Cert in Drawing Foundations for Animation and Illustration is a certificate in Film & Animation programme offered by Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada. The programme runs for 28 weeks, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 7,764 per semester (CAD 1,389 per semester for local students).
This certificate builds the foundational drawing skills needed to progress into further creative visual art programs, working across both traditional and digital media in a studio-based environment. Coursework covers life drawing, sculpting, and the design of characters, environments and creatures, along with the use of perspective, texture and detail to give a drawn environment a lived-in, believable feel; digital sculpting and painting exercises also build an understanding of light, value and colour in three-dimensional space.
Students explore areas such as game art, graphic novels, concept art, book illustration, comics and animation, working toward a portfolio that demonstrates their range and strengths as an artist, with an annual showcase offering a chance to exhibit finished work to industry professionals. As a foundational program, it leads into more advanced study in animation or illustration and concept art, with some courses eligible for transfer credit.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: College Eligibility requires an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or Mature Student status for applicants 19 or older without a diploma. Program Eligibility adds Grade 12 English (ENG4C or equivalent). International applicants must meet Algonquin's English Language Proficiency requirement: IELTS Academic overall band 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band, the Duolingo English Test at 110 overall with no component below 95, or TOEFL iBT at the score Algonquin publishes for the test's current format. Where qualified applicants exceed available places, Algonquin selects on English proficiency alone.
Application Details
Start Date:Intake terms Algonquin lists for this program, read from its own availability table on 6 September 2026: Fall 2026 (AC Day 1 orientation 8 September 2026; Fall term classes start 9 September 2026); Winter 2027 (most classes start 11 January 2027). Term start dates come from the Registrar's Important Dates page, which also gives 11 January 2027 for the Winter 2027 term and 10 May 2027 for the Spring 2027 term. Availability changes as seats fill and an intake already under way may be closed, so check the program page before applying. Algonquin's academic year runs September to August.
Application Deadline:DOMESTIC APPLICANTS (Canadian citizens and permanent residents). Algonquin publishes no deadline unique to this program; the dates below are the college-wide Ontario colleges cycle and apply to every full-time day program. Applications go through ontariocolleges.ca, where 1 February is the equal consideration date each cycle: apply by then and your application is assessed alongside every other one received by that date, while applications arriving later are handled first-come, first-served for as long as places remain. For entry in Fall 2027 the ontariocolleges.ca application opened on 26 September 2026, colleges may begin issuing offers on 1 November 2026, the equal consideration date is 1 February 2027 and an offer must be accepted by 1 May 2027. The equal consideration date that governed the Fall 2026, Winter 2027 and Spring 2027 intakes was 1 February 2026 and has already passed, so those three starts are now first-come, first-served while seats last.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS. Apply directly to Algonquin on the International Application Form in its International Application Portal (AC360) rather than through ontariocolleges.ca, with a CAD 135 application fee. There is no single fixed international deadline: Algonquin asks you to confirm the program is open before applying, warns that a program's status can change to waitlisted or closed before an admissions officer reviews the file, and publishes a closing-date sheet for each intake. For the Fall 2026 intake that sheet gives this program's own dates: 16 September 2026 is the last day to apply on the International Application Portal and receive an acceptance, and 21 September 2026 is the last day to register.
