I want to study Animation, I heard that TheOneAcademy is best for it.
But, TOA only offers diploma program for Animation, no degree program for it if i'm not wrong..
Based on the website, if i want to further my studies, i need to go to UK/US universities??

And i did another research about Lim Kok Wing, Lim Kok Wing offers foundation and Degree program.

TOA offers Diploma only?? Diploma 3 years
LimkokWing , foundation 1year + degree

It seems that limkokwing offers more and saves a lot of time..., BUT, i heard lim kok wing is bad at animation courses... so what to do??

Is there other college/ university provides foundation courses , degree and master courses for Animation in Malaysia???

If possible i want to further my study in Animation till Master in Malaysia because the cost of degree programme and master programme in overseas seem to be overwhelming O.o

OMG, are you serious? Study for Masters in Animation???

You don't need any watchamacall' certs or titles, just you portfolio is good enough throughout your career. Even though I'm not a school-leaver yet, I assure you, portfolio and your skills are the greatest assets an artist/animator could have.

I was initially inclined towards majoring my animation in USA, but with limited finances, I guess I have no choice but to study here. But that did not leave me dull hope, I was more than ever willing to improve and buff up my skills.

In your case, I'm not sure of how you want your future to shape like...so I assume you'd want to finish your course fast, am I right? Well, there's a degree course in Animation at MMU(Multimedia Uni), but of course, you got to check out the details there on your own.
I hope this really help you, I'm willing to help any budding animators out there
(ps, there's no Master in Animation IN MALAYSIA, but there more choices if go outside our shores, like the US)

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Mar 28 2011, 07:33 PM

Higher education doesnt mean anything in art & animation. What you need is outstanding portfolio and experience in the industry is a plus. There are many degree holder but their portfolio is like primary school, and many professionals out there that don't even have art education..

When come to art, doesn't matter you want further studies or not, TOA is still the best.

kpchoo, you're right on that part there

hmm, if "Higher education doesnt mean anything in art & animation." Woudn't job finding is hard?? @.@ I think higher education can have higher chance of getting a job.

Hey, LZ Zach, are animators well paid in Malaysia? since, animation doesnt seems to be popular in malaysia.

Yeah well, it is if you're not much of a competent person yourself, that's why you gotta 'sell' yourself when you face with your potential employer (that's what my teacher used to say, blowing your own trumpet!)

For your question on animators being well-paid here, ermm, I can't answer that. I hope some professional LYN member in the creative arts field might shed some lights on this. I'm planning to work overseas btw

oh, isn't it difficult to find a job at overseas? I'm thinking since Malaysia doesn't invest much in animation field, so the chance of getting a job in Malaysia is low. Even available, the pay must be abysmal if i'm not wrong...

Do you think studying animation is a right choice? I'm planing for my future, I don't want to end up with no job after i study animation especially the economy nowadays seem to be getting worse.

So, does animation provides a guaranteed future of getting enough pay to support my life in the future?

Yea, sometimes I feel that too, questioning myself about how viable it is to invest my future in a seemingly risky field.

But to me, animation has been my dream when I was a little boy,in fact my whole life! And I wouldn't want to let it all go down the drain like that.

If you think it's too risky or challenging for you, you can always opt for another better field which offers much remunerations. And maybe at the same time, you could study animation during your free time. That's what some individuals do out there.

I never really have a choice to venture into other fields, because I never have any passion in them. All I have now is my pencil and my paper, and I'm gonna make full use of them, no matter how bleak the looming situation or the upcoming obstacles that life has in store for me Well, I don't want to dampen your spirit in animation but it's your decision to make, not mine, so I gonna let you reflect about it
If going overseas is the only way, then I have to make it there, I have to try and work harder; that is what I believe.

NO. Why would a company want to hired animator with master cert but lousy skill? To wash toilet?
If the company look at then cert first when interview, I would just walk away, cause that prove the company is still very n00b in this field. Most of the top studios would totally ignored the cert when interview.


For fresh grad animator, local animator salary is around 2k(good portfolio)-3k(super outstanding portfolio). Be hardworking in college and be 1 of the top students, then you don't have to worry about not getting a job.

This post has been edited by kpchoo29: Mar 29 2011, 01:35 AM

kpchoo, are you an animator too? Are you working locally?
Just kind of curious to know

what about animator with 6-10 years working experience ?
Whats the maximum pay of being an animator?
What is the average pay for animators nowadays?

What are names of some popular or top studios in malaysia? @.@

That's what I'm hoping for, some experience member would come by and give us his/her answers regarding your questions

Well, you could name a few such as: Les'Copaque, Animasia, SilverAnt, Shock3D, Young Jump; these are the few that I've known through local news and net. There are actually many more, but I think they're not well know enough in the local scene.
But I recommend that you should aim for a better workplace which offers way better stuff than here, such as Disney in US, or close to home such as LucasFilm Animation in SG.

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Mar 29 2011, 10:35 PM

I'm a freelance illustrator, but most of my friends are animator.

If you are experiences you salary can be more than RM4k, but this really depend on job scope and your individual value....it is possible go a lot more higher. Don't worry about salary for now, if this is what you like to do then enjoy it now else you wont go far in this industry, animation is all about passion. But like LZ suggest, SG is now a heaven for animator & artist, especially for us asian.. If you are really good.. then go for pixar, dreamwork, blizzard, EA....etc

Haha, great to see an experienced artist on the move here!

Is LucasFilm the only foreign animation/SFX firm in SG?

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Mar 30 2011, 05:01 AM

Is it possible for Malaysians to take part in big companies like EA, Capcom, THQ, 2K, Ubisoft, Activision, Blizzard, pixar, dreamwork??? I suppose they wouldn't want to hire Malaysians since they got a lot of talanted people waiting for them to be hired in the foreign countries. Besides, do they have a studio in Malaysia as well?? Most of them are in Singapore instead of Malaysia.. The only studio i know available in Malaysia is Codemaster.

Malaysia's local studios are really bad though, i can't really see any portfolio from Malaysia's studio are able to compete with the foreign ones... I can't even convince myself to work with such lousy companies in the future.. What really inspired me to study animation in the future are from the top notch quality video games and movies, which let me gained interest in animations and effects. I want to create awesome stuffs which are created from the international awesome big companies, but not doing animation using lousy 3d blob heads. low res polygons, lousy textures products in nowadays Malaysia's studio. Think about Malaysia's most popular animated movie "Upin and Ipin"? Malaysia's most popular gaming industry "Cibmall" ?? Malaysia's movies ?? 3D industry in Malaysia is just plain terrible or maybe i'm just another spoilt child which played too much eye-candy video games, movies from the other countries which made me don't know how to admire the greatness of Malaysia's 3d industry?

LZ Zach, what do you think about Malaysia's 3d industry?? Will you still find animating interesting and fun if you are hired to work for some really bad quality products in the local companies? Do you think "Upin & Ipin" deserves the best animation award??

I hear you

If you actually look up the thread "Regarding The One Academy!", you'll see how bad is our animation and creative industry was in our local scene. It really dampens me all the way when I discovered it long ago.
But you know, my childhood dream wasn't ready to give up on me yet, and I still believe there's a way. And that's what I'm deciding to aim outside our shores, and you should do that too.

Well, to me, I believe that I've got to get into the best no matter what. The local "whatever" crap they always used to say, and commented that our industry can actually be on par with - what bull@_!*. I hate it when they give false hope and impression, thinking they're as good as our western counterparts and still don't believe in improving oneself is the only way. Regarding your question, I believe animating is all about producing the best work above your capability, no matter how inhibiting the situation, finances, or whatever crap life throws at ya. So, yeah, hired to work at for some lousy results in a local company really puts me off.

Even Disney had to go through that period when he made the first Technicolor and FIRST fully-animated feature, and people back then thought he was losing his mind! Did he stop? NO.
I've never heard such spirit among our locals here, maybe a handful, but many just want to stick their heads into the soft ground, so that they won't have to face any troubles.

And in my opinion, Upin & Ipin doesn't even deserve the best animation award, because its 'recycled' kampung theme is the same old stuff that Kampung boy has! I love KAMPUNG BOY, and that has gotta beat Upin & Ipin in the same category hands down, it's an instant local classic, even way better than the latter.

edited: I take back what I said ealier, I don't think I wanna be mean on local productions anyway, they might have high hopes in the industry

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Apr 1 2011, 02:26 PM

@LZ : I'm not sure if there is other giant like Lucas in SG tho, I only know that there are game studios in SG like EA, koei, etc.. And some are unfamous studios but they get to work on AAA game project.


@mrvex : we have foreign studios in Malaysia like Stream-line, Rythm&Hue, Igloo...

I know there are few Malaysians are now working in big studio like u mentioned. Most of them are from TheOne tho. Maybe 1 year studies oversea can help a little to get into big studio. Again it is not about cert, but there is chance the college can help to recommend you to big studio.

Alternatively, you can work in SG for sometime to gain experience and fame, when your foundation is strong then it wont be a dream to see yourself involved in film like Avatar.

This post has been edited by kpchoo29: Mar 30 2011, 10:27 PM

AAA? Prime projects?

AAA = High-quality games with high budget. Example : Crysis, Starcraft2, Mass effect, Gear of war, etc..

@kpchoo : Okay, so what you've mentioned about "unfamous studios" being able to work on AAA projects, how did they managed to get their hands on in the first place?

Every commercial product have very tight deadline, so in order for them to meet the deadline they outsourced the project to other small studios. Maybe 50 probs modeling(building,vehicle etc) for studio A, another 50 characters modeling to studio B...like 95% of Terminator Salvation game background is done by our local studio Stream-Line.

Wow, to thought most big players in the field actually did 100% of work on each of their projects...

So kpchoo, one question regarding tertiary education in arts: does it matter where you studied, even if you worked your butt off? Would international companies still think of hiring you as an international employee?

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Apr 2 2011, 08:50 PM

If you are talking about college reputation, it doesn't matter. But choosing a good college will definitely help a lot in your learning process.

Companies don't care where you come from, as long as you have the skills and professional attitude.

Do you recommend TheOne as a good animation college in MY? Or is there other good ones as well?

I don't know if there is any new animation college that I haven't heard of. But I strongly recommend TheOne, their foundation teaching is really good. Go for TheOne and you won't regret.

If you have limited study fund then you can consider Dasein, I graduated from there. Dasein is founded by a group of TheOne legendary alumni...yes I mean they were the best of the best in their old days.

Okay, judging by your comments, I guess TheOne isn't that too bad Hopefully next year, I'll get to learn something beyond my pool of knowledge when I go there.

BTW, I'm curious, how long have you been working in this field since you've graduated?

Not too long, only 6-7 months since i graduated.

Woah, I was thinking that you're about 1-2 years at least initially, sorry for the high expections
You've mentioned that you're freelance, but why didn't you wanna work in a company? Doesn't it have more consistent pays?

And where did most of your friends go into after they've graduated?

I'm earning more than working fulltime now, but just temporary i guess. You mean my animation friends? They working in varies of companies, from interior design to game production house. But most of them are not looking good right now, reason? ..play too much dota during in college time..

What? They can still play dota during college time?? Man, imagine playing & juggling your worktime simultaneously in college...

This post has been edited by LZ Zach: Apr 5 2011, 10:29 PM

i love animation too..
But my family was worried that I would not get jobs even they support anything that I want to learn.
I know TOA is the best..
but it cost too much for me..
I also like LZ,
not interested in other areas .. just animation in my heart..
and actually i'm not so good in mathematics.. just get a credit in spm..and its my lucky i guess..i just love draw,and IT..but not love in hardware..
I am now waiting to Multimedia University ..
take foudation in creative multimedia, and so on in film and animation degree..
I also want studies to masters level, if possible ..
But do I easily get a job at a giant company like Disney, Pixar, Dreamwork?
anyone please.. tell me..

I'm also interested in animation. I'm now doin mrch eng but i plan to do a diploma in digital animation in TOA. Hows getting a job in msia? Will we be able to join in on big projects in the global game and film devrlopment?

Currently MARA is available for Animation course in Korea.
I'm not sure if you can applied though. There are only about 7 students who took it.
13 other students, rejected it, because they don't like the course.

By the way, this is this year MARA scholarship. Students can apply on what course they want, but MARA choose it for you.

For JPA, only Engineering ( Korea ) course is available ~ no Animation