Becoming an animation expert is a great career choice, you get the opportunity to turn your imagination into reality and work in different fields including technology, law, film, education, TV, healthcare, gaming, and several others. Becoming a successful computer animator isn’t easy, you should have the required skill and expertise to be able to excel in this field. To help you in this regard, we will be discussing how you can become a successful computer animator:
Enroll Into An Animation Degree Program
Going to a university or a school is the first step to becoming a computer animator. There are different universities and schools available that offer bachelor’s degree programs and non-degree programs. Because most animator job positions and multimedia artist positions require the individual to have a bachelor’s degree, the first step is to get a bachelor’s degree or a certificate/diploma.
Choosing a degree program is better than choosing a non-degree program like a diploma in computer animation because degree programs provide a broader education, starting with basics and foundations and then moving on to advance courses whereas non-degree programs involve specialties in specific fields only such as mobile games like Words With Friends, digital graphics, marketing animations, and so on.
Whether you choose a bachelor’s program or a diploma program, make sure that you learn something about computer animation from people who have experience in this field.
Practice And Develop Your Skills
No matter which university or school you choose for your animation program, your teachers and instructors can only teach you so much about computer animation. They can tell you about the basics, and push you to your best but at the end of the day, it will all come down to you, the more hard work you put in, the better skills you will develop.
Computer animation is a practical field that requires practice and experience. Once you learn the basics of this field, you should start practicing your skills and learn new skills every day. You should be completely familiar with foundational art skills required for computer animation and editing software that are used to make animations. You should also take help from the internet and use different tools to develop better skills just like one uses Scrabble Word Finder to get better at Scrabble.
Along with other skills, you should also learn about teamwork and collaboration because animation projects require collaboration. It is extremely difficult for a single animator to complete a project all by himself, therefore, you should also learn to be a good group member too.
Gain Work Experience
After you have got a degree in animation and developed your skills, you should get a variety of work experience. Even when you are in school/university, you should gain experience by working as a freelancer on the internet or securing an internship program for yourself. The reason why you should get work experience is that even after you graduate and land a job, you will more likely start at an entry-level position where you aren’t going to learn much.
If you want to advance in your career then you should select to do freelance work or secure an internship so that you gain experience and learn new things. Not only will this help you gain experience but it will also help you build your network with professionals in the field of computer animation, polish & refine your skills, and expand your portfolio.
Remember that computer animation is all about the previous work that you have done and if you want to land a lead animator job then you should develop a stellar portfolio, which is the next step to becoming a successful animator.
Create A Stellar Portfolio
If you ask a professional animator who has been in the field for a while then the first thing that he will tell you is that to stand out from the rest, you should have a stellar portfolio. Unlike other fields, where you need to be familiar with theoretical things, computer animation is a practical field that requires practical work only.
To become a successful animator, you should learn new skills and keep up with the latest trends across the world. It is best if you create and host your animation portfolio on the internet where you can showcase your best work and projects that you have worked on. While creating a portfolio, remember that you should only share your best work on the internet, and don’t forget to include your contact information and a brief intro about yourself.
But remember that if you want to create a stellar portfolio then you will have to practice, work hard, and learn something new every day in this field so that you can showcase your skills to the world.