jemkatz's Blog

In my search for professional animation artists willing to give advice to newcomers in the industry, I came across a blog post by one such artist, known as Wavybrain (waveybrain.tumblr.com), in which he shares his personal experiences relating to his education at CalArts and gaining his career in animation. He also interweaves advice for the up-and-coming animation students aiming for such a career.

One of his first points he brings up in the topic of education is which valuable skills one should have before/during/and after art school. Depending on which art school a student attends, and he mentions a few schools besides CalArts with exceptional animation programs, there are certain skills relating to not only basic art skills (i.e. perspective, anatomy, graphic design) but also storytelling skills that are required and/or a necessary gain to the artist in the animation industry. He explains that in his experience, to have even a few of those before art school is a huge benefit and makes the following schooling more efficient . Then he lists a number of art teachers and their impact on his skills as an artist and animator. For those of us that are still new to the industry, he explains the basics of a select few fundamental skills and why they are important for an animator to be proficient in. His top 3 fundamentals including, but not limited to, graphic design, illustration (as related to storytelling), and “Film Language”.

His next topic is particularly important for anyone in any art career, or even college program: advice concerning portfolios. A vital component to any interview or application process, the importance of a neatly organized and efficient portfolio is stressed in his blog post. Through experience, he found that for the employer or whoever it is that will be reviewing one’s portfolio, the process is quick and often clouded by mounds of other hopeful’s portfolios. The best thing one can do to increase their chances with a portfolio is to keep it easy to read/navigate and include your best work that shows skills related to the job you are applying for. Whether a physical portfolio or a website medium is used, an artist must show off their work in a professional yet personalized manner.

The last section of his blog post is a list of further reading and resource books and blogs categorized by topic. His closing statement is a reflection on his goals and achievements, and to the readers still in the planning-our-goals stage, he says, “One thing you may learn as I have, is that predicting where you’ll be is futile.  You’re better off living in the moment while aiming for your goals.”

From his post, I’ve learned that if I’m going to achieve my goal of working in animation, I have a lot of work ahead of me. But despite how much work I do put in, I shouldn’t be surprised to have difficulties without a bit of luck and good timing. With this in mind, I will aim high and be prepared to change course depending on my current situation.

Blog post:

Tips for the Aspiring Professional Animation Artist

As of now, my career plan goes as follows:

While studying for my bachelor’s degree in Newark, I’m going to join at least one club that’s art-related. I know of a few but haven’t decided on one yet. In between classes and club activities, if there’s time to I’ll try to look into an internship. Since I have a lot of credits still to be earned, I will take whichever classes are available for summer or winter sessions so I can finish sooner and as close to my expected graduation time as possible. During summers or winters where I can’t take any classes will be great part-time job or internship opportunities.

After I graduate, I’ll start looking into what work I can get with my degree. A hope of mine is to work for an animation production studio. I know for a fact that animation is a high-level art career that prefers to hire those of exemplary credentials. Given my basic art degree, these positions will probably not be available for me right out of college, but there are other positions that I could fulfill and work my way up. For instance, the story-board artists often work under strict deadlines, but I’m willing to accept that for a chance to get to work on the projects.

Should the animation career not work out, a secondary career I am considering is to work as a tattoo artist. These artists usually require only the skills to create art and the mindfulness to complete each procedure safely, no degree needed. Despite this, one still must apprentice under a current artist before gaining the certification to open a parlor (or rent a space) on their own. With my experiences from my bachelor’s degree by then I believe I will be confident enough to undertake this challenge.

Elements that my ideal career would have:

1) Location/Working Conditions: I hope to work in a hands-on studio or office space, but never a cubicle. I prefer to move around while I work on projects and try to avoid sitting still or in one position for too long if I can help it. While I don’t mind working in a town, I hope to live/work in the city where there is a lot of people and inspirations. Rural/small towns become mundane and boring to me.

2) Salary: I’m not expecting to become fabulously wealthy from my career, the type of work I do and its effect matter much more to me than simply earning lots of money. However I won’t lie and say I wouldn’t be happy if I ended up with a huge salary.

3) Duties: I would love to get to spend all day doodling or at my sewing machine, so I hope that my future career has these jobs in store, even if these type of careers tend to have strict deadlines attached. I would enjoy a career where I get to share my ideas for a project and work as a team to create the best possible outcome.

4) Work Environment: As mentioned, I won’t mind working as a team because teammates are the best resource when trying to bounce ideas around and make something of it. I don’t really have a preference for working in a team or alone, but if I am to work alone at some point, it won’t be for long because that usually causes a  detachment from whatever the rest of my team/colleagues are doing. I like best to know and be included in what goes on around me.

5) Schedule: If given the choice, I almost always choose to work on projects in the afternoon or at night, because that is when I’m most productive. I won’t mind regular 9-5 job hours, but I always prefer to do my creative work at night, whether that is within my hours or not. I’m even prepared to take work home if it means I get the best result.

During my time in high school, I heard many stories about students in college who decide to change their major halfway through their degree and (sometimes) have to essentially pay for college all over again. This terrified me. Knowing my family’s struggle with finances, I told myself from then on that I would make my years at college worth the cost. I spent my remaining years in high school self-evaluating which classes I had the most interest in and which I felt I have done best at. This process meant that at the end of 3 classes of the Animal Science Career Pathway, I decided I was certainly not going into zoology/avian biology like I had hoped for. I noticed that, despite being below my personal skill level, my Fundamentals of Art class was the only one that left me wanting more. Sadly I couldn’t explore other art classes due to schedule conflicts. Even History and English, other classes I enjoyed, could not compare. While I’ve always loved my art classes, I’ve never considered them to be a future career option. Thank goodness it was before the college application process started that I discovered this.

In this way, my major was decided based on my skill set and interests, rather than having to justify a choice of major with skills. I have reviewed the different art major options, yet because I’m still not decided on a definite career, I’ve picked the art major that allows me the space to explore my own artistic skills through a variety of mediums. In order to complete this type of work, I have to be willing to learn in-depth knowledge about the different mediums. I consider this “thirst” for specific knowledge a special type of skill. For instance, I would be lacking in this skill for something like physics or public communications, where the basic information about the subject would suffice. Another important skill that any artist would have to have would be the patience and persistence to perfect one’s ability. This is the attitude that artists have which express acceptance that their work may not always be the best, but they are always willing continue knowing that is how they improve. Because of this attitude, I’ve put in many hours over the years practicing to get to my current level of ability. These are the skills I have which make this major right for me. Now that I have decided on this, I’m hopeful and excited to have a career goal become clear to me through my experiences in classes and related clubs on main campus

I would want to create. Animate characters, sew outfits, help people express themselves. I want to create art that reaches many people, that adults and children alike can admire which inspires them to be their best. If money were no object I wouldn’t worry about what industries were on their way out because with my help they will be revived, despite not having a guaranteed job a year from now. I can put forth my all without anything else taking up my time. If money were no object I wouldn’t need a “safety net”. Everyone’s advice to have a backup career lined up has gotten stale. I’m very aware that the arts are not seen as important in the job market. I know they’re looking out for me, but I’m not one to settle for the idea that my ambitions are to take a backseat to the job with a better paycheck. I will make my ambitions pay out in the end, or be satisfied with what I get.

Lately more and more people have been asking me about my future: from what my plans are to what I’m doing about it. They ask about my job (a cashier at a dollar store, so no closer to my goal at this point, but every little bit helps); they ask me about my family, what everyone is doing to help and how we all are handling it; and they ask me about my schooling. At this time it is difficult for me to answer the question “what are you going to school for?” because while I have a major picked out, I don’t exactly have a career in mind. Save for the few options I’ve come up with, I actually don’t know what I want to do when I graduate. I just know that I want it to employ my artistic abilities. For this reason I have picked out a general major, one that helps me expand my talents in different directions, thus having a wider array of careers available. But also fewer. I’ve looked into a few distinguished careers in the artistic field, ones that prefer graduates who have been studying that particular craft most of their short lives. If money were no object, I would be able to afford more education, hopefully then I might have been able to gain enough experience to be able to decide which direction I like best. Then with more confidence, pursue from there.