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Lessons from Mickey - Animation Jobs

by Kirk Bangstad
kirk.bangstad@careertrainingdirectory.com
Career Training Directory Columnist

Alright you wannabe animators - you've just stumbled onto a great new resource called "Lessons from Mickey." This weekly column is designed to help you figure out how to find opportunities in the wild field of animation.

As you probably already know, animation fits into the "must be better than a thousand applicants to get a job" type of career, meaning a career animator is much like a successful actor or professional athlete. A lot of people want to animate for a living, and the number of decent paying animation jobs out there are slim. Although "making it" as an animator is tough, there are definitely ways to improve your chances.

This week, I'm going to discuss 3 different things you can do to land your dream animation job.

Animation Job Prep Step 1 - Hone Your Drawing Skills

This step sounds like a no-brainer, but way too many naive animators-in-training take drawing for granted. They think that knowing how to use state-of-the-art animation software replaces the need to hone their drawing skills.

Those who land the top computer animation jobs became great artists before they learned how to use best-of-breed software. The best animation schools will require that you take both drawing and computer animation classes.

Animation Job Prep Step 2 - Study Human Anatomy

Again, top animation schools understand that the key to animation is believability. The general public loves animation that looks real. Knowing how the body moves, and what it looks like in motion is a key element to successful animation. If you want to land that animation job at Disney or Pixar, you're going to have to have a good eye for 3d movement.

Animation Job Prep Step 3 - Intern, Intern, Intern

I hope I'm not the first to let you in on this little secret, but you don't live in a meritocracy. The best animators don't always end up with the best animation jobs. Although you need to be extremely talented to work in a top-notch animation studio, actually getting hired usually involves an element of luck.

Most animators working at great studios managed to get "discovered" by someone at that studio. One way to get "discovered" is to intern at a reputable studio. You may not get paid very much, but you'll at least get to develop your professional network, which is an absolute necessity in this field.

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