VISUAL MAGIC PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH












VISUAL MAGIC PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH













Film clips on Youtube
On this page we have collected some short animated clips from different projects that our students have done during 2025. The clips are also posted on our YouTube channel (please visit, and don’t forget to click Subscribe): https://www.youtube.com/@visualmagiceducation Student reels (2025): Houdini reels (2025): Joint projects (collaborations between students from the class of 2023 and the class of 2024): As a recurrent Virtual Production assignment for an external customer, our students makes all animated backdrops...
Ranked #15 in the world
We are proud to announce that Visual Magic has been ranked among the Top Creative Schools in the world by the independent organisation The Rookies. After 180 judges from the VFX industry had reviewed the work supplied by over 5,500 students participants and completed 58,000 reviews, Visual Macic was ranked #15 in Production Excellence – Visual Effects. https://www.therookies.co/schools/rankings/2023/production-excellence-visual-effects Also, our student Michael Tiedke (now working at Stiller Studios) won the award for ”Film of the Year...
Scholarship for International Students
During 2024 Visual Magic rolled out the red carpet for our Scholarship Program, offering a select few International Students a subsidised way to study Visual Effects for Games and Film in Skellefteå, Sweden! A select few (judged on the work samples provided by the applicants) International Students who normally would have paid a total tuition fee of €25,000 – was offered Scholarships that lowered the total fee to €5,000 for the whole education. In addition,...
Earthlock 2 – Official Cinematic Trailer
We believe strongly that having real projects for real clients during the education is important for the learning process. Therefore we strive to, from time to time, have our students do assignments for companies. One such gig was doing the official Earthlock 2 trailer for Snowcastle Games, published through IGN. https://www.ign.com/games/earthlock-2
Get to know our students and teachers
Watch some film clips where our previous and current students and teachers talk about the edudation and their careers – most clips can also be found on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@visualmagiceducation Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.
VFX Mojo teaching Houdini and Nuke
Visual Magic’s VFX training program is honoured to add Maria Sahai, FX artist and trainer, and Karim Sahai, a VFX supervisor to our faculty team. They are co-owners of visual effects studio, VFX Mojo. With more than 50 feature films and television series under their belt (The Lord of The Rings, Avatar, Shazam, Dune: Part Two and Furiosa: A Mad Max saga) their deep involvement and long time commitment with Visual Magic brings an added layer...
Borderless Game Academy
A project financed by Interreg Aurora Visual Magic Education AB is now, together with Novia University of Applied Science, a proud part of the two-year Interreg Aurora project Borderless Game Academy. This will help us form a tighter bound between the Finnish and Swedish education systems and provide better courses and an extended work network for our students. The game development industry is blossoming at an exhilarating pace, particularly in the Interreg Aurora programme area,...
Varjo XR-3, Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada, Jetson AGX Orin …
Use the latest technology! As a student with us, you also get the opportunity to work with the latest hardware – like here when Emelie from year two and Houdini developer Lukas get involved in an R&D project (around AI and digital twins) with Nvidia and get to test the world’s most advanced headset Varjo XR-3 on a Threadripper-equipped computer with Nvidia RTX 6000 Ada and a separate processing unit: Jetson AGX Orin Development Kit…...
Get to know our students: Russel – VFX21
Say hi to Russel! My name is Russell Harper and I’m a mature student at age 41. I am originally from the UK but have been living in the Nordics since 2009. As a family, we moved to Sweden in 2017 so my wife could specialize in her chosen medical field of IVF. ⠀ I have predominantly worked in sales over the last 20 years but felt it was a case of now or never...
Classroom teaching: Edisen
Oscar Rosenberg (Edisen) teaches classes in Digital Compositing (Nuke). – ”Det var ett stort nöje att få träffa alla ambitiösa studenter i både årskurs ett och årskurs två på Visual Magic och tillsammans få bygga på deras kunskaper och erfarenheter inom compositing. Alla studenter gjorde ett fantastiskt jobb och vi på Edisen ser fram emot att få besöka Visual Magic igen. Bra samtal och positiv miljö.”, säger Oscar om sin tid hos oss.
Lecture: Ted Kjellsson
Film director Ted Kjellsson held lessons on Preproduction (Previs) and showed clips from his film productions, including NDA secrets from the yet-to-be-released film Håkan Bråkan (planned theatrical release Christmas 2022). Ted visar klipp från Ensamma i rymden – och pratar nackdelar med att designa aliens med ”anus-munnar” 😉 Ted hos VFX21, ht21
Student assignments: Mixed clips
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.Visual Magic’s first VFX class, VFX20, has done a lot of cool projects on behalf of external clients. This video shows short clips from some of these, including: martial arts commercial (Skellefteå Budokan and Swedish Budo & Martial Arts Association) trailer for the game Last Farewell (Flat Tail Studios AB) animated artist project, motion capture, Rerebirth (Joanna Lombard) graphics for the 2021 Christmas calendar A Honorable Christmas with Knyckertz...
Spring Break celebration: VFX20
Visual Magic’s first year, VFX20, is taking a summer break! After an intense first year, we celebrate the arrival of summer with our teachers and students. 28 people in 28 °C, coincidence? I Think Not! As usual, it happens in Skellefteå 🙂 June 3, 2021, an epic day to remember! More pictures can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visualmagic.vfx
Get to know our students: Deniz – VFX20
In Visual Magic’s first year, VFX20, we find Deniz. Why do you want to work as a VFX artist? I have always loved effects in films and therefore wanted to work with it. I have a background in film/video production and a bit of motion graphics – but creating things and combining it with other material and making it look real – that’s something I love. Why did you choose Visual Magic? I chose Visual...
Get to know our students: Clover – VFX20
Visual Magic’s first class, VFX20, is about to finish its second semester. We’ve asked seven quick questions to one of the students – Clover – to offer a little insight into what it’s like to be a VFX student here with us! Why do you want to work as a VFX artist? It feels like a perfect way to combine artistic and technical interests and at the same time contribute to creating something that can...
Student case: Motion Capture x Martial Arts
Skellefteå Budokan and Visual Magic collaborate to visualize martial arts in 3D. During the second semester of Visual Magic’s training for VFX artists, the focus was on Motion Capture and Virtual Production. The VFX20 class then got to use one of Campus Skellefteå’s two (!) professional Motion Capture studios to record movements from the budo sports of Karate, Kendo, Iaido and Aikido. Our 25 VFX artists, divided into covid-adapted groups of five students and two...
Student case: Music video for FSOL
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos.Already during their first semester, Visual Magic’s first VFX class, VFX20, was given the opportunity to make a commercial music video for Future Sound of London – FSOL. This was made possible, and was done under the guidance of Cristoffer Wiker together with music video guru Linus Johansson at North Kingdom. A fun prestigious assignment that we believe will be an important part of many of our students’ showreels....
An education with passion & commitment
We, who are behind the education, are driven by a passion for what we do and have the ambition to raise the bar properly, together with companies and our students. We want to create one of the world’s best VFX educations – and here you can become an important cog. With talent and commitment, anything is possible! Our education is popular – in autumn 2020 we had more than 120 applicants for 20 places. We...
Guaranteed accommodation for our students
The municipal housing company Skebo guarantees accommodation for everyone who studies with us! The housing guarantee means that you as a student get priority for a rental apartment – so you don’t have to worry about accommodation! Near the beautiful Skellefteälven River, a few hundred meters from the city center, you will find Campus Skellefteå. The municipal housing company Skebo provides everything from rooms in the corridor to regular apartments in the areas of Älvsbacka,...
A new education with a new concept
Visual Magic is much more than just a VFX training. We offer industry-designed studio-based skills training. With us, you get to spend your days with world-leading artists and learn the profession in project form, often in productions that can then be seen on the big screen or in commercial games. Here you learn how the job is done, i.e. how to work in a real studio environment to create absolutely world-class VFX productions. We focus...
A period of study – with rewarding free time
We care about your well-being, your health and that you have a good time studying, which is why we offer free training opportunities. The student association also offers a variety of activities – everything from game and movie nights to live gigs at the student pub. Campus Skellefteå is located a stone’s throw from the city center and stretches down to the Skellefteälven River. There you can go for a run or why not go...
A taste of your future working life
All teaching takes place in very close collaboration with the game and film industry. Our teachers and lecturers are professionals and can therefore teach the software and working methods that the industry uses. We also often have internationally recognized lecturers on site. The board of the education includes representatives from, among others, DICE, North Kingdom, Important Looking Pirates and Goodbye Kansas, who are involved in influencing the content of the education. Unlike traditional university studies,...
The right education for you?
This VFX training is tailored for those of you who already have a good sense of color and shape and a burning interest in working with digital, visual special effects (VFX) in computer games, film, TV series and advertising – alternatively in visualization for architecture and technology. With us you will find the perfect mix of studio and training, which offers the best of both worlds – and gives room for your own creativity. We...
Part of something bigger
When you join Visual Magic, you become part of something bigger, a community of like-minded VFX artists worldwide. During your studies and our study visits, you will have the opportunity to build up an impressive network of people active in the industry. An important part of networking and your attractiveness among companies is the portfolio that you will be helped to build during your time with us. At Visual Magic we will support you in...FAQ – Frequently asked questions
APPLICATION
Is there an opportunity to study abroad (in Sweden) in this field, for people aged 30-40?
- Yes, all students aged 18+ are welcome to apply.
Also, we judge all applicants anonymously so not to discriminate on age, gender, etc.
I would like to know what the criteria are for awarding the scholarships to students?
- We mainly look at ambition level and art fundamentals with Art fundamentals being the most important one.
Is a portfolio required for admission to the program? If so, what are the criteria for selecting a portfolio?
- Yes, but mainly just because of the work samples to get in. It’s ok not to have a portfolio prior to the education.
Is this scholarship only available to students? What is the minimum age to participate?
- Minimum age is 18 years old. The scholarship is available for everyone above the age of 18.
If you already have a good knowledge of the industries related to 3D Game Artist and are very basic about VFX in games, what more can you learn to become a VFX Artist for game companies?
- Depends which areas you know prior to the education. We teach both how to use shaders and a lot in houdini that can be utilised for game production.
If you already have a good knowledge of the industries related to 3D Game Artist and are very basic about VFX in games, what more can you learn to become a VFX Artist for game companies?
- It all comes down to what you already know, but implementation is key for any VFX artist.
I would like to ask what the criteria are for awarding the scholarships to students?
- We mainly look at ambition level and art fundamentals with Art fundamentals being the most important one.
We select scholars based on Application Form and Assignment, see https://www.visualmagic.se/apply-international-students/
Is a portfolio required for admission to the program? If so, what are the criteria for selecting a portfolio? Are there specific skills that should be focused on when applying for the scholarship?
- A portfolio or worksamples is required. We mainly look at ambition level and art fundamentals with Art fundamentals being the most important one.
More info about the application process for International Students: https://www.visualmagic.se/2024/05/08/scholarship/
MONETARY
Is there any loan policy to support students with living expenses, tuition deficits?
- Unfortunately no.
Is the cost of food, accommodation, living expenses fully at the student’s expense or is there a financial support scheme?
- It’s at the student’s expense.
What is the cost of living on average, per month?
- Rent in the on-campus housing is around 3000 swedish kronor. Swedish students spent around 10 000 per month which is plenty to live comfortably on. You can absolutely get by with less. It all comes down to your standard of living but 11k is good.
Swedish rules for student finances: https://www.csn.se/languages/english/the-right-to-swedish-student-finance/study-in-sweden-as-a-foreign-citizen.html
IMMIGRATION
What’s the process to apply for the scholarship + what is the immigration process?
- Apply to our education (Note: we will open up for next batch of applications during January 2026)
- Submit your application to a Swedish embassy or consulate-general in your country of residence. The application form specifies which documents to enclose. Contact the embassy or consulate-general before you submit your application.
- https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/Studying-in-Sweden/Higher-education/Residence-permit-for-studies-in-higher-education.html
- You need to have the following documents before you apply. Carefully read the requirements for your application or it might get rejected outright. For a short application process, make sure you give them all the information they ask for.
- Valid passport
- Been admitted to fulltime studies (we will send these out 20th of June, during Swedish time)
- Proof of paid tuition fee. You will get a document to prove this.
- Bank statements to prove you can sustain yourself during your stay in Sweden. The requirement 2024 is 10 314 SEK (applox $1000) per month.
- Have, or have applied for, a comprehensive health insurance policy.
- If you intend to support yourself with bank assets, the bank statement you provide as proof of your assets must be issued no more than four months before the start of the period for which you are applying.
- https://www.migrationsverket.se/English/Private-individuals/Studying-in-Sweden/Higher-education/Residence-permit-for-studies-in-higher-education/5-tips-to-increase-your-chance-of-a-decision-before-the-semester.html
JOBS AVAILABILITY
What are the job opportunities after graduation and after graduation can stay in Sweden to continue studying and working?
- Depends on how hard you study, but the Swedish creative industry is growing at a rapid pace. 2022 the games industry increased by another 6% employees and a revenue increase of 18%. Of all the newly hired 44% were women. Abroad Swedish companies hired around 5350 new employees which shows the need of Swedish companies for talent. 87% of the new hires got full time employment. The companies are mainly in Stockholm, but spread out across sweden in clusters of companies so stockholm isn’t the only option. One of these game clusters is near Skellefteå. Sweden has the 3rd largest number of companies nationwide in Europe, and ranked 5th in the amount of employees in the games industry. About 22% of all employees are women.
Can students get part-time jobs on Campus and if not, are there any restrictions on getting part-time jobs outside?
- If you have a study visa you are allowed to get part-time jobs. Campus itself doesn’t have part time jobs, but there are plenty of jobs available in town. Skellefteå is Sweden’s fastest growing city and there are more jobs available than there are people. During the summer there is a special foundation you can get work through, but you’d have to apply for it.
What are the skills needed to work in the game design industry?
- Art fundamentals are the main thing. Understanding how a vfx effect helps the user understand what is going on while also telling a story within the game or movie is key to becoming a successful vfx artist.
I’m most concerned about job opportunities for foreign students after graduating, as well as the work culture in Sweden in general (I seek work-life balance). What are your thoughts about this?
- Sweden (and the Nordics) generally have good work life balance. Sweden has a long history of work migration. It’s very common for a workplace to have english as it’s main language due to the amount of foreigners within the companies. This is also why we teach in English. Crunch is seen as a thing of the past, but of course depending on project and how things have went, it still happens. A rather big portion of swedish industry is from abroad (small country), so there isn’t any inherent resistance to foreign workers.
How should a game artist at the fresher level start his career upon graduation?
- As a Game artist a student should get a wide base and understand as much of everything as possible to find what field you appreciate the most. Once you have a good understanding of what everyone around you does, you will be a better artist in your own field as well. Be open to working with varied tasks. Be humble and work hard.
What are your thoughts about the Chinese VFX scene and the skills of the artists in China?
- We don’t have much insight into the Chinese VFX scene as it doesn’t affect our region of the world as much as it does the local region.
Does the school’s curriculum provide enough knowledge and skills for students to become professional VFX artists capable of working in studios both domestically and internationally?
- So far our students have both gotten work domestically with some seeking jobs abroad. One of which is running one of the largest mocap labs in canada by qualisys and another working at WETA.
Is the program structured to include thorough learning of 3D VFX, considering its significant application in the field of VFX?
- Yes, the program teaches a variety of fields. We teach everything between mocap, 3D, simulations and compositing.
DEGREE
The school’s program is a university or college program and what degree is awarded?
- The school is running on a type of school that’s unique to Sweden. Abroad it can be equal to a higher vocational polytechnic school. The degree is a diploma. We have collaborations with universities where you can study to get your bachelors degree however post-graduate with 2-3 semester extra. To get a job in Europe you don’t need a bachelor degree however. Only the portfolio matters and how well you work in a team.
Does the school have an actual Bachelor program?
- No, we have a higher vocational polytechnic diploma, but we do have collaborations with universities so with an extra year of study you could reach a Bachelor depending on what direction of Bachelor you would like to achieve. To get a job in Europe, you don’t need a Bachelor’s degree however. You just need a portfolio and formal training.
We do not accept any new students during 2025.
We will open admissions to the VFX program again in January 2026 – with school starting in the fall of 2026.
In addition to this, we also have plans to start two new programs (Technical Artist for games, film and simulation and Animation and visual storytelling) and to establish the school on another Campus (Norrköping, Sweden).
More info about this (including on how to apply – and about Scholarship for international students) will come later.
Stay tuned.
Most of the lectures/classes are held in English – both to help our non Swedish students and because of English being the chosen corporate language of the industry (thus our guest lecturers tend to prefer to teach in that language). Also, most VFX-software are in English anyway.
Individual help is provided in both English and Swedish.
De flesta föreläsningarna/lektionerna hålls på engelska – både för att hjälpa våra icke-svenska studenter och för att engelska är det valda koncernspråket i branschen (därför brukar även våra gästföreläsare föredra att undervisa på det språket). Dessutom är de flesta VFX-programvara på engelska.
Individuell hjälp ges på både engelska och svenska.
Antagning.se listar i dagsläget enbart program och kurser för svenska universitet och högskolor.
Vi är en Yrkeshögskoleutbildning. Läs mer om Yrkeshögskolan <<här!>>
Utbildningen berättigar till studiemedel – men du måste själv ansöka om detta hos Centrala studiestödsnämnden: https://www.csn.se/
Nedan finner du lite uppgifter som kan vara bra att veta i din kontakt med CSN:
Utbildningens officiella namn
VFX-artist: 3D-visualisering och digital compositing
Anordnare
Vuxenutbildningen, Skellefteå kommun
Studietiden och omfattningen motsvarar: studier på heltid, 100% i 101 veckor
220829-230113
230116-230602
230828-240112
240115-240531
240826-250110 (examen)
230828-240112
240115-240531
240826-250110
250113-250530
250825-260109 (examen)
240826-250110
250113-250530
250825-260109
260112-260529
260824-270114 (examen)
Bra fråga 🙂
Kärt barn har många namn. Officiellt (inkl. på ansökningen) heter utbildningen: VFX-artist: 3D-visualisering och digital compositing
Vi använder dock oftast istället namnet: Visual Magic – VFX-artist för spel och film (alternativt, på engelska: Visual Magic – VFX-artist for Games and Film).
It is of course an advantage if you have tried creating things in 3D – but not a requirement. That you are aesthetically inclined (have a sense of color and shape) is more important. We will look at the whole picture, that is, if you are good at drawing/painting by hand, it can compensate for a lack of experience in 3D programs – and vice versa.
We will send out an admission test to all applicants where they can show what they can do.
Vi kräver Engelska 6 eller motsvarande kunskaper. Detta främst för att de studerande ska kunna hänga med vid föreläsningar från internationella artister.
Det går jättebra att söka även om du inte har läst Engelska 6 (eller bara saknar slutbetyg)!
För att vi ska få koll på din engelska (utan ett betyg) ska du då istället bifoga en kortare text (ca en halv A4) där du, med egna ord på engelska, berättar om varför du vill gå utbildningen. Texten behöver inte vara perfekt, det räcker om vi ser att du har hyfsad koll 🙂
The education is held on site (i.e. no distance learning is available at the moment).
It is located at Campus Skellefteå – in the middle of northern Europe’s fastest growing gaming cluster (Arctic Game).
Visual Magic: VFX artist for film and games has, together with several other game-related educations, its own floor in one of the buildings on Skellefteå Campus. There we offer a creative environment. In total, there are approx. 400 students in games/graphics at Campus Skellefteå!
You can find more information about the place of study and other things at:
https://skelleftea.se/platsen/eng/campus/campus-home
Skellefteå is a city (in almost exponential growth and almost zero unenployment rate) in the northern parts of Sweden.
https://www.visitskelleftea.se/en/
The training follows the needs and trends that exist in the industry so that you will arrive very well prepared for internships and jobs.
We use the most commonly used (and required) software – including node based and realtime ones. Among other things, we will provide training in Houdini, Nuke, Maya, Zbrush and Marvelous Designer as well as Unreal Engine.
We are very proud to be one of the few schools that are certified by SideFX (Houdini) and Epic (Unreal).
Please note that this education believes in using the most relevant software – not to be confused with similar educations that claim to work closely with the industry but mainly use cheap/free software. We focus on quality, even though it forces us to pay really expensive software fees.
All students are assigned their own (borrowed) powerful desktop computer free of charge during their studies – and also get their own workplace in our newly renovated premises (updated with more space and a brand new ventilation system before the start of the semester).
We do not require the purchase of any student literature – so study allowance (CSN) can instead be used to create a better study environment (buying your own extra monitor, drawing board, comfortable office chair or the like) and to subscribe to the licences that are not part of the school’s offer, see below.
The school provides Maya, Houdini, Nuke, Ftrack, Substance Painter/Designer, Unreal, Motion Builder, Marvelous Designer, etc. free of charge – but the students themselves are expected to pay for student licences (for a total of about SEK 250/month) in the form of Maxxon One ( Zbrush/Cinema4D/Redshift) and Photoshop.
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