iAnimate.net :: The Character Animation School

Bruce,
While I don’t agree with all of your arguments, I think I can at least see where you are coming from. I believe I found four main arguments you are presenting, and I would like to divide them up and address each one separately.

Argument 1
The animation field is already over-saturated with animators.

I can agree that there are more animators than ever. With the accessibility of excellent learning resources made so easily available in recent years, more and more people are able to follow their passion for animation. In fact, it may even encourage those who never considered it before.
While it is true that there are more animators than ever, not all of those animators are GOOD animators. GOOD animators get the jobs.
Perhaps your argument is actually that ‘the animation field is over-saturated with GOOD animators.’ And perhaps this is valid.
So if your concern here is that iAnimate will produce more good animators to compete in the job market, I think we can only take that as a compliment. I hope for the good of the animation community and the future of the craft of animation that we produce the upcoming best-of-the-best.

Argument 2
More animators = lower salaries.

I fully agree with this argument in terms of a basic understanding of the economic principle of ‘supply and demand.’ However, I was under the impression that animation wages have been on the decline ever since the second golden age of animation in the early nineties, where they were severely over-inflated and almost comical. Now that wages are more realistic, they are suffering under the same economic strain as every profession in the current economy. From janitors to teachers, social workers to engineers, to pilots, contractors, and actors, every profession has been under the burden of budget cuts, fewer placement opportunities, and lower wages.
And yet again, more GOOD animators could equal lower salaries.

Argument 3
Creators of iAnimate will make money, while the graduates will not.

This sounds purely spiteful, but I will play along. iAnimate is designed to be the most affordable animation education available. By the end of the program students should have the animation chops to apply for professional jobs if they choose to do so. Barring the economic strain of the job market as described above, they should be paid as professionals with the opportunity to make a decent living, including paying off any debt they may have. And if the assumption is that the graduates will not be GOOD animators, worthy of competing in current job markets, then that might undercut your first two arguments. Also, I am very confused why in your new comment you argue that iAnimate should charge MORE for classes? This completely contradicts your first post.

Argument 4
The fact and folly of art school is that students pay tons of money for mediocre classes and suffer debt for years.

I would argue this is a perceived fact and folly of ANY school, and is not limited to art fields. I know plenty of close friends in several areas of study that feel they have wasted thousands and thousands of dollars on a mediocre education that did not adequately prepare them for the job market.
I myself went to a full 4 year university with the goal of becoming a professional animator. Without specifics, tuition was between $50,000 and $90,000 for the full 4 years, and i didn’t learn much about animation AT ALL. I took it upon myself to learn animation on my own outside of classes. While I am fully and unequivocally grateful for my well-rounded education, having studied philosophy, social sciences, biological sciences, history, etc, if there were a program as affordable as iAnimate available to me at the time, I probably would have done it in addition to my personal studies.
As for the implication that iAnimate will provide mediocre classes and force the student in to debt for years, I must argue the contrary. Unlike the university I attended, iAnimate instructors are working professionals in the field they are teaching, and provide an intimate knowledge of the subject matter, the best way to learn it, and just as importantly – they know the skill level the student much reach in order to become hirable.
Additionally, the people that have actually told me they got a great education-to-cost ratio are those that went through Animation Mentor. It is an effective program that doesn’t waste time on anything BUT character animation, which is why it prepares many of its students for a job in animation but isn’t drastically out of reach monetarily (unlike many 4 year institutions). Add all that up and then consider that iAnimate is actually less expensive than AM. Personally, I think that will provide quality animation training with even less debt incurred.

So while there are more animators than ever, I think iAnimate.net is going to be a great program that allows people interested in animation to explore their talents and opportunities without having to spend a fortune. I hope no one gets in over their head and is stuck paying off debt for years and years to come, and/or feels that they did not receive an education worthy of the money they spent. And while we all have to face economic downturn these days, I don’t wish anyone’s career to be a struggle. I am confident the good animators will find the jobs, even if it takes a little longer than they might hope.
-Jacob