Nayzak Animation School

By Hadeel Hegazi

Animation is not an easy art to learn, there are very few schools in Egypt that teach the technique. However, recently, the Nayzak Animation School opened its doors and it offers a comprehensive curriculum in the art of animation that aims to turn amateurs into professionals and promote the industry in Egypt.

“We have been organising the content of the courses and the venue for the last two months, and we chose as our headquarters the El-Maarefa Centre,” said Kany Kany, one of the managers of the school. The choice of location was dictated by the space needed for the equipment the centre provides for its students and the beautiful setting of the villa, which has a garden.

Nayzak has set itself high goals: “Our vision is to create a community of professional artists and animators that will be able to lift the standards of the Egyptian animation industry to no less than world-class levels,” as described on their website.

“We had the Nayzak animation studio, through which we worked in the field of advertising,” Kany said, “We found that many people who work in this field are not competent enough, that is why we thought of creating the school.”

Nayzak focuses on creating animation artists that will be able to use their knowledge professionally. “The school offers several courses, starting from the basic information about the art for beginners, going forward with them bit by bit till they reach the advanced level, so that they can finally work with us at the studio”, Kany said.

The initial course the school begins with is  Animation 101, and it is all about the primary information needed for the coming courses. “Students by the end of this course will be assigned group projects and the successful ones will be able to enroll for the next course”, Kany said.

The Animation 102 will be concerned with 3D, and Animation 103 will focus on advanced animation. The course will cover 2D animation aspects from history to techniques through practical work as well as theories. “Fundamentals of Drawing module is offered in the early classes of this course to provide you with the foundation drawing skills required to survive  this course”, read the course description on the school website.

Kany explained that there is a very tough criteria for choosing the school’s instructors: “Ahmed Madbol, the Animation 101 course instructor, has 12 years of experience as an animator, and has been given awards from several festivals concerned with 2D animation projects.”

Kany also said that the school board’s main concern was getting animators who are good teachers and qualified professionals, so Ahmed Madboly was a very suitable choice.

Even though the school is quite recently founded, it has seen a good number of applicants. “When people read about the course content, they see how the school method is different and beneficial, and that’s why a lot of people apply for the course,” Kany explained.

“Traditional animation courses teach people courses concerned with using animation in the professional sphere and not as an art, but Nayzak animation school adopts a different curriculum by focusing on the artistic side of animation; we aspire to create a generation of professional animators who will able to work for themselves in the future. Not only will they be able to compete with the global standards, but also add to the art”, said Kany.

More information can be found on their Facebook page, Nayzak Animation School.