paul Koidis, Communications, Marketing and Development, The Centre for Creative Communications, Centennial College, (416) 289-5000, ext. 8609, pkoidis@centennialcollege.ca