Can I work in the Animation Industry?

Having had some practice with animation so far, you’ve gotten a good start on building your knowledge and skillset. Planning visuals, producing audio and creating animations, all underpinned by an understanding of the fundamentals of design theory and research.

How many of these skills are transferable and would help you get in to the industry? Are there any other aspects you’ve considered but not studied yet, that might affect the way you work and how you work if you’re employed by an animation studio? Watch through the video below and take notes to answer the following questions.

How to know if you're good enough for the Animation Industry

When a studio puts out a callout, what are they asking potential animators for? What do they provide to help with this process?

They provide character sheets, references, and/or even small scripts to follow. Sometimes a production company requires animators to be really fast in the turnover by giving animators 1 week to finish the animation test. Sometimes they want an animator that nails the style and aesthetic, or even sometimes asking “random” questions, like “what would the bedroom look like for this character?”, as to see if they would fit well in the production, like if the animator would mesh well with the workspace of the other animators.

When responding to a callout, what could you make for an animation test?

I would go over the requirements in the callout. As to see what they would ask in an animator, if its a simple animation test, of the character moving around, doing an action like picking up a sword, I would try to give the character a lot of “personality” and “life”, sometimes exaggerating a bit, (unless the callout is for a gritty style of animation, which I wouldn’t generally go for).

What kind of animation would you personally enjoy working on? (genres, art styles, age groups) What could you include in your portfolio to tailor it to these specifics?

I personally enjoy making abstract art pieces, akin to ‘Samurai Jack’. And I would have to make characters that are similar to the style of the show, like having character sheets, background art, some animation tests or loops in the style of the animation. As ‘Samurai Jack’ is more towards teens to young adults, I would try to be more mature in how I present my portfolio, obviously, that doesn’t mean I can’t personalise how the work is shown. But I would try and need to attract the right audience.

Name at least one animator you can compare your work with. If you don’t know any off the top of your head, then think of the animated shows you enjoy and research the key animators for those.

James Garland Quintel is the main director, showrunner and animator for the show, ‘Regular show’, as it is one of my favourite shows, with its simple animation style, being very laid back. The average episode of the show goes along something like, being very slice of life, as what would two college drop out guys do, while they work in a park. But the conflict in the middle becomes very chaotic and with world ending events occurring. Just for some Deus Ex Machina moment to reset them back to normal. And repeat.

The animation principles they use are very simple, basic, still drawings. Good use of appeal, slow ins and slow outs. But the middle of the episode is when the principles are used effectively, a lot of exaggeration, an incredible amount of frames that are used and drawn, etc. So I would need to get good with drawing the same characters in different scenarios, as they are constantly doing different motions and actions. Which would help me with the habit of repeatedly drawing the same models or characters.