Experimental Animation Techniques is a full-time, hands-on animation class held during the Summer Session at The Evergreen State College. No previous media or animation experience is required to take EAT, just a desire to learn.

In EAT, you will learn various animation skills – such as direct (cameraless), pixilation, collage and articulated (puppet) cut-out, stratacut, and 3-D stop-motion – through hands-on workshops and by completing short video projects in each style. You will also learn the art of storyboarding and lip sync as well as project management. Assignments can be completed individually or in teams.

The second half of the session is dedicated to a final project where you will be able to experiment with any or all of the animation techniques covered in the first half of the session. Final projects are typically designed to be trailers for that fall’s Olympia Film Festival, although this is not required.

At the end of the summer you will have earned 16 credits and have a portfolio showcasing your animation skill and style.

“I had never touched a computer before I came up to Pixar… [John Lasseter’s] radical thinking at the time which now makes a lot of sense to everybody… ‘You can teach anybody software in 3 months. What I can’t teach them is the skills they’ve got to use the computer for. I can’t teach them timing and staging and a sense of acting and posing…’ We’ve never hired anybody for their computer skills.”
-Andrew Stanton, director of Pixar's WALL-E

Hear the full interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.