The school was originally a Studio and in 1991 landed a huge contract from Hollywood in the form of Stephen Spielberg’s award-winning ‘Tiny Toons’. Then faced with the problem of finding Animators to complete the huge task, a training program was created and the first 12 students were taken on.

These days Freelance Animation School has a student number of 166 and is responsible for training some of the countries top animation talent who in turn have started there own companies. Brent Chambers, who was one of the Freelances original 12 students, formed ‘Flux Animation’ in 1997 which has become one of the most successful Animation studios in the country (TV, Advertising). Taking on contract work from overseas including two scenes in Al Gores award-winning ‘the inconvenient truth’ not to mention the creation of innovative cartoon series such as ‘Staines Down Drains’ and ‘Massey Ferguson’.

Throughout the years animation technology has developed which is reflected in the way the school teaches but the emphasis has always remained on strong ‘character animation’. Giving life to the inanimate, making the most extraordinary and impossible creations come to life, breath, move, dance, run and play. Graduates from the CGI stream of the course have taken these skills onto companies like WETA and Sidhe Interactive (Gaming development).

These skills are just as relevant today as the day that John Ewing first picked up a pencil and without them it is certain that and the animation industry in New Zealand would not have transformed so dramatically into what it is at present.

Freelance Animation School the countries longest running Animation School and the only school to have it’s Diploma in Character Animation awarded the ScreenMark by the New Zealand Screen Council. ScreenMark is an industry accreditation process that recognises high quality, practical tertiary education courses that are relevant to the screen industry, have quality training and successful outcomes for graduating students.

If you love to draw, have a huge imagination and have a passion for animation come visit us at Freelance Animation School New Zealand’s premiere institute for Animation training.