Building a Career in Animation
When you think of animation, oftentimes cartoons come to mind. You imagine the aesthetic appeal and behind the scenes of major blockbuster films like Ben 10, Lion King, and those popular Saturday morning cartoons. Interestingly, animators do much more than producing cartoons. They also create designs for commercials, video games and other forms of media. Becoming an animator is a career with a lot of opportunities to explore. Animation allows you to explore your creative and technical might simultaneously. Although, you must be ready to burn the candle at both ends because of the amount of time dedicated to creating even the shortest animated content.
If you desire to build a career in the animation industry, here are six pointers to get you started.
DEVELOP YOUR DRAWING SKILLS
Oftentimes, I hear enthusiasts ask if drawing is important to excel in this field? Actually, the answer varies. If you want to specialise in Frame by Frame animation for instance, then drawing is a must-have skill, because each process demands that you draw. However, in 3D animation, drawing skills are only important when you are doing character design, storyboarding and texturing.
On a general note, having a good knowledge of drawing is advantageous. It helps you build an eye for proportion and enhances your visual perception. But if you don't draw well, don’t feel bad. All you need to do is to keep practising.
IDENTIFY YOUR AREA OF INTEREST
Animation is a broad field. As a result, it is important for you to create a niche for yourself by identifying the area that aligns with your passion. You may desire to specialise in game design, stop motion, visual effects (vfx), 3D animation, or white board animation. To start with, it is important that you research the distinguishing features of each area. For instance, if you pick interest in 3D animation, you will do a lot of modelling, motion capture and rendering. You must also be familiar with animation software like Maya and/or Blender.
Creating a niche for yourself makes your work more defined and broaden your knowledge in the chosen area.
GET TRAINED
You don’t become a successful animator by just wishful thinking. You need to invest in training. There are diverse videos circulating the internet touching on various topics in animation. Getting acquainted with the training from relevant platforms will broaden your knowledge. However, that is not all that should be done. You also need to be trained under the guidance of skilled talents to understand complex tasks.
From 2D and 3D animation, rigging to software design and lots more, Quadron Animation Academy got you covered. You can contact us to learn more about our training offers and how it suit your learning needs.
4. CREATE A DEMO REEL/PORTFOLIO FOR YOUR WORK
Demo reels are important in this highly innovative industry. They are an effective means of convincing anyone that you are a budding animator. Your demo reel should contain the best of your animated content in video form and should be presented in a way that grabs attention.
5. APPLY FOR INTERNSHIP
Many animation studios and ad agencies map out slots for internship annually and some even more frequently. So, after receiving proper training, you should look out for organisations that offer internship placement. This is one of the moment your demo reel becomes really important. Internship programmes allow you to harness the knowledge you have acquired in a business environment and learn relevant soft skills alongside. In some cases, it may mean the magic move to landing your first job as an animator.
6. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!
The parlance “practice makes perfect” holds true in virtually all situations. The more you keep taking up tasks in creating animated content, the higher your level of expertise. For example, you may go online to search for short animated content and try to replicate what you see. Over time, you gain mastery and become a sought-after animator. Sounds good right?