On Starting a Career in Animation


Starting a career as a professional computer animator is something of a hurdle. Aspiring animators are judged by their past work and attitude. Studios might be willing to accept some shortcomings, but in general, they hire only artists who can begin producing on the first day. Some comments on the subject:

"Get apprentice work any way you can. Student and personal work is looked on very differently from production work that included an actual client and deadline. Work for free at first, if necessary, and find clients from any market that would benefit from animation."

"Study the trades (trade magazines such as Computer Graphics World and Cinefex) until you understand the business well enough to just skim them for relevant detail instead of having to read everything line by line to understand it."

"Once you've entered into the industry, help others the same way you were helped. It's a small industry and good talent moves quickly."

"See and be seen, show up at any industry events you are able to get yourself into, and introduce yourself casually."

"Admit your skill boundaries when you begin professionally. There's a tendency in new animators to overextend themselves and promise too much, too soon."

"Don't miss deadlines. Don't commit to deadlines you are likely to miss."

Going Further

This book presented several individual projects displaying many variations and ideas from those projects in the tutorial. Take this information and the techniques used to build a personal project, and use the techniques you have learned to build a complex project of your own.

Use the final, rendered movies of these projects to solicit some low-stress production work perhaps a spinning logo for a web site or a clever graphic that a charity could use in its publications. Use your network of friends and family to find a group or business that could benefit from your animation skills, but will not demand perfection or hold you to an early deadline.

Join the online Maya community and interact.




Maya 5 Fundamentals
Maya 4.5 Fundamentals
ISBN: 0735713278
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 198

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