Guest Article: ‘Becoming an Animator’ by Gaurav Jain

In three more days, the allaboutanimation.com website will go live. The aim of AAA is to create awareness about animation, especially in the context of education.

Our guest writer for today, Gaurav Jain, producer, Illusion Interactive , has some advice to give to our young animation enthusiasts who would like to take up Animation as a career.

Here is what he has to say:

BECOMING AN ANIMATOR

The Indian animation market is poised for strong growth as IP becomes the order of the day and many youngsters have begun to choose animation as their career path.

What you need to know:
Firstly, it requires a great amount of patience and hard work. The work is fast but the results are slow. It can take a whole day just to see a second’s worth of results (if you are lucky!) It is not for those who lose interest quickly. Good drawing is very important. Without it you will not get far.

Skills required:
The ability to observe bodies in motion and being able to replicate that motion on paper is the most basic skill required. Drawing skills are of paramount important, as is consistent drawing. To become a well rounded animator one must also be able to create a script, storyboard and have a fair level of cinematic understanding. These additional skills take prominence when one works on one’s portfolio or smaller personal projects. A great deal of animation is created by large teams and one must be able to communicate well with other team members.

Animation Education:
With the popularity of animation, several new educational institutes of have sprouted up. Their expertise is, however, doubtful. Before selecting a course, ensure that the facility has a good track record, the program offering is sound (drawing related education vs. learning software)and that the quality and level of placements is credible.

2D versus 3D:
The debate never ends. Personally, however, I don’t think it really matters. These are tools and they offer options. By themselves, they rarely make or break a project. The script, characters and concepts of an animated project will make it work, not the format of its production. The same goes for software packages- they are just tools. However, I will insist that only a good 2d animator makes a great 3d animator and I have yet to see otherwise.

“What if I can’t draw?”
If you can’t draw you still have many opportunities in CGI arena where you can join as a texturing, rigging, lighting artist or become a sfx compositor and still be a part of the animation process, these activities are just as important as making key drawings.

Finally…
Once you join a team or after your course is over, do not expect to immediately and rapidly move up in the world. Expect at least 12-18 months of intense work before you can become a competitive animator. You will learn a lot while working with others and this will in turn make you better. There is no alternative to this. It is an exhausting but ultimately rewarding process.

Good luck!