An animator’s role is to create engaging visual stories by bringing characters and scenes to life through art, creativity, and technical skills. This involves designing characters, developing animated sequences, and working closely with directors and other team members to ensure the visual elements align with the narrative.
An animator must understand movement, timing, and the physics of various materials to create realistic animations that resonate with audiences and enhance the storytelling experience. We spoke to four animators who provided insights into their working days.
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Fusing Art With Technology in Animation
Animation captivates me because it is the ultimate fusion of art and technology, allowing limitless creative expression. Unlike other forms of storytelling, animation transcends the boundaries of reality, giving life to the impossible and imbuing it with emotion and depth. This medium’s ability to evoke strong feelings and convey complex narratives through visual artistry and movement is what truly inspires me. Every frame is a canvas, and the meticulous effort put into each detail results in a breathtakingly dynamic piece of art.
For those considering a career in animation, my foremost tip is to cultivate a strong foundation in both traditional art and digital tools. Another key piece of advice is to develop a solid understanding of the principles of animation, such as timing, squash-and-stretch, anticipation, and follow-through. These principles, articulated by the legendary Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, are essential for creating believable and engaging animations.
Networking and continuous learning are also vital. Join online communities, attend workshops, and seek feedback from professionals. The animation industry is highly collaborative, and building relationships can lead to invaluable opportunities.
Finally, be persistent and passionate. Animation is a demanding field that requires patience and dedication. Your passion will sustain you through challenging projects and long hours, and it will shine through in your work, setting you apart in a competitive industry.
Storytelling and Collaboration
A typical day in animation strategy is a blend of creativity, collaboration, and detailed planning. I start by reviewing the storyboard and scripts with our animators, ensuring the storyline aligns with our brand’s voice and objectives. From there, I work with our team on pre-visualization, giving input on character designs, motion flow, and visual style to keep things on track. The rest of my day is often spent coordinating feedback between clients and the animation team, tweaking scenes to make sure every frame tells the right story.
The skills I use the most are visual storytelling and project management. You need an eye for detail to spot what needs refining and strong communication skills to bridge creative ideas with business needs. Patience is also a must-have because animation is time-intensive, and working through revisions requires focus and flexibility.
For anyone considering a career in animation, I’d say focus on building a diverse skill set early on. Understanding not only animation software but also storytelling, design fundamentals, and client communication will set you apart. Internships or freelance gigs are invaluable, as they give real-world experience that can make or break your ability to navigate the challenges of this field.
Spencer Romenco, Chief Growth Strategist, Growth Spurt
Engage Audiences With Motion Design
Animation is a powerful tool for storytelling. As a creative, I have always been in awe of seeing my ideas illustrated and brought to life. A static illustration is great, especially if the key message is clear and resonates. However, adding animation captures your audience’s attention more effectively. It engages the senses and amplifies emotions. You don’t need to animate a lot to seize the hearts and minds of your audience.
If you want to become an animator, work in motion design, or even explore creating GIF art, you need to start developing your projects. Take one idea and work on expanding its potential. Start with simple frame-by-frame animations to understand the basic movements of objects, people, and emotions.
Observing and studying classic animations is like a masterclass. Disney, Pixar, Studio Ghibli, and others showcase animation techniques and principles such as shadows, space, timelines, and body gestures.
The best animation school is daily life. Observe and analyze how you move, how objects and living beings around you move, and beyond.
Keva Epale, Founder, Brand Strategist, Keva Epale Studio
Reliability and High Quality Work
As a creative producer, I’m managing between five to ten projects at any given time. Some are single videos and others are series including upwards of ten videos. I’m responsible for creative direction and project management. So on one side I’m working closely with our team on the concept, script, visual style, character design and all the other creative aspects.
But as a producer, I’m also the conduit between our team and our clients, so I’ve got to focus on making sure we hit all our production milestones and maintain quality standards, and ultimately make sure our clients are happy. So there’s a lot of balls in the air to juggle, and I think it’s only possible with good project management systems in place.
It’s a real balance between creative skills, project management ability and having the right people skills to lead teams and ensure clients are happy. I’m a generalist. So I know enough about each aspect to be dangerous, as they say. But really I think that’s how you need to be as an animation producer. It’s important to strike a balance between aiming for perfection and delivering on budget and on time. And I think ultimately the most important thing is to know how to problem solve and find fixes for things that aren’t working in the animation and alternate ways of approaching certain aspects that might be falling behind or going off track.
Always be reliable. And that means being creatively consistent with high quality work but also being able to say when something will be ready and delivering on time. Sometimes creatives shy away from committing to time frames because there are so many variables and often they are perfectionists. But ultimately, success in the industry comes down to doing high quality work and delivering as promised and on time.
Sam Duncan, Lead Creative Producer, The Animation Company
