Gnomon School of Visual Effects
Gnomon School of Visual Effects is a for-profit college in North Hollywood, California. Founded in 1997 by Alex Alvarez, it trains people for careers in visual effects and games. It began to train industry artists and has grown into a broader art school. In 2011, Fast Company named Gnomon one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in Film.
Gnomon offers two- and four-year programs in Entertainment Design and Digital Production (with a three-year option if summer breaks are waived), plus individual and online courses, software workshops, online Master Classes, and the Gnomon Gallery. It is approved as a non-degree vocational institution by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and accredited by the Accrediting Commission on Career Schools and Colleges. The school emphasizes job placement and networking, with instructors who are current professionals from studios such as Blizzard Entertainment, Naughty Dog, DreamWorks, ILM, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Disney, and Digital Domain. Graduates work at Digital Domain, EA, Weta Digital, Double Negative, Zoic Studios, Sony Interactive, Rhythm & Hues, and more. Gnomon is sometimes called “the MIT of visual effects.” In June 2010, Gnomon formed Gnomon Studios to give advanced students real-studio experience on short films under industry guidance, beginning with Shane Acker’s Plus Minus.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:12 (CET).