The job and what it entails:
I have chosen my future job as an Animator. Animators draw series of images depicting characters and settings. Then, the images are filmed to create moving cartoons for film and TV. Animated films first appeared in theaters in the early 20th century. Animators have been entertaining us with moving pictures ever since. Traditional animators draw a series of images. Then, the images are filmed to create the illusion of motion. People in this career are part storytellers, part drafters, and part filmmakers. Making an animated feature is a complex process. It often takes a large team of artists to complete the job. First, the team selects a story idea and writes a script. Then, these artists develop the animation. Animators may do only one part of the animation. This is often the case at large studios. For example, storyboard artists outline the story in a series of pictures or scenes. Layout artists draw the characters’ poses, movements, and expressions. Background artists study both the storyboard and the script. This is how they get ideas for the cartoon setting. While the character images are developed, voice actors record the script. They record the voiceovers before the drawing begins. Animators need to match up the images with the sound. They sync up the voice recordings with the characters’ lips and expressions. Animators have to draw 10 to 30 images for each second of animation. At this point, these are just rough pencil sketches. They test the characters’ motions by flipping through the pages. This lets them see if there are any gaps in the motion that they need to fix. The key frames are the starting and end points of an action sequence. Lead animators draw the key frames. Their assistants do the in-between drawings to fill in the gaps. Animators trace and paint the final drawings onto clear plastic sheets called cels. They put the character cels on top of the film’s backgrounds, which are drawn on other cels. This helps them see how characters’ motions look against the background. There are often a few layers of characters and other moving objects on top of the background. When the cels are ready, each frame of action gets photographed. Then, the frames are run together to make a full scene. Next, sound effects are added to the scene. Finally, the scenes get edited together with the vocal track and music. Some animators focus on model animation. They sculpt the characters out of modeling clay and build the sets. Then, they photograph the set and characters. They take photos of a series of poses to tell the story. When they edit the images together, the characters appear to move. This method is known as claymation or stop-motion animation.
Salary~
In-Between Animator: $55,000-$60,000 a year
Requirements
- Drawing ability
- Associate or bachelor’s degree in animation or visual arts
- Good portfolio
Responsibilities
- Do the drawings that the animator left out between all the major movements
- Finish other animators’ work
Assistant Animator: $60,000-$70,000 a year
Requirements
- Experience doing in-between work
Responsibilities
- Do breakdowns between key poses
- Make an animator’s character move correctly
Animator: $70,000-$100,000 a year
Requirements
- Many years of experience
Responsibilities
- Draw the key poses and scene layouts
Director:$100,000-$150,000 a year
Requirements
- Experience drawing many different characters, poses, and scenes
Responsibilities
- Oversee production of all animation projects