Animation Career Advice for a Highschooler

I receive many wonderful emails asking me about animation. Most of the time, I can answer by pointing them towards my website’s FAQ. But once in awhile, when I’m feeling up to it, I dig deep and write a more thorough response. The following is a response (with some edits) to a digital artist in highschool who asked me about where to start to get into animation as a career.

Hi LNCC,

I am humbled that you’ve come to me for animation career advice. My personal experience is still developing — I had treated it as a hobby my whole life until a little over a year ago.

So keep in mind, I’ve gone a very un-traditional route. Although I attended university for a degree in computer science, I’ve always kept the option of being an artist open, and have done a lot of snooping around to see what it takes to get into the industry.

A career plan is really something you have to formulate and feel confident in by yourself, but I can offer some typical starting paths I’ve observed (from the perspective of an independent web animator):

Campus-based Art School

1. Getting academic art instruction from a campus institution – That is, applying for a university and attending school for a degree in a specialized field of animation/art.

Examples: The Art Institutes (AI) , MICA , CalArts

This would involve taking art classes in high-school and building up a portfolio to send to a good art college. Good art colleges are ones that will train you for a job in the animation industry. Keep in mind the industry is big, and doesn’t only include TV and movies. Businesses need animators for their advertisements on multiple platforms (TV, web, mobile).

Though, it is the aim of most artists to want to go into character animation, which is most valued in the entertainment sector. Going to a prestigious art college will improve your chances of making the right connections to get you in. These days, colleges are pushing 3-D animation for movies and games, so keep that in mind. If you have challenges with focus and concentration, formal education is a very strong choice. The system will keep you on track. And people will help you, if you go to them.

Online Art School

2. Getting art instruction from an online institution – You can get high-quality instruction and mentor-ship affordably online as well.

Examples: Animation Mentor , Taught By A Pro , AMB Animation Academy

Employers are looking for good-looking portfolios, not necessarily resumes with “good looking colleges” listed on them. So getting highly skilled in animation via an online university is great. This puts more of the commitment on part of the student though, as the atmosphere of learning is all based from your home computer. It will be on you to complete assignments and self-study to gain the skills. Online animation courses are well-vetted. The course-designers put in the work to deliver the info in the best way possible.

You can use online courses to learn things not offered by your university. I say if you’re serious about animation and want to get good fast, paying for online courses is a smart way to go.

Teaching Yourself (no schooling)

3. Teaching yourself animation from free resources and practice (hobbyist) – This is a path for those who like to jump into the art playground and get started immediately.

As a hobbyist, you may or may NOT build the level of skill required to enter the industry. You would pretty much set your own curriculum based on what you want to learn at the moment. This requires a high-level of commitment and fascination with animation since there will be no one person guiding you through. Although it will cost less than the other two paths, your chance of landing of an industry job is more risky.

An artist who learns in solitude becomes very, very good at honing their own style. They will build a strong intuition of the fundamentals, but it is a slowww climb. I began making animations ~11 years ago. Only until 2015 did I start attracting a following and began earning money off my own work. It is highly suggested to pair a traditional career path (in my case, programming) alongside the hobbyist art route.

Note that both #1 and #2 will still involve a lot of the self-study and commitment of #3.

Keep the art in mind..

Regardless of the path you’re taking, I really encourage you to work on your own feature projects, whether they’re 30-second or 10-minute animations. Having a personal project to work on does wonders for your portfolio, and is pretty much the end-goal of why you chose animation as a career, right? To produce animations.

Also, if you are consistently sharing your finished work with others, you’ll inevitably get business opportunities, which will give you industry experience, bit by bit. Doing freelance work is an awesome way to save up for college and it puts you miles ahead of your peers.

My Boat

As for advice about art careers themselves: They are surprisingly flexible. A career is something you do for the 8 hours of your day outside of sleep and leisure. In other words, it is a big part of life, a part which is up to you.

The most valuable skill you acquire as an artist is perception: seeing things as they truly appear. Pair this with two or three technical skills (e.g. drawing), and you are fit for many markets. And since careers can span many, many years, a (competent) artist gets a plethora of opportunities in their life time.

I like to think of career as a little boat out in the ocean. I spent the first 18 years of my life safely practicing how to sail in harbor, and gathering the skills and provisions to survive life at sea.

If I stay afloat (think financially), I’m good. If I sink, I’ll have to bail out, call for backup, and restart from shore again.

The destination is a new continent. But I know I’ll have to visit some islands along the way.

And along the way, the unexpected occurs. The winds change. The boat has a leak. Navigation gets messed up. And the captain gets to deal with it. Adjust the sails, fix the leak, look to the stars for Polaris.

Over time, I hope to upgrade my boat into a giant aircraft carrier.

It’ll take a lot of time and career capital, but someday, my ship won’t have to worry about the wind, leaks, or going off-course. A giant, moving island that other boats (and planes) can visit.

Of course, by that time it’ll be too cumbersome to maneuver the nooks and crannies of the world.

When that happens, I can always abandon ship and hop back on a little life-boat. Careers are surprisingly flexible.

So be prepared to revisit your career plan and make adjustments.

I hope this helps,

-Michael

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Special thanks to Cade for reaching out.

To any other readers with questions for me, please feel free to shoot me an email.