How To Become a Game Animator

Do you want a job making animation for video games? Here's a step-by-step guide to pursuing a game animation career!

-------- ▼ANIMATOR RESOURCES▼--------

To study the fundamentals, buy the Animator's Survival Kit!

To learn how animation for video games works, buy Game Anim!

For free resources, check out the Animator's Resource Kit!

To find job openings, look on gamedevmap!

-------- ▼LINKS▼--------

-------- ▼CREDITS▼--------

Written and produced by Daniel Floyd

Special thanks to:
-Carrie Floyd
-Mike Jungbluth
-Simon Unger
-Lana Bachynski
-Dan Lowe
-Eric Luhta
-Gwen Frey
-Jonathan Cooper
-Michael Azzi
-David Gibson
-LeeLee Scaldaferri
-Kristjan Zadziuk
-Jason Shum
-Joanne Bath

-------- ▼MUSIC▼--------

♪ "The Skeleton that is Sans" by Faseeh Udeen

♪ "Ocarina of Time" by Mikel & GameChops

♪ "Mipha's Touch Remix" by Bknapp

♪ "Oath to Order" by Mikel & GameChops

♪ "Hateno Village" by Mikel & GameChops

♪ "Observation Post Remix" by Bknapp

♪ "Zora's Domain Remix" by Bknapp

♪ "The Master Sword Remix" by Bknapp

♪ "Song of Storms" by Mikel & GameChops

♪ "Game Over" by Bknapp

♪ "8-Ball" by Dj CUTMAN

♪ "Forest Interlude" by Bknapp

♪ "The 10,000 Year Old Legend Remix" by Bknapp

♪ "Final Destination" by Bknapp

♪ "Secret of the Forest" by Bknapp

♪ "Phantom of the Rose" by Bknapp

♪ "A lot of Things" by Pokérus Project

♪ "Dating Start!" by AZODi

-------- ▼ANIMATOR CREDITS▼--------

This episode features samples of animation work by:
-Jesse Davis
-Mariel Cartwright (Kinuko)
-David Gibson
-Andrew Wilson
-Dennis Pena
-Gwen Frey
-Raul Ibarra
-Nicolas Leger
-Alexander (Sasha) Hush
-Cole O'Brien
-YingHerng
-Tina Nawrocki
-Ray Crook
-James Benson
-Richard Lico
-Joe Han
-Stephen Eusibio
-Christoffer Andersen
-Saul Latorre
-Monica Ramirez
-Peter Hecker
-Nick Kondo
-Martina Speciale
-Binoftrash
-Iza Springintveld
-Michael Azzi
-Lu Nascimento
-Jay Baylis
-Adam Riches
-Pedro Medeiros
-David Vince
-Richard Oud
-Adam Turnbull
-Travis Howe
-Jack Ebensteiner
-Jason Shum
-Ivan Otdelnov
-Daniel Floyd
-Yu Ho Joong
-Scott Dickey
-Kevin Rucker
-Eric Luhta
-Jitaik Lim
-Ilya Mozzhukhin
-Ayoub Moulakhnif
-Kseniia Kutsenko
-Eleonora Bertolucci
-Chris Goodall
-Federico Abib
-Omair Fuertes Martín
-Elena Nájar
-Milt Kahl
-Jonathan Cooper
-Jeon-TaeSoo
-Naceri Lu
-Glen Keane

-------- ▼CHAPTERS▼--------

0:00 - Intro

1:14 - Step One: What kind of animator do you want to be?

2:23 - Step Two: Learning How To Animate

8:08 - Step Three: Building a Demo Reel

11:49 - Step Four: Landing Your First Job

13:54 - Step Five: Make a Good Impression

14:32 - Tips for Being a GREAT Animator

23:23 - Good Luck!

23:40 - Wrapping Up

#NewFramePlus #animation #animator

[cora-illus]

"no-one becomes an amazing animator overnight."
me, after animating a single ball bounce: incorrect

[FioreFire]

I'm so proud of Link for getting a successful job in the video game animation industry

[CorbitCorin]

Honestly .... this is good advise regardless of the profession

[hamman]

I'm not, and will never be an animator, but this was still extremely interesting.

[Leowono]

Why am I getting nervous about being rejected in a field of work I'm not even trying to get into

[louis]

1:02 It's a small thing, but I love the way you've arranged the names to form a diagonal line in the negative space. Very nice.

[BrodyAnimates]

This video really makes me want to get better at animation. Thanks man!

[corwin]

Glad that you pushed staying connected. I’m not an animator (whole different career), but virtually every job I’ve ever had happened because someone I know said, “I know a guy that would be perfect for this”. Always treat team members, supervisors, and competitors politely. It pays dividends

[SkywardKnight_]

Ooh love the choice of Zelda & Chill for the background music.

[Kalernor]

I don't even want to become an animator but for some reason I find this stuff really cool
I will however be recommending this video to friends of mine who do want to become animators

[catherinem]

Oh I needed this video soooo badly! Really teetering on the edge of burnout at the second, and had been feeling really drained all week. Self teaching is hard and damn its difficult to find motivation sometimes.

But this, this absolutely made my day! Thank you so much for making this!

And its nice to hear that multitasking is a desirable skill. I was kinda worrying that rigging and unity were distractions from what I should be focusing on (actually animating).

Again thank you so much!

[luke]

I got my bachelors degree in game art and 3D Animation and am now going for my master's degree in the near future. I want to become a game animator and this video is absolutely perfect. Thanks for all your hard work. <3

[DlolFace]

13:20 "go out there and make some friends"
Great i can hear my future crumbling.
But really a helpful advise

[brenbar]

I’m pretty young, 14, and I’ve always found this job so interesting and I think I’ve finally decided I want to pursue game design and animation. I don’t have much experience except for a bit of drawing, and my lap top sucks but I’ve seen so many people start in their 20’s from no where and become game devs for massive games. This video was really inspirational and it helped me know more about a profession I might want to pursue.

[U.Inferno]

While I don't necessarily plan on going into the game industry specifically, I want to do Television and Film, this was still filled with invaluable information.

[erionmema]

for about 6 months I had to make npc characters in lowpoly (modeling, texturing handpaint style, rigging, and 4-7 animations each). I cant tell you how much I have learned in that time. and how much I improved the quality of my work and speed of doing all of it. I ended up making a character per day with 7 simple animations.

[hopps]

If only there was a video like this for game PROGRAMMERS. I've always wanted to be one, but it's hard to know where to start! Great video!

[Blizzic]

This went beyond being advice for the animation industry and to become great advice for ANY creative industry. I will never be an artist or animator, for I am aesthetically challenged, but I will be revisiting this countless times in the future.

[khodexus]

I don't personally want to be a professional animator, but I do want to learn more about animation, maybe even to the point of being able to express myself as a game designer through animation. There are many times I've thought to myself, "This idea just doesn't want to be put into words, if I could just mock up a quick 3d model or simple animation, it'd be so much easier to convey."

I'm not there yet, but videos like this definitely help me along the way.

[sittingdowntown]

Many people have said this before, but this is an amazing video. As a sophomore in high school, and an aspiring animator (I'm taking the animation pathway at my school), this video is exactly what I needed. I had no idea about the Animation Survival Guide, and many of the other books you mentioned, and I'm going to buy them as soon as I can. Thank you so much for the wonderful tips and insight.