I don't have the book in front of me, but I think it was Richard Williams who said this in "The Animators Survival Kit" - a must own for all animators by the way. To say that anyone can animate is not to say that animation is easy...not at all. It is an extremely difficult skill and one that can never really be mastered. As an animator you are constantly learning and evolving, especially today when the technology is always changing.
What is missing from this quote is "Anyone with a passion for animation can animate". It requires practice, hard work and commitment. For the purpose of this post I will use myself as an example.
I got in to animation relatively late. In fact, I had never even considered computer animation as a potential career until a little over a year ago. I spent my life chasing the dream of becoming a professional golfer. I had always known I needed a back up plan in case golf didn't work out, but I never figured out what that could be. I wanted to do something I enjoyed but little else spoke to me enough to make a career out of it.
As a kid I loved movies and I loved to make movies. I loved to shoot some footage, edit it and watch my "masterpiece". The problem was I never knew what I could do with this passion for movies or how I could turn it into a profession. Anyway, the long and short of it is that I stumbled across animation, realized how much I enjoyed bringing life to a character and decided I wanted to do it for a living.
It was a scary decision to put golf aside and concentrate on animation because at that time I was not a good animator. I had never animated six months prior to this decision and the only education I had was self-taught. But once I'd made the decision I knew I had to knuckle down and commit to it. I worked hard, practiced at home, purchased tutorials and eventually, when I could afford it, took a workshop at iAnimate.
If anybody is reading this who is at the early stage of their animation career and you want to know how to get better, here's my two cents:
A) Work hard. There is no substitute.
B) Post your work for critiques on sites such as "11secondclub" or "youanimator" and listen to the feedback. Develop thick skin, take it on the chin and use it to get better.
C) Watch as many tutorials as you can while you get started. Jason Ryan has some great ones on his site for a very reasonable price. It's a great way to learn and improve.
D) If you can afford it, enroll in an online school like iAnimate. It's a great way to make connections, receive feedback and work with some fantastic rigs and characters.
E) Network. If can easily be overlooked but it's one of the most important things. Research the studios that you want to work for (don't shoot for Pixar right away) and contact them. Ask them for a tour of the studio or an informational interview. This is what first got my name on the radar at Topix. I emailed a dozen studios asking to meet in person and they were the only one to respond. I met a lead animator at the studio and a year later I got my first job in the industry. Contact as many studios as possible and contact them often, always being as polite and personable as possible.
That's all for now. Hopefully this helps somebody out there :)
