Animation as a career choice

I get asked a lot about animation as a career choice. Here are my personal thoughts from being in the industry for quite a while now.

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Software I use:
Animation - TVPAINT
Animation - Adobe Flash/Animate CC, ToonBoom
Compositing - After Effects
Painting and Illustration - Photoshop
Video Editing - Premiere
3D - BLENDER

[TheHuskyK]

My advice: If you are new to the industry, don't get discouraged when you don't get the job. The animation industry is very competitive, and more often than not, studios will look towards those with impressive portfolios and resumes. Patience and determination is key 🔑

[freerangeeggs]

Anyone else questioning themselves because they think they're super passionate but are second guessing their judgement. Or is that just me?

[ComicalRealm]

I think the most important thing is if you enjoy it and are good at it. Those 2 things combined are lethal

[PikaPetey]

So glad that Covid-19 happened to teach the industry that You don't need to live at the stupid expensive LA county to work for the job.

[believerchances]

I don’t wanna give up, I feel like animation was what I was meant to do and I feel like if I don’t do animation I lost my purpose. I know it’s Risky but life is risky no matter what you do. I rather live and struggle doing what I want, than live somebody else’s dream just to possibly be comfortable. I know me and I would still be sad.

[LunaArtGallery]

The comment about "Don't define yourself by the Studios you work at" is so important. Big studios don't care about your feelings or dreams, they are corporations. At the end of the day it's about the bottom line. You as the artist have to define yourself by your craft and passion for your work, something that doesn't rely on anybody else.

[macaronimadman]

“Projects will usually end in a short amount of time”

One piece animators *meancing laughter*

[shadeszn]

I don’t wanna be rich, I don’t wanna die and be that guy that was rich and had nothing else to offer in this world, I wanna create things, leave something behind for the world to appreciate, I was second guessing myself if I should purse animation but I truly believe this is what I will enjoy doing

[Raedragonfae]

I’m not gunna lie, I’m 28, decided to go back to college for animation and chase my dreams as an animator, but everything is so competitive. I’m trying not to be discouraged, I just started animation courses at college.

[caittoons]

I'm trying to pursue animation by starting off here on YouTube. Trying stuff in my own style. Animation and comics/webcomics is something I've always loved doing. Not just for the money it's something that's genuinely enjoyable and feels more like a passion than just a job. I loved this video and it's really helpful when trying to learn more animation-wise. :D I hope I can learn to do 3D animation or cgi animation one day too :D

[SWATDRUMMUH]

My animation teacher actually pulled me aside to talk about my future in animation. Because I didn't have as many sketches were as much progress as my other classmates, he made me doubt myself and question whether I really wanted to go into animation. In a sense of the word, it demoralized me hearing I wasn't cut out for animation. This video does help me realize what I want to do; I just work at a slower pace then everyone else. I think I just focus too much on the details. Apparently I get so focused, I lose sight of the bigger picture. Just because I'm focused on something, it shouldn't mean I don't have passion for it, right?

[aguydan]

Well, as a career choice it surely requires lots and LOTS of patience. I always considered it to be one of the most important skills aside from drawing and knowing how motion works.

But as a hobby it is really fun. Is there even a better feeling than seeing your drawings, your characters, your story coming to life?

[jinwood]

When I was a kid, I dreamt of becoming an animator. I love drawing! Eventually, I got a job on a small animation studio (it's my second job). But because the pay is so low, I had to make the decision and give up on the animation. I did the normal jobs (likes of tech support and such) here on my country. I thought I'm just doing those jobs to earn a bit of cash while I draw as a hobby. As years go by, The tech support jobs became my main source of income and I stopped drawing totally.
This was 10 years go. Now I want to draw again but I can no longer do it. I regret not pursuing my dream of animation...
Now, I learned how to make videos, and animate PNGs. I have another channel where I make short videos. I'm also doing commissions as a full time job.
It's not the same as the real animation and it's not paying much but I'm betting on this new passion and dream.

TLDR: Follow your dreams

[dannphan]

"Make twice as much as your living expenses"
Animators in Japan: **sad sobbing noises**

[justanothercomment]

I kinda feel into animation as a career. I always sucked at all the 'smart' stuff in school, and have always had pretty limited interests. Animation is one of the few things I really love, and one of the few things I _didn't_ suck at. So the choice was kinda a no-brainer for me. This career path may not be for everyone and it certainly has its hardships, but I get to do work that I enjoy and which doesn't leave me drained and unhappy. And unlike most things in life, I actually feel like I kinda know what I'm doing! Which is a wonderful feeling. So yea, I wouldn't change it for the world. :)

[kristofgriffin]

Generally speaking and with very rare exceptions, in order to get your cartoon on a network like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or Disney, you need to give up your copyright to it. For example, Alex Hirsch, the creator of "Gravity Falls" needs to ask permission to take creative liberty with his own show, that he created. Even sketching out images of Gruncle Stan without asking Disney for permission could get him sued for copyright infringement. This is why Cartoon Network can give "The Powerpuff Girls" and the "Teen Titans" to whomever they like. Or when Nickelodeon announced that they'll make a CGI spin-off of Spongebob, even though Stephen Hillenburg directly said that he didn't want Spongebob to have any spin-offs. They literally waited for him to die so they could ignore his wishes and rape his creation however they want.
Usually, this is a trade-off to getting the pilot off in the first place. Copyright control in the animation industry is used as a bludgeon and it's scary how very few people outside the industry seem to have a problem with this - despite the fact that it is a very, very bad problem. This isn't a recent issue either. This has been going on since the '90s. It boils down to this: If you don't do what the network wants, they will kick you off your own show and give it to somebody else. Even if you do end up doing as they say, if you get too much respect to kick around like Craig McCracken, they'll end up giving your property to some schmuck who's much easier to control and do EXACTLY as the network wants.

This problem also extends to animated movies. The movie "Sausage Party" was filled to the brim with controversy, even though it's the very first R-rated CGI animated film, most of the controversy wasn't from its content, but how its animators were treated. They were told to work overtime for free. They were threatened with termination for not hitting deadlines. And in the end-credits, half of the animators' staff wasn't even credited. This is the standard that many, many animation productions have. A lot of animators are forced to work under these conditions because if they don't work for a minuscule amount of money, the company will outsource the production to South Korea. This is the reason why so many western cartoons nowadays like "Steven Universe" are animated in South Korea. The bottom ten percent of American animators get paid 38 thousand dollars, per year. The median animator in South Korea gets 21, 600 USD per year. That's a cost reduction of 40% per person, in the production of hundreds if not thousands of people. It basically boils down to: "if you don't do your job for the price we tell you, we will find someone to replace you". In some cases, they will make it so everyone will turn on you by creating false allegations. Or, you'll be blacklisted for saying the slightest thing wrong about a certain person or network. This is why it's so hard to find cartoonists who complain about a network.

Most of the money that's made from a cartoon is from merchandising because the creators usually don't get royalties for this. The only one that benefits from merchandising is the network. Even if you buy the toys or DVD for a show that you like, it's up to the studio whether or not they'll pay the animators.

[moderndayjames]

Adult animation? Guess it's time to pursue my hentai career

[ivankovwink]

My grandfather (who is a lawyer and believes I ruined my life by changing my major from engineering to animation) made a speech to me today about how pointless majoring in animation is in his eyes -_-

[allyrecords]

Honestly, I'm often insecure and sometimes overthink stuff but one thing. One thing I will never let myself doubt is whether or not I should become an animator. Screw everything else but I have stories and they demand to get released to the world.

[hannahdeards]

My boyfriend works in the animation industry (as a tech guy) and the people I have met through him are some of the sweetest and down to earth people I’ve met. I’ve been told that of course there are some egotistical pricks, just like any industry, but the majority seem really lovely. I went to my partner’s studio (Not quite as popular as Pixar or Disney, but a big player in the industry) and they were really happy to show me around, the artists showed me their work and told me about the industry - good and bad. I’ve had offers from people saying ‘When your storyboard portfolio is ready, I’ll be happy to ask my friends from Disney to offer some critique.’ It’s just really nice. I think this industry is pretty hard to break into, especially since lots of animators and people in the industry including the tech nerds are all pretty introverted, but it’s definitely not because of gatekeeping or anything negative. Everyone’s just chill and love what they do.