Tips for Animators: Invest in yourself, So they will
Article by Richard Arroyo & iAnimate Team
When recruiters look for animators for hire, they're not simply adding workers to the organization or studio. They are putting resources into people's abilities to make great animations, stories, or games. If you put resources into yourself, you will get the output as well. You'll get the worth of your hard-earned skills and talent.
Career Advice for Animators
Animators play a crucial role in jobs in animation, ranging from motion pictures and computer games to TV ads, websites, and mobile apps. In such a growing and competitive field, it's critical to be sure you’ve got what it takes to succeed. If you invest in yourself and the skills they need, your work will speak for itself and bring you great success.
If you don't invest in yourself, why should they?
Create New & Different Animations
You might be one of the animators who have graduated from an animation school and have an extraordinary set of skills, yet there will continuously be new developments and trends in animation. You might need to polish your skills or acquire new abilities.
Learning is easier when you are interested in the activity you are doing. A major turning point in successful animators is investing a lot of energy and time into your development and the characters you are bringing to life.
It would help if you created animation other than what you do for your work. Add some new and exciting elements to your animation. You can start an animator career with a passion for projects and have fun while working.
Become the Best Studio Animators!
1. Have fun while enhancing your skills.
The first step for most animators is attending school to learn such skills. But one of the facts about animation career is grades won't get you hired, the skills will. So, instead of investing a huge chunk of money in traditional schools, try to look for online schools that offer specialized classes and workshops for animators and courses to enhance your skills. We, at iAnimate, aim to make our students industry-ready.
So, learn some new tricks or techniques to include in your animations. Try to keep up with the ongoing trends and get insights from famous modern animators in the industry.
2. Must for Animators: Devote yourself to developing your abilities
Apply whatever you have learned to your work. Adding new skills or polishing existing abilities is exciting. Whenever you are working on something, try getting feedback from your senior animators or peers. You can benefit from sharing and exchanging ideas.
Sharing your ideas will push you, and having your ideas challenged will make you better animators. Help the studio get a sense of your personality from your work. Show the studio how you would be a great addition to the team.
3. Create a neat portfolio and demo reel
If you're applying for an animator job or maybe reaching out to a studio. Make sure you have a brilliant-looking demo reel and portfolio of your best work. And also, add a short resume with your contact information. We recommend that you also add the contact info inside your reel as well.
Don't include any incomplete work or something that you’ve created in a group project. Get your mentor animators or peers to review your showreel. Keep updating and refining your reel till it shows the level of your abilities to the highest degree.
4. Get a variety of work experience.
Attempting to produce work purely for a portfolio or to master new abilities can be tricky as personal inspiration can soon decrease. Include great cinematic or feature work on your reel.
The animation industry and tech are advancing every day. Games are using next-level tech and methods that are setting the standards for all. The animation quality is better than ever, game character animation is up, and more movies are being made (even though they go straight to streaming).
Animators must learn Animation Software.
Do the research and understand the current job requirements for roles for animators that you’re applying for. Then contribute time mastering or working on your skills on the most appropriate software.
From our experience, the priority in every animators list should be learning Maya, Blender, Unreal Engine, and then Motion Builder. You can consider them as the priority or the order of learning. Learning previz and storytelling are also the most important aspects of animation.
Where to join and who to learn from?
A few online platforms for animators can assist you with achieving your dream career in animation. iAnimate leads by helping the students to become industry-ready animators. Mentors and trainers at iAnimate have over 23 years of experience (biggest & best project & movies).
Mentors give personalized feedback and evaluations to meet all your animation needs. All meetings with the teacher are live and recorded for later viewing. Our workshops for animators can help you accelerate and improve your animation career.
At iAnimate, guides adopt a holistic approach to their students. Your achievements are their success since you are the result of your mentor (support you).
Conclusion
If you are set in stone to improve as an animator, put resources into yourself and procure the abilities that recruiters are searching for. Keep developing new skills and stay aware of the trends. It’s fun and exciting to learn new stuff from workshops as it helps speed up your career. Build connections with the community and gain support.
Turn into a resource and become professional animators; definitely, studios will invest back in you. Animation differs from other innovations where animator jobs are scant, and compensations tend to be modest, as per individuals who have spent a long time in the animation business.
Remain enthusiastic and famous animators that are determined to succeed, and we’re pretty sure that the fast-paced environment wouldn't fluster you the slightest bit.
