What kind of qualifications are expected/desired when recruiting for a TV show?
I’ve received this question from numerous people so seriously, here’s what I would say you’d need:
1) Skills! Learn to draw really well (most important). Study those basics - anatomy, perspective, composition, tone. Then depending on what you’d like to specialize in, learn to tell a story, learn to design, learn color. (Some people get around this because they’re incredibly funny, but don’t assume you can count on that.)
2) Be a nice person. I don’t want to spend my days working with jerks. We have to make shows as a team on tight schedules and we rely on each other to be professional, to make deadlines, and to excite each other creatively.
3) Don’t give up. If it’s what you want, keep trying to get there. You never know when new shows might be starting up, so timing is important.
The best thing I would say to do (beyond getting a good art education) is to make your stuff and put it online. Keep making stuff. A lot of people owe their jobs to someone liking their online work. That’s your absolute best bet right now, plus you get the satisfaction of actually making something rather than waiting around for someone else to “let” you.
Some Animation Inspiration...
simplyrobotix.com
I don’t exactly remember how I stumbled upon Chris Oatley’s website (I’m pretty sure it had something to do with an Animation Magazine tweet) but I’m glad I did.
In his post When Jobs In Animation Disappear… he shares some words of encouragement for artists in the industry, students and recent grads like myself.
Everyday I’m learning and figuring out how to establish myself as an artist and an animator and I really appreciated his post. One thing he wrote that stood out to me was:
You can’t let fluctuations in the industry and/or economy kill your creativity.
…and you don’t need a job in the animation industry to validate your calling.
That is a lesson I’m coming to understand. Since graduating in 2011 I felt that not having a job in the industry or an internship by this point makes me somewhat of a failure compared to my classmates, but that is not true. My journey is simply different than theirs. He quotes Maria Palazzi
“One of the great things about the animation industry is that it rewards hard work and persistence.”
I’m reminded that as long as I continue moving forward towards my dreams things will unfold accordingly. One small step forward is still better than standing still.
How should you respond to troubling news about the animation industry?
…the same way you respond to encouraging news about the animation industry.
Draw, paint, repeat.
Pursue mastery.
Go to CTN-X.
Share your work online.
Overall I think any and everyone interested in perusing a career in animation should read this post and check out the rest of his website (there is soooo many great posts and resources)
For a lonng while I've thought about making a short animated film, but I'm always confused on where to start. Create a story with characters, write out the story, draw the characters, try to figure out what you want the story message to be... then there's what to use to animate, what to need, and how long the film should be with how many frames. It's confusing, do you have any tips on a creative process and programs to use?
The process is different for everyone, but I can tell you how I do it.
when did you start practicing animating? i've never done anything more complicated than a bouncy ball or stick figures on post-it notes... lol. i feel like i should try animating digitally, but i have no idea where to start
I started animating in college. I knew I wanted to animate since middle school but didn’t actually start until college.
Well for starters when you say “digitally” what do you mean?
You can animate in the standard Flash, AfterEffects or ToonBoom (that’s what it is called right?) if you want to do more traditional/ 2D stuff.
If you mean 3D you can download Maya, SoftImage, Blender, 3Ds Max.
It think for either the best place to start is with the Richard Williams book The Animator’s Survival Kit. It has the fundamentals of animation that is applicable for all mediums. There are many other books that can help as well. I’m reading How To Cheat in Maya right now and then I’ll be reading Stop Staring.
Finally created my FAQ page
amazelife.tumblr.comIt is animation/art specific.
If you are nosy and would like to find out other types of info you can always browse my answers, personal or me tags :)
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Hello! I saw your question on artist-problems on how you could give advice on art college things and I'm really hoping you could help me out! I'm a junior in highschool and I'm interested in animation and attending CalArts in the future, however I have no idea on how to make an amazing portfolio or really all that much on art schools in general. Could you pretty please give me advice on making my portfolio or on ANYTHING animation/art school related?Thank you, I really don't know where to turn.
First here is a link to a question a follower asked me not too long ago.
http://amazelife.tumblr.com/post/25158986636/hello-again-im-not-sure-if-you-will-have-an-answer
Second thing I’d tell you to do is find some summer art college classes to take. Maybe some community colleges or museums in your area might offer them free or really cheap.
Third, Find out what CalArts (or any art school) expects to see in portfolios from high school students.
Fourth do you take any type of art classes in school? Do you draw? Paint? Sculpt? etc…
I'm interested in animation and I'm in high school. I'm completely lost and I have no idea how to get started or where to go to school or how to increase my chances of getting a job after I graduate. I would extremely appreciate any advice :)
I think it’s one of those fields that is really hard to get into without a little help, so it’s understandable that you feel a bit lost. My high school had a decent art program, but we focused on really traditional mediums, so I really didn’t have a lot of people to look up to or go to for help.
If you can, I would talk to a guidance counselor and maybe have them help you find schools in your area that offer an animation program. Unfortunately, unless you’re in an art university, 2D animation isn’t really taught outside of a rudimentary level at most 4 year colleges. However, 3D animation is growing a lot, along with motion graphics.
There are free source programs, such as blender, you can take a look at. I think industry standard is Maya/3DS Max, both programs by Autodesk, but I do believe that Cinema4D is gaining popularity… or might have had it for a while. Cinema4D is used more for medical purposes, because it has a bunch of presets that are used to texture and light things that look really organic and…body-fluidy. :x
Anyway, the most inspiring thing, I think, is to look up demo reels and student work. You get a feel for what sort of things you can accomplish as a student. There are also like… a million things you can do as an animator, so it takes some time and research, but there are so many things you can learn. It’s kind of insane.
Some schools you can look into (although I don’t know that you would apply, they’re expensive, but they have reels of student work I think on their websites):
- Ringling College of Art and Design
- MICA
- UCLA
- CalArts
- AAU (I go here)
- SCAD
I feel like there are a million more, but when I applied to art schools, I only applied to SCAD, AAU, and UCLA. It’s a lot different for undergraduate programs. An art university would be more expensive, but ultimately, if you only plan to go for undergrad, I would recommend it.
