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Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

CDW Studios

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CDW Studios

CDW Studios School of Visual Effects and Entertainment Design with training facilities in Adelaide | Melbourne | Sydney

CDW STUDIOS is a school for visual effects and entertainment design. Campuses in Adelaide, Melbourne & Sydney, Australia

CDW Studios School of Visual Effects and Entertainment Design has been running since 2012, providing students Australia wide with the most up to date and relevant education available to work in the VFX and entertainment design industry. All CDW courses are taught by industry pr

ofessionals who have worked for a range of international companies such as Disney, Blizzard Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast and Lego. The aim of CDW Studios is to deliver practical classes on topics that directly help hone skills used in the professional working environment. Students experience learning in a realistic studio setting, and all classes are delivered using state of the art multimedia facilities. Each week instructors provide live demonstrations of the weeks work, before offering individual advice and feedback to all students. Students not only receive individual art critique each week, but are also able to view their instructors workflow, pipeline and techniques. CDW Studios provides an intense learning experience combined with a friendly and encouraging atmosphere, catering for all skill levels. From 3D modelling to 2D character design, special effects to animation, CDW Studios is the right place for anyone wishing to pursue a career in the visual effects and entertainment design industry.

04/09/2026

Our students absolutely cooked in their 3rd year Character Design class!! 🍳

This class was instructed by Peter Yong, concept & storyboard artist who’s worked with DreamWorks, Animal Logic, Disney and more!

01/09/2026

Some 📸 from our Open Days across Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney!

If you couldn’t make it or have further questions, we’re hosting an Online Information Session on the 16th Sept 🤗

Register your spot: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/cdw-studios-online-information-session-tickets-1992472089656

We’ll dive into:
⭐️ Our industry-recognised degree: Bachelor of Visual Effects & Entertainment Design

⭐️ Career pathways in games, animation, film and VFX

⭐️ Application requirements and portfolio advice

⭐️ Early-bird applications for 2027

⭐️ Live Q&A

21/08/2026

Highlights from the opening night of our SALA Festival exhibition, From Digital to Traditional! ✨

A huge thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate our creative community, to the incredible artists for sharing their work, and to the CDW Studios crew for bringing the night together.
And of course, thank you to The Phoatones for the amazing tunes! 🎶

There was art, music, good food and plenty of creative conversation as we celebrated the handcrafted side of artists best known for their digital work 💫

There’s still time to check out the exhibition!
It’s open until 31 August, with most of the artwork available to purchase.

From Digital to Traditional
📅 12–31 August
🕙 Weekdays, 10am–4:30pm
📍 CDW Studios Adelaide, Level 4, Myer Centre, Rundle Mall

Come by, explore the artwork and support local creativity 🎨

10/08/2026

Highlights from our super insightful Masterclass with powerhouse artist James Paick James Paick - exploring Production Painting & Environments for Games & Film

Every year, CDW Studios invites industry-leading artists to Australia to share their unique expertise.

James Paick, concept artist for Warner Bros., Riot, Disney & more, and founder of Scribble Pad Studios and Brainstorm School, joined us from L.A. - bringing together students from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney for three days of practical workflows, industry insights and inspiration 🤯

Soooo many insights were shared - on the industry, the pathway of becoming a professional artist, goal setting, mindset, networking & portfolio advice 🧠✨

Doing studies together: practising efficient processes 🦾

Concept art demos and experimenting with colour palettes!

Getting into environments: Planning and composing a scene within the environment, photobashing techniques, workflows for game environments

Master collab 🤩 Doing colour keys from David Colman’s storyboard frames and conveying different moods!

Meet and greet & memorabilia: signed collector cards & posters 🤜🤛

Thank you so much James for an INCREDIBLE Masterclass! 💖

We learned so much from your wealth of knowledge, clear explanations and practical workflows. We’re feeling motivated for our creative journeys ✨ See you again soon!

06/08/2026

Highlights from our jam-packed Masterclass with the one and only David Colman David Colman 🦁 - covering Duality: Design & Story

Every year, CDW Studios invites industry-leading artists to Australia to share their unique expertise.

This year, Emmy-winning designer and storyboard artist David Colman (Disney, DreamWorks, Netflix, more!) travelled from L.A. to Adelaide 🛬 bringing together students from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney for three unforgettable days of learning, industry insights and hangs 💖

Super inspiring seeing David board a scene in only a couple of hours! ⚡️

For design, David covered: Shape design, animal anatomy, translating personality into a character, feedback sessions and a special surprise guest….

Bingley! Our most handsome model for the day 🥹

Drawing from life, capturing gesture, identifying anatomy

So insightful seeing David’s iconic animatic pitches for movies including Tron Ares and Mufasa 🤩

We also covered storyboarding fundamentals: perspective grids, composition, camera moves and so much more!

Meet and greet & memorabilia: signed collector cards & posters ✨

Thank you so much David for an EPIC Masterclass! 💖

Your energy, passion, insights and generosity made this experience one to remember. See you again soon!! ✨

04/08/2026

✨ Student Spotlight: Anna Shen AnnaS.Art

Meet Anna, a 2D concept artist specialising in environment design, storyboarding and vis-dev.
Inspired by film and animation, Anna is passionate about creating storytelling-driven worlds that capture mood and atmosphere. Through thoughtful composition, lighting and design, she brings a strong sense of place and narrative to every piece.

A recent graduate, Anna reflects:

“Studying with CDW Studios has been an amazing experience. The environment is incredibly inspiring, the instructors are deeply knowledgeable, and the community of students is supportive and motivating. I’ve grown so much thanks to the feedback, guidance, and creative atmosphere at CDW.”

Amazing work Anna! 🤩 We’re excited to see your creative journey continue!!

Give AnnaS.Art a follow to see more!

30/07/2026

Our exhibition ‘From Digital to Traditional’ is BACK, as part of SALA Festival in Adelaide!

Join us for the Opening Night, with drinks, nibbles, and live music from The Phoatones as we celebrate community and the handcrafted side of artists best known for their digital work.

This exhibition is a return to tactile creativity - where the screen fades away and brushes, pencils, and sculpting tools take over. A rare glimpse at the creative roots of some of the entertainment industry’s top professionals. Best of all, the majority of the artwork will be available to purchase! ✨

Opening Night
📍 CDW Studios Adelaide
📅 Tuesday 11th August
🕠 5:30pm – 9pm
🎟️ Free entry (registrations required via the link in our bio)

Can’t make Opening Night?
The exhibition is open to the public from
🗓️ 12th - 28th Aug
🕙 Monday - Friday, 10am - 4pm

29/07/2026

Amazing student work from our 3rd year Digital Painting class!!

Instructed by 🤩

25/06/2026

Student Spotlight: Kritphol (Kim) Thongkliang 🤩

Meet Kim, a character and environment concept artist currently completing his Honours year at CDW Studios and Flinders University.

Passionate about visual storytelling, Kim bring ideas to life through concepts and sketches. Alongside developing his own artistic voice, he values collaboration and enjoys helping teams solve creative challenges while learning from the process.

After studying our 3 year bachelor’s degree, Kim reflects:

“Studying at CDW Studios & Flinders University has been an incredible experience. Through the course, I have learned many design principles, production pipelines, and the fundamentals of art. In addition, the people I have met and become friends with are talented individuals who have helped me in my journey, and I would not have grown as much in these past few years if it weren’t for these wonderful people. I feel like I have gained a better perspective on the art industry overall.”

We’re excited to see what Kim’s been cooking up this year as he continues to level up 💪

See more of Kim’s amazing work here: https://www.veedshowcase.com/2025-showcase-third-year-l-z/kim-thongkliang

01/06/2026

CDW Instructor, Jordan Soar, shows us how to use UV projection to add texture to objects in Blender!

Address

Adelaide, SA

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61406635897

Website

https://linktr.ee/cdwstudios

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