Thursday, November 5, 2009

Do You Need a Formal Education to Get Work as an Animator?

Do you need a formal education to get work as an animator? Does it help if you have a college degree?

Note: A college degree can be very helpful (and often essential) in securing a work visa when moving from one country to another. The below article is primarily meant for animators looking for work in their home country, or countries where they are free to work. :)

I hear questions like this a lot, and usually tend to avoid answering them on the blog because the answer sounds so self-serving as a co-founder of an online school, but I hear it so often that I guess it deserves a spot on the ol' tips and tricks blog...

First, I'll say this: having a college education is great. It sure doesn't hurt you in any way, may open your mind to new artistic avenues you may not have found otherwise, and a degree does at least show that you have the tenacity to finish a challenging task that you started.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for college graduates.

That said, at least in the US and at most major animation studios worldwide, your chances of being hired as an animator are dependent entirely on your demo reel, your interview, your reputation, and your geographic location for certain countries or studios.

I would say that 95% of the time, the recruiters and animation supervisors couldn't care less where you went to school or if you finished. What they care about is that your demo reel is jam-packed with jaw-dropping animation and that you will be easy and fun to work with.

Some schools enjoy a very strong reputation which does help recruiters stand up and take an extra bit of notice, and I'm proud to say that Animation Mentor has become foremost among them. Having AM or another well-respected animation school's name on your demo reel can help get that reel into the right hands or get the recruiter to pop it into the dvd player, just as a strong credit-list on a resume will help move your reel to the top of the pile. However, there is no school you can put on your resume that will even slightly overshadow poor animation on your demo reel.

It's really ALL about your demo reel.

I would say 90% of whether or not you get a job is based on your reel. The other 10% is your reputation, interview, and geographic factors. I would say your college degree will affect the job position at major animation studios in the US by roughly 0%.

Which I guess brings up the question of whether or not you can learn animation without a formal animation education at all.

The answer is yes - you can learn animation without going to school for it, but you better be remarkably naturally talented, heavily plugged in to a lot of animation resources, and willing to spend three or four times as long learning this stuff. It can certainly be done, but without a mentor or solid animation curriculum being taught by very experienced animators, it's going to be slow-going to the point where most people will give up before reaching their goal.

Animation is unbelievably intricate, to the point where a lifetime of study will still only scratch the surface of this stuff, so if you have the option of attending a school, I'd strongly recommend it as long as their animation program is well-respected and you will have teachers and mentors with a lot of experience actually working in the field.

If that is simply not an option, then the next best thing would be to plug yourself into some online animation communities such as CG-CHAR, the 11-second club, and so forth. Find people who you can get feedback from (and give feedback TO, which is JUST as important to your education!). Pick up some great animation books, find some free characters you can work with, and create a disciplined schedule for yourself that will push you and give you the time and opportunity to practice, practice, practice!

At the end of the day, that animation job is going to based almost entirely on whether or not your demo reel knocks their socks off, and they most likely won't care a bit whether or not you have an official college degree.

You can take it from me. I'm a college dropout.

Yup, that's right - I don't have a degree either. I saw that my college wasn't teaching me what professionals were telling me I needed to know in order to work as an animator, so I got the heck out of there, found a mentor (thanks Wayne!!!!), and got to work learning this art the way it's meant to be learned.

Anyway, if you want to be an animator, you know what you really have to do? Animate. That's it. Everything else is just helping you do that one thing better and better, but the key is to sit down and ANIMATE. Bring a character to life, and then do it again, and then do it again, and then do it again. Each time, the character should feel more and more alive, as you learn from your mistakes and successes.

I won't pretend that trying to do this on your own will be easy or fast, or that Animation Mentor wouldn't accelerate your learning by an incredible margin, but there are self-taught people out there who animate circles around me, so it's certainly possible!

Whatever you choose to do, know that you don't have to spend a fortune on a degree to succeed in this business. What you need is a demo reel that will stand out above the crowd with perfect body mechanics, dynamic scenes, emotional and communicative acting performances, and entertaining and memorable scenes!

There are many paths that can lead to that demo reel, and it's up to each of us to find the path that best fits our own needs and time-frame. For some of you, spending the next 6 or 7 years learning on your own is a fine pace, and that's great for the few of you who are naturally gifted enough and disciplined enough to pull that off! For others, you need something more immediate and guided, such as one of our experienced mentors eager to pass their knowledge along to the next generation of animators.

Each of these are merely different paths, hopefully leading eventually to the same result.

Wherever you guys happen to be on that path, best of luck, and I hope you're having half as much fun as I am with this animation stuff! :)

Shawn :)

47 comments:

Sioppz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason J. said...

Shawn, I just love your enthusiasm. I've heard this concept from many people now, especially since I'm a proud student at AM, but it's always great to be reminded. In our culture, there is a surprisingly strong pull to get a degree, and sometimes it's downright draining. I actually plan to get a degree down the road, but I totally agree (and would say it applies to life in general) that the skills are what count, not the credentials. Thanks for sharing!

Jason

Rich said...

Excellent post, Dr. Shawn. I can certainly agree with the assessment on how long it takes to learn animation without some sort of guidance from a school or mentor or even peers who have gone through such programs. I attempted to learn animation on my own for a decade before finally breaking down and enrolling in an animation school (AM, though don't think of me as biased - the same idea applies to any number of other fine animation schools and programs in the world,) and in just the first few class sessions I learned more than I had been able to learn in ten years of personal, non-guided, lonely study. You can certainly learn the basics on your own, but it takes focused knowledge and hard-nosed critique to turn that oozing ball into a bouncing ball.

So if a formal education is either cost-prohibitive or just not possible in any way, as Shawn says, get some books, get some free rigs, animate, and post it on forums or to 11-second Club, and get (and give) critiques from (and to) your peers. And don't get discouraged if some of the critiques are harsh! Honest opinions might not always be the ones you want to hear, but they're all designed to show you where the problems are and how to fix them. This is an incredibly collaborative and cooperative industry, and most of us who give feedback are merely trying to spread the magic around to anyone who wants to learn.

thndrcat said...

Well. Said. Sir.

Freddy Awad said...

Shawn, thanks a ton for posting this article!!! :D I've been bat-beaten and whipped because of my uni days, they just clash with my practice hours. Guess where I am? that's right, LEBANON. Lol they don't even know what animation is here. They don't know what character design, rendering, matte painting, texturing, or even landscaping and compositing are all about. Lol this is a waste of my time, and my parents keep insisting on the "immortality" of a degree. Bah, I keep insisting on its uselessness HERE!!!! I sure would be eager to spend my hours practicing at home rather than wasting them on useless uni stuff. I've been in this field for like 8 months now, got my way a bit into 3DS MAX, Animation:Master, and even ZBrush. I'm willing to invest in my skills, hone them, not let them rot. But I'd sure be eager to study ANIMATION abroad. Like, Gnomon in CA, Escape in UK, FZD in Singapore, and so on. You're so right about this article, and indeed parents should be enlightened a bit. I'm NOT gonna make use of this degree later. It's a total waste of time and money.

Thanks a bunch for this article!!! I got here through a friend, he's in CA, studying animation. Hopefully I can fix all this stuff and finally dedicate myself to animation!!! and yep, I'm willing to spend my years learning!!! :D

Fady

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot for this fine post, Shawn. Though I would really love to employ myself to one of the most effective and useful animation schools or find a mentor, I think for now I'm stuck with learning it all on my own.

Thanks so much for the inspiration. ^_^

-Reyn

Robert said...

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Education on Internet has no doubt cleared many points and difficulties of student for which they curse themselves and their conditions. All subjects from history to science, arts to culture and religious issues are all covered on Internet. It is true but the growing need of knowledge in less time has only one solution that is education articles; yes but for own good sake it is recommended to give time on writing and reading in leisure time and make it a hobby.

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Slinky3d said...

Thanks a lot, Shawn! It's always helpful to hear this! I'm more confident, now!!!

karishma said...

hi... i want to know how we can convince school principals to run workshops in the schools

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