Your Guide To Select Animation As a Career Option

From a career point of view, being an animator could certainly be a highly promising career. It can provide you with an opportunity that can fill your life with images and ideas in highly diverse fields such as law, healthcare, film, education, television, and gaming.  In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide to select animation as a career option.

Taking degree program or animation courses

For most professionals, going to university tends to be the first and most important step to make animation as a career. Most of the multimedia animator and artist positions usually require a bachelor’s degree. However, the animation program that you select will mainly depend on your personal career goals, current skills and prior education. Some of your best options could include having an associate or and bachelor degree programs and also non-degree programs including diploma and certificate programs. Degree programs can help in providing you a comprehensive education. They can also move from foundational to advanced courses. On the other hand, non-degree programs narrow in on specific specialties. They may also require existing skills or even prior knowledge for specific areas. As a result, you should be sure to select a program that can help in providing practical experience with industry technology. This is usually by people with experience in the field.

Dedicate yourself for the development of your skills

Irrespective of how good your animation program is, your instructors would only be able to teach you so much that can only help you to make animation as a career. They can only push you for the attainment of your level best. However, it is you that have to put in the hard work. Apart from building strong art skills and learning animation and editing software, you will also be required to develop acting and observation skills. In doing so, you can understand movements and body language. This will help you to recreate particular qualities and specific emotions. Another essential skill that you need to develop is teamwork. Animation projects need collaboration. You will require practice for the purpose of becoming a group member and all manage feedback and critiques.

Creating a demo reel and strong portfolio

If you ask any industry professional that how one can become successful in having animation as a career, they will tell you that having a strong portfolio is essential to success. Creating portfolio pieces is also an extremely pivotal component of the curriculum in various arts and media programs across the world. For animators, it is essential to create your portfolio online. This will allow you to present a section for a specific short demo reel along with having an area for long work samples. Each and every piece that you share must comprise of a recap of the work that you have done so far along with your project goals so far. Moreover, you should only focus on sharing your best work along with updating your portfolio and reel when you create new and stronger pieces. You should not forget to include a specific section on your website and resume along with providing a comprehensive overview of your interests and background. For portfolio ideas, you could also review online portfolios of other professional animators. This will help in boosting your career prospects.

Getting sufficient work experience

As a student, you should focus on securing internships and freelance jobs. This will help you to gain sufficient experience outside your classroom. Even after you complete graduation and are able to find a full-time role, you will be highly likely to start out in an entry-level position when compared with a lead animator job. When you work for the advancement of your career, you may still want to select having freelance work or even volunteer for organizations that you really care about. Having all of this sufficient experience could help you in networking with other professionals. It can also help in building strong skills and continue expanding your portfolio. You should also remember that a large part of becoming an animator is putting the required time and effort at the start of your own development and success.

Have a diversified skillset

As a professional, you should try and gain knowledge of storyboarding and character design. This will help in proving your versatility. Having a comprehensive skillset also shows that you can easily adapt to new challenges. This is certainly a great trait for companies that work on a variety of projects throughout the year.