How to become an animator.

According to AP Benson, a Management Consulting Agency,
animation straddles three strong and rapidly developing sectors:

1. Electronic Entertainment (Computer Gaming)
2. Broadcast/Film Industry
3. Professional Visualization and Simulation

Many jobs require both creative and technical skills, but some are exclusively
creative and others are exclusively technical. Some people specialize in the
art of animation, while others choose to become technical directors.

Below is a brief look at some of the job titles and job descriptions you might encounter in a typical production type of environment
in the animation world:

•2D Animators use drawing, composition, and perspective to create proportion, line of action, structure, and
basic anatomy, while working in areas as varied as animation, character design, clean-up, doping, modeling,
slugging, and story boarding.

• 3D Animators use software tools and rigs to accomplish many of the same things 2D animators do.

• Character Animators create an acting performance and bring a character to life through movement and
expressions, regardless of medium.

• Character FX (hair/cloth/fur) artists are responsible for the design of character effects such as cloth and fur
simulations. They develop tools to enhance the pipeline. A knowledge of Maya, rigging tools and surface modeling
techniques is helpful.

• Lighting supervisors create the lighting look, processes and techniques necessary to portray the art director’s
vision of the movie. They recommend lighting pipelines, tools and procedures for CG production.

• Matte painters design environments based on the story and script. They are painters and artists who can
conceptualize and visualize ideas including complex backgrounds, landscapes and environments. They use tools
like Photoshop, Maya and Renderman.

• Modelers create 3D models of characters and settings based on preliminary graphics.

• Renderers manage the “render farm,” the group of machines that actually render the 3D models into working
animation.

• Roto artists work to embed an animated character into a live-action scene and/or enhance the sense of depth
(such as putting a character behind a tree).

• Storyboard artists interpret scripts into images that best convey the story. They plan and coordinate images
from thumbnails for planning shots to final storyboards that visually demonstrate how the story will develop.

Other job titles include:

• Animation Director
• Animator
• Art Director
• CG Supervisor
• Character Designer
• Cloth Simulation Artist
• Compositor
• Concept Artist
• Creative Director
• Effects Designer
• Environment Designer
• Fur/Feathers FX Artist
• Layout Artists
• Layout Technical Director (TD)
• Modeling Supervisor
• Modeling TD
• Pre-Vis Artist
• Producer
• Production Assistant
• Rigging Supervisor
• Rigging TD
• Roto Artist
• Shading TD
• Shading/Texture Supervisor
• Texture Artist
• Video Game Animator
• Video Game Artist
• Video Game Designer
• Video Game Engineer
• Video Game Producer
• Video Game Programmer
• Video Game Technical Director
• Visual Effects Supervisor
• Water FX Artist



SOME GREAT SITES INCLUDES:

Some other great sites include:
• www.11secondclub.com

• www.3dtotal.com

• www.animationarena.com

• www.animationmagazine.net

• www.animationpodcast.com

• www.animationtipsandtricks.com

• www.awn.com

• www.blendernation.com

• www.bobbyboomblogspot.com

• www.carlosbaena.com

• www.cartoonbrew.com

• www.cgsociety.org

• www.cgw.com

• www.digitalcontentproducer.com

• www.jasonryananimation.com

• www.postmagazine.com

• www.vfxworld.com




GENERAL ANIMATION VALUABLE BOOKS:

Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton

Animation: From Script to Screen by Shamus Culhane*

Cartoon Animation (The Collector’s Series) by Preston Blair*

Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26) by Preston Blair*

Cartooning: Animation 2 with Preston Blair (HT190) by Preston Blair*

Character Animation Crash Course! by Eric Goldberg

Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes, Volumes I and II: The Walt Stanchfield Lecture by Walt Stanchfield, edited by Don Hahn

Inspired 3D Short Film Production by Pepe Valencia and Jeremy Cantor*

The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams*

The Complete Animation Course: The Principles, Practice, and Techniques of Successful Animation by Chris Patmore

The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston*

Timing for Animation by Harold Whitaker and John Halas*

Treasures of Disney Animation Art by John Canemaker*


ANATOMY, DRAWING, AND BODY LANGUAGE:

An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by W. Ellenberger, H. Baum, H. Dittrich and Lewis S. Brown

Atlas of Human Anatomy of the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck

An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists by Fritz Schider

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards*

Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior by Desmond Morris *

Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation by Wayne Gilbert*

Teach Yourself Body Language by Gordon Wainwright*

The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin*

The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides*


MODELING:

Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right by Jason Osipa

The Art of 3D: Computer Animation and Imaging by Isaac V. Kerlow

3D Human Modeling and Animation by Peter Ratner.

MAYA:

Maya Character Animation by Jae-jin Choi

Maya: Secrets of the Pros by John Kundert-Gibbs and Dariush Derakhshani

The Art of Maya by Alias Wavefront.


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