In past workshops that I have conducted, students have asked what the job of an animator is actually like.
What’s the environment like? What do you actually do, and how do you do it?
The Physical Environment
Animation studios are usually pretty cool and funky places to work. Most studio owners are also animators and artists along with the people that work there and sometimes prefer moody surroundings.
Studios are sometimes dim with lights casting pools of light and shadow around furniture and workstations. Movie posters and production stills of completed projects hang on the wall.
Some studios that I’ve worked in are renovated warehouses built with beautiful thick wooden support beams and large windows that let in lots of natural light to support the plants and even large trees that you will find in some studios.
You’ll often find skewed placement of the desks to keep the studio from feeling like an office and making the environment more interesting.
Although I have heard some nasty stories of animators sitting shoulder to shoulder at long tables in basement studios, I haven’t experienced it. I have walked through a studio that was something like that, (I took a tour of this studio at a time when they were hiring).
I just thanked the director and left – didn’t even consider it. I can’t mention the name of the studio for obvious reasons, but it wasn’t a work environment that I could live with for the next eight to ten months.
Of course all studios are different. Most are pleasant environments to work in and the people are usually helpful and supportive.
The People
Animation studios employ some of the most diversely talented people in the world.
Often, the animator sitting next to you isn’t just a professional animator they’re also talented musicians, photographers, painters…you always meet interesting and multi-talented people in the animation environment.
People share their talents and knowledge.
In every studio I’ve worked in, I have met someone that has taught me something or given me knowledge that changed my work and my life for the better.
