Dragon Ball Studio Opens Training Program for Hopeful Animators
Without animators, the world of anime simply wouldn't exist, and this is a fact that Toei Animation, the creators of the anime series for Dragon Ball Super and One Piece, is quite familiar with. In order to train a new generation of animators, Toei has opened a new program which will begin in April of next year and is looking to add to the industry at large. Dubbed the "Toei Animation Drawing Academy", the company has revealed new details for this program.
In describing the new program, Toei Animation described the Drawing Academy as "a short-term intensive and practical animator training program "Toei" to train excellent animators who will be responsible for future animation creation. We are pleased to announce that the "Animation Drawing Academy" will be established and will start in April 2023. Top animators who are active on the front lines will be in charge of guidance, and we aim to train animators who will be ready to work."
Toei Animation also described the purpose of this new program
"Due to the rapid expansion of the global animation market and the rise of higher quality works, the needs for animators continue to increase in both quality and quantity, and it is becoming more difficult to secure human resources year by year. In addition, the Toei Animation Research Institute, a human resources development institution established from 1995 to 2011, has widely inherited technology in the animation industry. In recent years, we have trained animators in-house by hiring new graduates, but this time we have established "Toei Animation Drawing Academy" as a training program to learn practically in a shorter period of time. In addition to Toei Animation's animation drawing know-how, we aim to train animators who will be able to work immediately by combining the technologies of top animators outside Toei Animation."
Recently, Toei Animation has been struggling thanks in part to being hacked, with the attackers causing a number of franchises to be delayed, including One Piece's television series and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. While the story of Luffy and company has recently returned to the airwaves, the next Dragon Ball movie is now set to arrive in June of this year, being pushed back from its original date of earlier this month.