Careers of the future – The Bare Essentials to pick up Animation as your career

The need for being creatively stimulated in every industry has emerged immensely since the last few years. With audiences consuming content from all across the world, the standards of design that people are expecting are also high. Hence every industry wants to take their product a notch further to make it technically as well as creatively supreme. One massive tool that works for all of them to achieve this feat — ANIMATION

Animation has been around the globe for quite some time and has been subjected to a lot of paradigm shifts over the years. Earlier, animation was mostly limited to being used in movies. Some of the very early pioneering work that we all remember is Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Warner Brothers’ Tom and Jerry. In another part of the world, the Anime of Japan was flourishing, that till date attracts a lot of young audiences from India(going the lengths of watching them in a different language). In the past 20–25 years, the movie industry has seen a significant rise in the usage of VFX, because of the advancements in the internet and software age. This has also been a major reason why filmmakers can dare to make larger than life movies of which Marvel Studios is a very good example.

But is this only where animation is limited to? Not really. Let’s look at a few places where animation is used.

Animation has now seeped so much into different industries that its market share is estimated to be close to 150 billion rupees by 2024.

So how can you dive into this very promising career with the correct strategies? Let’s have a look at that. But before let’s get into some basics of animation

1. Traditional Celluloid -Celluloid animation is the traditional, hand-drawn animation technique that involves drawing and painting objects on a transparent celluloid sheet. Almost all pre-1990 era cartoons and movies were made using Traditional celluloid.

2. 2D Vector — A combination of individual artistic images by sequencing them together over time, characters, backgrounds, and effects, to make them look as if they are moving.

3. 3D CGI — Computer Graphics Imagery is the most popular type of animation to create digital characters and objects for live action, films and games. The intensive process involves character modelling, adding texture and adding lighting to give it a three-dimensional feel.

4. Motion Graphics — The most common type of animation that you can find in commercials, explainer videos, live sports, news etc. These can be both 3D and 2D

#EagrAnalysis of Animation as a career -

The core difference in execution of animating using 3D style and 2D style is that a 3D CGI animated product is done by using multiple software that make the job simpler. The functionality of software such as Blender, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3Ds Max, Cinema 4D makes the animator’s job easier as compared to a 2D hand drawn accumulation of pictures. Hence all the major industries that add any animation to their products generally prefer 3D CGI and Motion Graphics. 3D CGI also allows the animated side of the screen to interact with Live-Action which is used in almost all movies and advertisements these days.

So why 2D Animation?

Think of 2D Animation as a handcrafted artefact and 3D as a perfectly modelled artefact produced in an assembly line. 2D Animation in most countries has now become a matter of conservation and passion. 2D Animation requires years of practice to master, and except a select few industries like Japan, where 2D Animation is God, like most other industries, commercialization takes precedence over the artform. 2D animation however is very nuanced and depicts a superior level of skill set over 3D. A very good example of 2D is Studio Ghibli movies (available on Netflix)

How to approach learning 2D and 3D Animation?

2D Animation:

• The most important thing to master in 2D animation is sketch work. As 2D animation is mostly about making individual images, drawing the characteristics of each frame similar is very important.
• To attain this, a good approach will be to find courses on Udemy/Domestika to learn the basics of sketching. These courses are with Rs. 1000 each and usually have life access.
• Learn basics of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Animator etc and start drawing right away!

3D Animation:

• 3D Animation is a game of how equipped you are with using different types of software. Therefore one of the initial things one must do is to begin with learning Autodesk Maya, 3Ds Max or Blender. Coursera, Udemy, and SkillShare are good platforms to learn how to work with these software.
• Simultaneously, you can also do courses on the basics of Animation. This will help set your mind into the correct zone so that you can think not just about creating a 3D character, but also how it reacts to the environment. This is called Visualization.

PROFESSIONAL COURSES

Here are some options for professional courses in Animation in India

1. Bachelor of Design — https://cutt.ly/Jbc2Rer
2. Masters of Design — https://cutt.ly/Ybc2Uqv

Colleges for Degree and Diploma — varying 6months to 2 years

1. National Institute of Film and Fine Arts, Kolkata
2. St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata
3. Maya Institute of Advanced Cinematic (MAAC)
4. Arena Animation
5. FX School, Mumbai
6. Picasso Animation College, Bangalore
7. Mayabious Academy — School of Animation and Visual Effects, Kolkata
8. Toonz Academy, Thiruvananthapuram
9. Zee Institute of Creative Art (ZICA), Bangalore
10. Whistling Woods International Institute (WWII), Mumbai

CREATING A PORTFOLIO

Whether you want to be a 2D or a 3D artist, your work is your worth in the industry. The good thing is that your work is very much visible to people who can judge you on your skills then and there as you show your work. Portfolios can be made by freelancing for companies or posting your work on social media platforms.

Where can you apply?

Below are the list of some animation studios in India

1. Digitoonz
2. Prayan Animation
3. Visual Connections
4. Citrus Inc Studios
5. Reliance Animation
6. Cosmos-Maya
7. Best Studio
8. Ocean Bluee
9. Vibgyor 360
10. Pitch Worx