About Sophoria Academy
About us
🎓 About Sophoria Academy
At Sophoria Academy, we believe world-class
Animation and VFX education
should be accessible to everyone.
Founded by industry veterans with credits on Game of Thrones, Avatar, and
Prince of Persia, our mission is to empower aspiring artists with the
real-world skills
used in today's top studios. All our mentors are hand-selected professionals with deep experience in film, games, and TV production.
We offer affordable, high-quality online courses that allow you to
learn at your own pace
from anywhere in the world. Whether you're a beginner or sharpening your skills for your next big role, our training is designed to help you
succeed in the animation and VFX industry.
Some of our popular offerings include the
Dragon Animation Masterclass and the
Dragon Rig for Maya.
🌐 Connect with our growing community on Discord, watch tutorials on our YouTube Channel, and explore our full course catalog.
✨ Join our global community of learners and start building the skills that bring creatures, worlds, and stories to life.
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How does our academy work?
At Sophoria Academy, we offer self-paced, pre-recorded online courses designed for aspiring animators and VFX artists of all skill levels.
Each course gives you instant access to professionally recorded training, taught by seasoned industry experts like
Jonathan Symmonds — Lead Animator on Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.
You'll learn via:
🎥 High-quality video tutorials
📁 Downloadable project files and rigs
💬 Optional access to our Discord community for peer support and feedback
There are no fixed start dates — you can begin any course immediately after enrollment and progress at your own pace, from anywhere in the world. Looking to get started? Browse our most popular courses like the Dragon Animation Masterclass or download the Dragon Rig for Maya to add to your animation toolkit.
🎓 More features coming soon, including course bundles and future mentoring options to deepen your learning experience.
You'll learn via:
🎥 High-quality video tutorials
📁 Downloadable project files and rigs
💬 Optional access to our Discord community for peer support and feedback
There are no fixed start dates — you can begin any course immediately after enrollment and progress at your own pace, from anywhere in the world. Looking to get started? Browse our most popular courses like the Dragon Animation Masterclass or download the Dragon Rig for Maya to add to your animation toolkit.
🎓 More features coming soon, including course bundles and future mentoring options to deepen your learning experience.
Get your own Sophoria Academy Certificate
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Show off your certificate
Once you complete a course that has a certificate attached, you can display it in your CV to show potential recruiters. Believe it or not, this is now a popular request amongst students. -
Networking opportunities
At Sophoria Academy, we encourage our students to network as much as possible. It is so important to get feedback for you hard work and what better way to do this than from your instructors or peers. Submit your work to the community and learn from feedback!
Show others your certificates for the courses you completed!
Sophoria Academy Instructors
Meet some of our Instructors
Jonathan Symmonds
Co Founder of Sophoria and Animation Director
Jonathan Symmonds has over 18 years of experience in Film, Tv, Commercials and the games industry. He has worked on films such as Avatar, Harry Potter, Prince of Persia, Nanny Mcphee, Dark Tide and was the Lead animator on the Game of Thrones for 5 years!
Jonathan was nominated 3 times for a VES society award for his work on the Game of Thrones and ended up creating his own dragon that a few on you lucky students will get to work with if you do one of his dragon classes.
Jonathan was nominated 3 times for a VES society award for his work on the Game of Thrones and ended up creating his own dragon that a few on you lucky students will get to work with if you do one of his dragon classes.
Frederic Durand
Lighting Technical Director
Frederic Durand has had the opportunity to work at Sony Imageworks, Disney Animation, DreamWorks, Jim Henson’s Workshop,
MPC and Digital Domain on animated films, feature films, and commercials during the past 20 years.
He has been teaching lighting and rendering classes with Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift, Renderman and Nuke at the Gnomon school, the University of South California and now at Sophoria.
Frederic studied at the Cooper Union in New York City and is graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris, France.
Jayson King
VFX Specialist
Jayson has over 20 years of experience be it film, commercials, tv - you name it he has done it! A lecturer in his own right, Jayson has taught hundreds of students. Jayson is a specialist in VFX, CGI, fluids, simulation, lighting and rendering, modelling & texturing in multiple software packages. Jayson runs his own courses so be sure to get hold of one of them to learn from this legend! His courses cover most aspects of the VFX pipeline from modelling to final simulations and render. Don't hesitate to learn from Jayson, with this much experience you can't go wrong.
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Bundles - Get a deal!
Benefits of Sophoria Academy
Learn from some of the best instructors in the World from the comfort of your own home.
We want you to learn all the skills you need to become a VFX artist in your own right and at a price you can afford. No more expensive learning.
We want you to learn all the skills you need to become a VFX artist in your own right and at a price you can afford. No more expensive learning.
A social community
When you join the academy, you will join other students from all over the World. Share your work in the forums and meet new friends!
Invite your friends
Using our affiliate program, you can now share courses and get discounts on others. Invite and refer a friend to benefit!
Track your progress
Follow your path to learn each and every skill. Track your progress and come back at any time, we make this easy for you.
Watch any time
If you are joining a course or a mentorship, sit back and relax. Study at your own pace and network with others.
Download files
Our courses have all the working files set up and in an easy to understand format. Your instructor has prepared everything for you already!
Mentorship opportunities
Some of our courses offer mentorship features. Be sure to get a course with mentorship so you can have direct feedback from your instructors.
Don't hesitate
Explore our courses now!
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