Animator
Animators visualise and draw motion, bringing drawings or models to life on the screen. They use their creative skills to bring characters to life by injecting personality, mood and feeling into hundreds and often thousands of hand-drawn or computer-generated images (CGI). Some animators also use stop-motion filming techniques to produce 3D animations: making slight adjustments to models and photographing them in sequence to create an illusion of movement in the finished film.
Animators can specialise in a certain type of animation (2D or 3D, hand-drawn, CGI or stop-motion) or in a certain industry such as design, movies, videogames etc.
While specific job responsibilities may differ from organisation to organisation and even from project to project, the work of an animator typically includes:
- coming up with original designs, stories and ideas
- producing images according to the brief of the animation director and/or lead animator
- presenting designs to directors, supervisors and clients for evaluation
- working in teams of creative people of different skills and backgrounds
Typical Employers
- animation studios
- advertising agencies
- video game companies
- film and television production companies
- broadcasting companies
- Internet content suppliers
Qualifications
It’s advantageous to have a degree in animation or graphic design. A good grounding in computer software – especially multimedia software such as Flash, Maya, Adobe Creative Suite, but also office software like OpenOffice and Microsoft Powerpoint – is essential.
Animators must also constantly update their skills and keep up with new trends and techniques in animation, illustration and multimedia design as well as videogames and other popular entertainment.
Key Skills
- able to draw freehand reasonably well
- creative and imaginative
- proactive
- flexible
- good communication and time management skills
- observant and detail-orientated
- patient and persistent
Some acting skills will be useful for character animation.
Useful Links
.png)
