Courses from Animation Mentor
Game Animation, 3D Character Animation, 2D Animation, and Concept Art
Animation Mentor is a dedicated online animation school where students train directly with professional animators from top studios across the globe.
Through mentor‑guided classes that follow real studio pipelines, you receive personalized critiques on every shot so your work improves with each assignment.
Whether you are just stepping into 3D or pushing into games, creatures, or stylized performance, you will develop a refined demo reel and build connections that support a studio‑ready career path.
Your First Step Into 3D Animation:Â Maya Animation CourseÂ
This 6‑week beginner course introduces you to 3D animation inside Autodesk Maya, helping you learn the interface, navigate in 3D space, and use essential animation tools while working with professional character rigs. By the end, you will understand how to block, refine, and polish simple shots that apply the core principles of animation.
Tuition: $699Â Â
LEARN MOREAlready Know Your Way Around Maya?
If you are comfortable in the Autodesk Maya software and ready to push your skills further, these structured programs are designed to build professional‑level animation abilities. Â
3D Game Animation Program
This program concentrates on animation for games through a series of 12‑week courses that explore core gameplay movement, interactive mechanics, dynamic combat, and cinematic sequences for real‑time engines. Each term focuses on creating practical, game‑ready shots that demonstrate you understand both animation quality and how it functions in real‑time environments.Â
3DÂ Character Animation Program
This multi‑course program develops your character animation skills step by step with a sequence of 12‑week classes covering animation foundations, body mechanics, acting, and advanced performance polish. You will work directly with studio animators, receive one‑on‑one feedback, and complete assignments that are tailored to building a strong character‑focused demo reel.
Advanced placement options are available for artists who already have animation experience and want to skip earlier levels. Admissions advisors can help determine the best starting point based on your current work.
LEARN MORE2D Animation and Concept Art Courses
Explore 6-week long 2D animation, storyboarding, and design courses from Animation Mentor that help you build expressive drawings, cinematic storytelling skills, and portfolio‑ready concept art.
2D Animation for Beginners
Learn how to bring simple drawings to life as you explore the core principles of 2D animation in an approachable, beginner‑friendly format. Over a series of guided lessons and exercises, you will practice timing, spacing, squash and stretch, and basic acting using digital tools, building confidence as you animate short, polished shots from scratch.
Tuition: $899Â Â
2D Animation: Walk Cycles & Character Movement
Focus specifically on character locomotion as you learn to design and animate convincing 2D walk cycles and simple movement patterns. You will study body mechanics, rhythm, and weight, then apply those ideas to forward, in‑place, and stylized walks that help your characters feel grounded, expressive, and ready for production.
Tuition: $899
Storyboarding
This two‑part storyboarding path shows you how to translate ideas into clear visual sequences that support animation and film. You will learn how to break down scripts into shots, plan staging and camera choices, and create boards that communicate emotion, timing, and intent to directors and production teams, progressing from foundational skills into more advanced cinematic storytelling.
Tuition: $899
Introduction to Character Design
Build the fundamentals of designing appealing, story‑driven characters. Through structured exercises, you will explore shape language, silhouette, proportion, expression, and costume to create original characters that read clearly on screen and feel grounded in a specific world and narrative.
Tuition: $899
Visual Development
Discover how to shape the look and feel of a project by working through the visual development process from concept to final key art. You will experiment with thumbnails, composition, color scripts, lighting, and environment design to create cohesive illustration sets that define mood, style, and world‑building.
Tuition: $899
Out of Shape: Character Design
Push your sense of design and stylization by focusing on bold, graphic shape language as the engine for characters, props, and environments. This course challenges you to break away from default choices, explore unexpected silhouettes, and use shape contrast and simplification to create memorable, highly readable designs that stand out in a portfolio.
Tuition: $899
Advanced 3D Animation Courses
If you already understand 3D animation fundamentals and software, these focused courses help you sharpen specific skills and add specialized shots to your reel.
Creature Animation
In these 12‑week creature‑focused courses, you will study realistic animal and fantasy movement, from grounded walks and runs to powerful, aggressive actions. The curriculum emphasizes believable weight, physicality, and behavior so your quadrupeds and creatures feel grounded in reality, whether they are for film, television, or games.
Tuition: $2,499
Game Animation Fundamentals
This 6‑week course introduces the fundamentals of game‑ready animation, concentrating on movement, timing, and responsiveness suitable for modern game engines. You will create and refine gameplay‑oriented clips and get an introductory look at how animators prepare work for integration into engines such as Unreal.Â
Tuition: $899
Cartoony Animation
This advanced 6‑week course is aimed at 3D animators who want to push stylized performance, appeal, and exaggeration. You will experiment with bold posing, snappy timing, and expressive spacing to craft highly readable, cartoony animation that showcases personality and strong acting choices.
Tuition: $899
Previsualization
Over 6 weeks, this course focuses on shot planning and sequence design in 3D, teaching you how to block cameras, stage action, and build previs passes that communicate story and intent before full production begins. You will learn to translate scripts and storyboards into clear, cinematic shot sequences that guide directors, animators, and production teams.
Tuition: $899
Vertex School is an authorized Animation Mentor partner.