Animation Career Pro » At Work

Animation Production Pipeline

Chris — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:13:05 +0000

Once a project is green lit and is slated for production, the studio which is awarded the job has to figure out how they will actually get it done.

Most of this information is presented at the bidding stage in terms of a schedule and budget – how many people are needed for each department [...]

The Animation Hierarchy

Chris — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:32:04 +0000

Every animation production, whether it’s a TV series or feature operates in a hierarchy – a command structure developed over 70 years ago during the golden age of the animation industry, around the time when theatrical shorts gave way to TV animation.

It’s evolved a lot since then. Today’s animation productions are totally stream lined [...]

Deadlines For Animation Production

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:34:40 +0000

The dreaded “D” word…just the word deadline can sound really daunting if you’ve never worked with them – as in, if you don’t cross the finish line in time, your dead – or fired!

Well not exactly.

As a series animator working in production, I suppose that would be true if you were consistently delivering your scenes/shots [...]

Types Of Animation Studios

Chris — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:17:56 +0000

Photo courtesy of Tomasz Chrupa³a, Poland

When I started out at my first job as an animator, I thought ‘wow, are all studios like this?’. I was working at a very big studio that had a real corporate feel.

I enjoyed the work and was doing well – my director was happy with my animation, [...]

An Inside Look At The Job Of An Animator – Part 2

Chris — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:35:44 +0000

The Job There’s so much that can be said about this so I’ll try to keep it in a nutshell and as concise as possible.

Series animators are character animators. We’re responsible for all character performance and actions, animating props, and sometimes fx and camera (if working in 3D). In 3D production there’s usually a layout department.

Layout [...]

An Inside Look At The Job Of An Animator – Part 1

Chris — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:22:50 +0000

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 [...]