Comments on Animation Tips & Tricks: Do You Have Any Tips for Animators Who Live Outsid...

Dear Mr Shawn Kelly, My name is Winston Chee, I&#...

2009-08-24T19:45:14.883-07:00

Dear Mr Shawn Kelly,

My name is Winston Chee, I'm from Singapore.

First of all, I will like to say that I am an admirer of your passion for animation and Animation Mentor. I do hope that one day I can have my dream come true too.

Here is a little part of my life: Unlike many other artistes, I did not grew up liking drawings or animating. I was a normal, boring person who passed a day with nothing accomplished and only do what is needed to be done. My passion for animation only started in recent years when I was in a local polytechnic doing my film courses. The only thing that I have similarities with most professional animators and cartoonists out there is that I have been watching Walt Disney cartoons since young, but I wasnt fascinated by the animation, but mainly by the music. (Haha, I think my childhood's ambition back then was to be a Mickey Mouse Club kid.)

Then as I grew up, the love for Disney's cartoons seemed to have died away just like the magic of Disney animation which has been lost for a certain period of time. My love was reborn in me when I was in my polytechnic where I was exposed to a more in depth understanding and seeing the true fascination of animation. My fellow schoolmates got me loving the art of animation by the way they make the characters move, the wonderful and beautiful backgrounds they painted and how exciting the stories can be told in animation.

Ever since, I have been crashing most of the animation classes as possible, on top of my film classes and attending seminars and webinars for these few years. However, work started for me and the time to concentrate on animation and drawing has reduced drastically. I worked almost 12 hrs everyday, once I got home, I am pretty tired to concentrate on any other things. I have tried my very best to keep drawing and animating for the past few years, whenever I can, however its possible, but the only good drawings I come out with is when I copied drew the characters I found online. If I were to draw them myself, from my mind, it wont look as good. My drawings are still very juvenile.

Now, I am at the age of 25, without much promising future ahead. I am doing a job that has no relation to film or animation. I am worried. Alot of times, I asked myself if animation is really the path that is meant for me to take. Art is not like doing admin work or a teacher, working in an art industry needs talent. I ponder on this; 'Do I really have the talent?'.

Some people told me that it will take some times before I could know it, I think it also took you a few years to master the skills. However do I have the time? I can take the next 5 years to keep practicing on my animation and drawings, but what if when am 30, I really find out that animation isnt my cup of tea. I will be at a dead end where I have no career and not much of a future to look forward to.

Dear Mr Shawn, what do you think I should do? Inside me, I know that I really want to try out and prove to myself that I can be an animator and a cartoonist, but another side of me, is telling to be very cautious of the way I walk this path? Should I take the risk? I really do wish to be able to tell my stories using animation.

Some of my teachers and friends are telling me to attend an art school, but I really dont have the money to study full time again. I need work to support myself. The only thing i can attend are online schools like Animation Mentor and Schoolism. What should I do? I need a job to sustain my life, but i cant really take on an animator's job as I dont have the skills yet.

I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you for your time.

Regards,
Winston Chee
Singapore
winstondennisbrian@hotmail.com

@ms Thanks for that very informative comment. I...

2009-06-11T14:27:41.189-07:00

@ms
Thanks for that very informative comment. I'm a student in Canada hoping to land a job across the border. Both yours and Shawn's post were very helpful. Kudos!

Having worked 3 different studios before getting c...

2009-06-09T09:39:37.781-07:00

Having worked 3 different studios before getting citizenship and I have to disagree. When I was applying for a job in Canada couple years back the company willing to hire me had to prove to the government that I'm better than any Canadian citizens applying for the same position.

Here's what you do:
1) make the best demo you can do (under 1min + no mediocre shots + ask other people for opinions!!!)
2) send the demo to the studio; don't mention you're not citizen, chances are that the director will be impressed and they will work with you. If you mention you're international ahead of time - you'll lower your chances dramatically - some studios won't even look at your demo.
3) when you get the studio interested in you, inform them about your situation - but try not to scare them.

And here the real work begin: you have to find all the information for them. Find out from the studio point of view what they have to do to hire you and prepare it for them. That means sending them links to the forms they have to fill out (you can find them on government websites) give them phone numbers and internet address to the right institutions/people (ei. government websites about hiring foreigners, immigration officers), find out if they will get a tax credit for hiring you (which means calling the right ministry and finding out)., etc.

It's a lot of work - but if you yourself are too lazy to do it... don't expect the HR person who don't care about you at all to do it for you. One important thing I learnt in all my struggle is "If you don't do it yourself - don't expect nobody to do it for you!" And if you do this much.. the potential employer will appreciate it and may even wait for you if you're having trouble getting the visa. Oh yeah, and btw. visas don't cost $7000 and you don't need lawyers. Visa is about $200 for Canada so USA should be similar (I paid it myself, although sometimes studios will cover that - but remember it's an unnecessary expense for them). And lawyers are useless as you can fill out all the forms yourself.

So in conclusion: impress studio with your demo; do all the paperwork yourself so they just have to sign the application and send it to government. You're chances will be way higher. Even though it looks like too much hustle - you'll be glad you did it.. i see to many people giving up to easily. Good luck!

quick question. does it include the winnings in 11...

2009-06-07T22:18:14.723-07:00

quick question.
does it include the winnings in 11secondclub??
although i haven't join the competition yet..

I'm from the Philippines and I do want to work...

2009-06-07T19:06:33.788-07:00

I'm from the Philippines and I do want to work there in the US someday (actually, it's my dream to be in *** studio). This is most inspiring I might say. Thanks so much, Shawn.

Thank you for validating my schemes Shawn. I actu...

2009-06-07T18:44:11.104-07:00

Thank you for validating my schemes Shawn. I actually started work on an Animated Short recently.

I hope to finish it by December. I just can't say what year.

I wonder what you guys think about this? (a link o...

2009-06-06T07:17:00.823-07:00

I wonder what you guys think about this? (a link on information about US Working Visa)-

http://www.h1base.com/visa/work/H1B%20Visa%20Requirements/ref/1117/

Shawn, what if an applicant acquired the following requirements listed above? Does it make his chance bigger to work in the US as an animator? Am hoping for your response.

Thanks

I wonder what you guys think about this? (a link o...

2009-06-06T07:15:11.588-07:00

I wonder what you guys think about this? (a link on information about US Working Visa)-

http://www.h1base.com/visa/work/H1B%20Visa%20Requirements/ref/1117/

Shawn, what if an applicant acquired (one of) the following requirements listed above? Does it make his chance bigger to work in the US as an animator? Am hoping for your response.

Thanks

well, at least some studios will accept freelancer...

2009-06-05T21:57:20.242-07:00

well, at least some studios will accept freelancers, so I hope that also applies to freelancers outside the US

Interesting. Spelling: the studios now <-- k...

2009-06-05T20:21:53.743-07:00

Interesting.

Spelling: the studios now <-- know

so, does the short film needs to be my own short f...

2009-06-05T17:55:51.093-07:00

so, does the short film needs to be my own short film? if i work with a director, and I'm the animator and the film wins some awards, does that qualify me as winning awards?

The sad true... the visa thing just suck (for all ...

2009-06-05T17:15:43.246-07:00

The sad true... the visa thing just suck (for all the countrys in the world)

It does make sense a lot, Ive been wondering about...

2009-06-05T16:37:00.173-07:00

It does make sense a lot, Ive been wondering about trying to apply for jobs in the US, I'm waiting for a year or two to get a kick-ass demo reel and maybe a short film in my portfolio but it's so difficult to combine working for a studio (we need to live as well :D) AND developping your own quality project as an animator...
Great stuff on the visa explanation by the way, I had no idea it was working like that and how expensive it was for the studios, no wonders how hard it is to get there :)