If you love watching cartoons, you must have come across animations. It’s a technique that uses successive drawings and photographs to create an illusion of movement as you watch the film.
This strategy brings life to an object, hence improving the viewer experience. Animation is one career that’s gaining ground in the tech world.
To thrive in this career, you need advanced skills in design to propel you to your desired job or profession.
Learning Design And Animation
Animation works on the principle of optical illusions. To master the art of making interesting and captivating animations, you must gain the right skills.
You can enroll in design and animation courses offered by various institutions.
Some of the popular animation courses include:
• Animation Bootcamp
• Design Kickstart
• Cinema 4D Basecamp
• Character Animation Bootcamp
• Illustration for Motion
• Cinema 4D Ascent
The typical study period for these courses ranges between eight to twelve weeks or more.
The training helps you prepare for your future career opportunities in animation.
Likewise, you can also pursue an undergraduate degree and further your skills by pursuing a master’s degree.
Each institution offers diverse modules. The study length depends on the study level, whether you’re taking a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or certification in animation
In light of this, below are six career opportunities you can venture into from learning design and animation:
1. Character Animator
Character animation is one of the important aspects of animation. You create two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) characters. Note that both dimensions differ.
Here are some distinct differences between the two:
2D
• Everything is hand is drawn from frame to frame
• It uses illusions of characters to make movements
• On-screen characters consist of height and width only
3D
• Characters are animated in a 3D environment using software to manipulate their movement
• 3D uses more realistic characters as it can manipulate their height, length, shape, and width
• The 3D environment can be created using computer software or through a green screen
To work as a character animator, you should have relevant skills, which you can gain by pursuing a 3D course.
Remember, as a 2D animator, you’ll need to use your analytical and creative skills to develop your characters, unlike a 3D animator who relies on computer-generated imagery effects to build the character.
In 3D, computer animations display the sequence of images in the film or video.
2. Art Director
You can also explore the creative aspect of animation by becoming an art director. This career focuses on pitching visual ideas to your client based on directions from the writer.
You’ll be responsible for creating advertising campaigns that fit your client’s description.
As an art director, you oversee the works of graphic designers, photographers, and illustrators to ensure you bring the vision to life.
You should take an art or graphic design course for an art director career. Alternatively, you can pursue relevant animation fields, such as illustration.
These help you build your portfolio.
3. Video Game Designer
If you want to become a video game designer, you must understand the dynamics of including animations in the game. You should be , you must understand the dynamics of including animations in the game.
You should be able to create the characters, levels, and puzzles for the virtual world. Working in this field allows you to explore fun challenges and develop new skills.
Before taking the game to potential customers, you should try it to ensure it’s working correctly. This way, you’ll be sure to entertain the users.
You must learn computer programming skills to perfect the art of creating animation for video games. Thus, take a computer science course or game design with your animation degree.
4. Game Developer
You can also create video games as a game developer. Most of these games use animated characters.
As such, learning how to create animated characters using 2D and 3D strategies, as highlighted earlier, is essential.
Game developers rely on excellent skills from programmers and animators to develop the game.
Animation majors have the relevant skills required to create high-quality visuals. Thus, an extensive animation course is advisable if you want to become a game developer. It helps you gain appropriate skills.
5. Special Effects Animator
These days, most animations are created using special effects. The animator is responsible for adding special effects, such as exciting backdrops in the entertainment industry.
These backdrops help tell the story and create a better illusion for the viewer.
6. User Experience (UX) Designer
In animations, a UX designer creates user interfaces that are smooth and enjoyable. The process involves creating wireframes and prototypes. In essence, the goal is to make innovative solutions when a problem arises in creating animation films.
You can generate great results for your UX portfolio with the right strategy based on relevant skills.
To become a UX designer, you should have appropriate human-computer interaction skills.
Alternatively, an entry-level job at a design agency will help you develop relevant skills in the field.
7. Lighting Animation Technician
Lighting is essential with all the graphics and technicalities used in creating animation characters.
Lighting technicians help create a realistic experience in films and video games. Light helps improve animated environments.
To build this career, you need to manage lighting equipment professionally. Additionally, knowing how to operate the equipment gives you an added advantage.
This way, you can create better green screen effects that improve the quality of your video.
8. Web Designer
If you have skills in web development, you can work in an animation-related field. Most clients will hire you to design the web layout.
To become an excellent web designer, you need training in color theory, typography, and web design trends. You should be able to advise your client on emerging trends that will benefit their website.
Furthermore, a web developer should have basic skills and knowledge in coding.
Therefore, you should be adept with computer programming and coding. Remember, your work involves a range of frameworks and techniques that are essential in producing quality animations. Thus, it’s best to work together with others in the department.
Conclusion
Animation is an excellent addition to a website, film, or video. They draw attention and may command a vast audience to your visuals.
As such, learning design and animation can earn you an excellent spot in a career.
These are just the tip of the iceberg on jobs you can build from learning design and animation.
You can enroll in some courses to help you gain relevant skills. The skills you’ll learn will see you on the right path to exploring career opportunities.
Remember, the goal is to make the user experience as exciting as possible. With the right skills in animation, it becomes a walk in the park.
