subject: Not Just A Job It's An Animator Career For The Long Haul. [print this page] Many special things can be obtained when an artist decides to make the leap into an animator career. These people have learned to enjoy great art their entire lives and would love to join the process of bringing it to life. What the job is and how we perceive what we call animation will be discussed. The most frequent problem that young hopefuls run into will be discussed and then we will discuss how to help build such a career.
How does is the illusion of animated artwork created for an audience? It all has to do with a phenomenon of the human eye that deals with visual persistence. When similar artwork that is created to progressively change and is displayed frame by frame at a constant frame rate the illusion of animation is then created. This simple idea is also the basis for computer animation as well.
Many potential animators start off as children not only studying various works of art but drawing similar works as a learning experience. Sometimes other people can approach the work of these young artists and make harsh comments on the accuracy of it. This can be over discouraging for some young hopeful artists and they give up on art before they have a chance to perfect it.
Picking an animated movie to study on an individual, single frame basis can be a very productive thing for an artist do. They learn so much about animation by doing this simple exercise. When studying each individual frame the young artist starts to understand how the scene was created. When an artist begins this practice they have usually made a firm decision that this is a career they would enjoy pursuing.
Before you begin your animator career you must perfect several sets of very important skills. You must familiarize yourself with the types of things you will be doing in a studio. A lot of drawing and painting often take place. Do not forget to master the computer technology. Computers are utilized in 2-D and 3-D movies in the market place of today.
You need to build a very strong portfolio if you are the least bit serious about animation as a career. You need to showcase many types of art that you have created over the years. You should also showcase videos. You should display a large variation in the type of work to prove how versatile you can be as not only an artist but an animator.
You need to master the task of using a personal computer to create three dimensional models. These models are often used in computer animated movies. There is still a very large market for painted animation but the computer movies have been hitting the market full throttle. It is wise for most animators to be able to showcase their ability to work within this trend.
If an animator career is under serious consideration to you please know that it can be a lot of very hard work. This is typical of most artistic jobs. If you have started drawing and creating as a child this will help you a lot. You must not only continue making art but adding it to your portfolio. Also do not forget that you will need to learn a lot about computers to be considered by most studios.
