Each year, Nickelodeon Animation makes it possible for several aspiring artists to work at the company’s Burbank studios. Known as The Artist Program, the program invites artists with diverse backgrounds and experiences to hone their artistic skills while working on Nick’s 2D and CG animated television shows. Two creative avenues are offered including the General Track and Storyboard Track. The General Track offers hands-on experience working with established color, background, character, and prop artists, while the Storyboard Track offers hands-on experience working with lead storyboard artists.
To get into either Track, Nick Animation says to submit your best work, with a focus on quality rather than quantity. Your portfolio, which should highlight your main passion first, should show diversity in skill, with an appropriate number of images to showcase those skills. Guidelines for the General Track are a minimum of five images and a maximum of up to 25 images. Judges would like to see work such as character designs, environments, props, color and paintings, sketches and works in progress, as well as completed compositions, life drawings, and animal sketches. Other submission materials include:
- Reel (AVI, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg,. wmv, .flv or .f4v) - OPTIONAL
- A URL to your blog or online portfolio/reel
- One-page resume (.pdf, .jpg or jpeg, .doc or docx)
- Half-page biography (.pdf, .jpg or jpeg, .doc or docx)
- Completed and digitally signed application form
- Completed and digitally signed Submission Release Form and Schedule A
For the Storyboard Track, applicants must submit original material only (your own personal work) - no storyboards of commercial material will be accepted. The submitted storyboard should highlight your strengths. Your storyboard can be action‐oriented and/or comedic. Make sure that your storytelling in each shot is clear and understandable. While there is no limit to the number of panels to include, you should only include enough panels to showcase your skills. Submit only what you feel will best convey your ideas.
Storyboard applicants can submit work such as character designs, backgrounds (including sequences), sketches and works in progress, comic books, animatic, and animation reels. Storyboards should communicate skills in storytelling & story structure, staging, composition, perspective, proportion, clarity, clear action in an action sequence (if applicable), set-ups and pay-offs of jokes (if applicable), character acting ability (e.g. capturing conversation), and appropriate use of Cinematography. Any supplemental materials should further highlight your storyboarding skills.
The full list of submission materials for the Storyboard Track are as follows:
- Storyboard of personal work: a short film or sequences that highlight your storytelling, focusing on either comedy, action or action comedy (.pdf)
- Supplemental work (all are OPTIONAL): a portfolio and/or sketchbook images that highlight your skills (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, or .zip) and/or a reel/animatic (AVI, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg,. wmv, .flv or .f4v),
- A URL to your blog or online portfolio/reel
- One-page resume (.pdf, .jpg or jpeg, .doc or docx)
- Half-page biography (.pdf, .jpg or jpeg, .doc or docx)
- Completed and digitally signed application form
- Completed and digitally signed Submission Release Form and Schedule A
Submission specs for both Tracks can be found here.
Once you have compiled all of you submission materials, you will have to complete the FluidReview submission process. Access to FluidReview, Nickelodeon’s online submission system, requires an account, so you will need to create a login and password for setup. It typically takes a minimum of two weeks to complete the process, so it is recommended that all applicants allow several weeks prior to deadline to complete the process.
The deadline for 2019 has not yet been announced, but last year, submission materials for 2018 admission were accepted between July 1 and August 1 only. Semi-finalists were notified by the end of September, and finalists were notified by the end of October. At the end of November, several lucky artists received the news that that they were chosen to participate in the program.
If you were not selected for 2018, Nickelodeon encourages you to apply again for 2019 with an updated portfolio or storyboard. Note that you must be 18 years or older to participate. For FAQs and more information about The Artist Program, visit the official Nickelodeon Animation website here.
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Sources
"The Artist Program." Nickelodeon Animation. Viacom International, Inc., 2017. Web. 22 Jan. 2018.