Computer Animation

Our society has been shaped by many people to stereotype that to be successful in life, you must either be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer and many rarely consider the field of art. Many people do what other people encourage them to do, like being a doctor, but entering those careers there is a possibility that you might not have a passion or have a feeling of satisfaction. It is important to pursue a career that you love or enjoy doing, otherwise there’s no point.

Artists in the art pathway can also be successful, and art can be something you might be passionate about instead of being forced into a career. If you enjoy expressing yourself through art and enjoy doing art in general, computer animation might be a career that can fit you. Computer Animation is the art of creating entertaining films with moving figures as well as moving background scenes with the use of computers. Computer animators animate characters and are in charge of editing every movement the animator wants the character in the film to do.

They get to bring something completely fictional into life. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency that tracks economic data, the average salary in 2017 for computer animators is $70,530 (Occupational Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators). Computer animation can be a good, realistic career for you, especially if you are hardworking, and have a passion for art-related jobs because it allows you to put your creative imagination into use and help impact society through your art.

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To be a successful computer animator, you have to be hardworking, creative, and collabThisorative. For this career, some key responsibilities are listed on a government website, the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, which analyzes economic activity and updates statistics, working conditions, and other details for careers. The site mentions animators’ daily duties which are using computer programs to create animation and graphics, developing storyboards in 2D to roughly plan what to put as key scenes for the 3D animation, analyze how things look to make the animation as realistic as possible and to edit and improve films with special effects (Occupational Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators). Because computer animators are responsible for creating 2D storyboards as an outline for the final 3D animation, for the actual production of 3D animation, and to edit and improve the film, the process can take months or years. If you want to be a computer animator, there are many different tasks to accomplish, which means that to be successful you must be determined and hardworking. You must be productive and put much effort into your work because you wouldn’t want to slack off to harm your reputation in a way, especially if you didn’t complete a part of a project that you agreed on doing within a deadline.

Computer animators have to acknowledge that films This easy to make and it’s a very long process. However, if you’re very hardworking and don’t mind the long hours, the career can be very likable and fun to work in if you have a huge passion for it. In addition, you have to be creative because you have to constantly create scenes out of your pure imagination and on the top of your head. You have to be able to create original ideas and make the animation as realistic as it can be. You want to use your creativity in your film, so you won’t bore your watcher easily. Not only are computer animators hardworking and creative, but they also have the characteristics of being collaborative. In the same previous government website, BLS also informs how collaboration plays a role in the career, “Animators work in teams to develop a movie, a visual effect, or an electronic game. Each animator works on a portion of a project, and then the pieces are put together to create one cohesive animation” (Occupational Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators). In this quote, it shows the importance of being collaborative because most of the time, you would want to work with a team to create the most creative, high quality, and best product compared to other animation projects. Animators should have the willingness to work with others and develop that skill because if one chose to work individually to create an original film, it would take more than a few years for it to be finally produced. Being collaborative is a good characteristic to have because you want to be able to communicate ideas well to others to loosen up some pressure on the project. Collaborative skills can also help create a network of communication with your colleagues. With the unique ideas from other people and the animator’s ideas, it will not only benefit the animator themselves but the whole team and the company.

If you obtain the characteristics of being collaborative, it can also help with how you interact and work with other people socially in real life and not only in jobs. If you want to succeed in this career and want to create impressive films, a computer animator might want to obtain the characteristics of being creative, hardworking, and collaborative. Although being a computer animator might seem challenging from it being time-consuming, creating the animation is worth the time fo especially because you get to be creative and have the freedom to produce anything you want.  websiteThis easy named itcareerfinder, also known as an unbiased, expert content career guide that provides similar information as BLS, it informs people about the jobs overview, salary, skills, etc. On the site, the author reveals how busy and laborious an animator can be, “Animators can work 50+ hours per week and even pull all-fighters some benefits can when deadlines are approaching” (IT Careers, Computer Animation). From this quote, we can conclude that it might take a very long time just to even make a short scene or clip with the help of a full team. Things can be repetitive and is a long process to complete a certain part of the project especially when most of the time you sit in front of a screen. Computer animators work additional hours, which can be very frustrated because you have to make sure that the character is in the right position where you want it to be, with the background scenes, light composition, and sound effects. However, despite the long hours, some benefits can make animation a worthwhile job.

Information about the experiences of computer animators is discussed through interviews on a website titled Animdesk, an animation company site that writes about interviews that they make with leading animators. In an interview with Roy Margalit, an animator who has been working in the animation field for more than 10 years and worked with Dreamworks, Weta, etc, he mentions, “The best part for [animation] is when I’m connecting to the character I’m working on.” (Interviewed Roy Margalit – Character Animator). another interview with Dave Johnson, an art director and character animator for Microsoft Game Studios, he responds to the same question, “I do love […] bringing characters to life. There is nothing better than hearing someone talk about, ‘I loved when [your character] looked at the camera and gave that little smirk…’” (Interviewed Dave Johnson – Character Animator & Art Director). From these quotes, being a computer animator has the benefit of being able to personally express yourself from having the freedom of designing your character. The character can even be so similarly related to you to the point where you emotionally feel a connection to it as you create more of the film. In other words, you can put your creativity to use and have the ability to monitor how you want the character to act or look. It is a career where you can entertain a group o audience with your work based on making something completely imaginary to being creative and turning it to make it seem alive. Even though this process of making the final product can be tedious, you get to do what you’re passionate about and it can be fun creating things out of creativity and your imagination.

This career goal is attainable because students have many opportunities to become familiar with the career in high school and computer animation will continue to grow shortly since many other industries have a constant need for animators. From the previous sourced government website, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics claims the requirements needed for the career, “A bachelor’s degree of [either] fine arts, animation, and computer graphics [is required], [have] taken computer science courses and art courses, […] workers who have a good portfolio of work and strong technical skills like computer programming” (Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators). This is a realistic career to choose from because in high school, for example, Oakland Tech, the school provides different pathways or academies for certain careers students are interested in doing. There is a pathway specifically for computer animation and also computer science, so you can improve your technology skills and learn how to program codes to help with the animation. We also have electives for computer animation and art courses meaning we can have more experience before going to college to pursue the career. We can use what we learned and the experiences, and the projects, to create a good portfolio for job applications for employers to look at. In those courses, we can practice our skills needed for this career relating to technology, art, creativity, and communication. Opportunities like these from high schools can be very helpful, especially when those skills are needed to be a successful computer animator.

A possible path to take if you have a passion for computer animation is to take one of the courses provided in high school and go to one of the art colleges to build off of your skills even more. From the previously mentioned website, itcareerfinder, one of the schools that were recommended and can provide computer animation training was Rasmussen College which is located on the East Coast. The site describes the benefits of the school, “Advanced 3D computer animation training, learn on the latest animation software from Adobe & Autodesk, learn about 3D modeling, lighting, texturing and rendering human anatomy, figure drawing, and create a professional portfolio” (IT Careers, Computer Animation). This college would be suggested for those who are committed and interested in computer animation because it helps train 3D computer animation, teach art concepts, how to use animation programs, know about physics and science behind a movement, along with creating a strong portfolio for job applications. This college can help earn a bachelbachelor’sor degree, acquire the necessary skills, and even help connect you with other people who have similar interests as you. Another way that this career can be realistic is that in the future, there is a huge demand for employment from animators. Information about the job outlook of computer animators is shown on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website which shows the high desire for workers, “Employment of multimedia animators is projected to grow 8 percent from 2016 to 2026, about as fast as the average for all occupations [which is 7%]” (Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators). Based on this, we can tell that in the future there must be a lot of competition for workers and between the industries. The job outlook is higher than usual because consumers might want more video games, movies, and tv shows and in the future, technology will advance and as it does so, animation would be easier. With newer computer hardware and programs, the real movie and film industries might want to create more and rely more on animators to help them grow in markets. To conclude, there is a realistic possibility that anyone who has a passion for computer animation can successfully make it into a career in the future.

From researching more about this career, I realized that I would want a more interactive career and one that can also produce an impact on my community. This career might be good for people who have artistic talent, a passion for creating things, and can be located real committed to working for something that might take months or even years to finish. interest am somewhat interested in 2D animation because I have an interest in creating things, putting everything together into one piece,and simple programming, and I am somewhat creative. Based on itcareerfinder, a website that provides unbiased career information about any career, it somewhat changed my decision when it claims that “Animators can work 50+ hours per week and [have to sometimes] pull an all-nighter” (IT Careers, Computer Animation). Because the work mostly depends on the use of computers, I don’t think I have the patience to sit in front of a screen for most of the day. I would want a more interactive career that involves more “movement”. Something that is important to me for this career, which is also considered a benefit, is the huge impact on society. On the same website that writes the interviews made with animators in the animation industry, titled Animdesk, they wrote about the interview with Ron Doucet an animation director who has worked for over 15 years in the industry. He states that after you start the path you would realize that, “You don’t do this work for the money, don’t do this work for the fame and glory, you do this for the people” (Interviewed Ron Doucet – Animation Director). This quote and when it is mentioned “for the people”, explains the purpose of being an animator, to make stories that people can emotionally relate to and to help spread a message they want to put into society. It is important because people create animations not only for entertainment purposes, but to also help encourage people in society through art.

In other words, this is also considered a benefit o being an animator, because you not only can have the freedom to create whatever you want, you can lift people and give them motivation by communicating messages to the people. From those messages, it can encourage people in areas they aren’t usually encouraged in. It even helps give you a voice in society and the ability to do this through something you’reare passionate about. In my opinion, my research has impacted me to the conclusion that I want to pursue an interactive career that can also help people or impact society in a certain way. In conclusion, despite my own opinion and the long hours, this career is a good career to strive for because you can motivate and help impact other people’s lives through art created from your creative imagination. If you have the passion, have perseverance, collaborative skills, are hard-working, are determined, and enjoy creating things, I recommend pursuing this career. To make it into computer animation, you are required to go through college to earn a bachelor’s degree in either, fine arts, animation, or computer graphics. You are also required to create a strong portfolio that shows your skills as an animator which is realistic and can be easy to make because it can be based on plenty of saved projects from courses in high school and college. Successful animators can work with huge companies like Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks and help entertain and motivate an audience. You have the abilities and skills to eventually be a successful animator, too, as long as you follow your guts when picking a career, based on whatever you love. Works Cited “Latest Interviews:” AnimDesk, on the Internet at www.animdesk.com/. (visited December 11, 2018) Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Multimedia Artists and Animators, on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/multimedia-artists-and-animators.htm (visited December 11, 2018). “Computer Animation” IT Careers, on the Internet at www.itcareerfinder.com/it-careers/computer-animator.html. (visited December 11, 2018)