Just want to Voice a little rant on animation. I have been basically chasing a dream to be an animator like my whole life and I feel like I am loosing my drive to want to chase after the dream anymore.
I have wanted to be an animator since I was like 11. I thought I did all the right things. I finished high school at a school for visual arts. I went to college and studied art with a major emphasis on figure drawing and life studies. I tried to study animation at KCAI cause I heard if you went there you could get into the industry but they were ending there illustration program by the time I got out of high school all there was was fine art.
I left UMKC and tried to find a place to study flash or just any form of animation for like 4 years jumping form school to school and still found nothing.
I found out about the Joe Kubert and I packed up my life and moved to the west coast and I met some amazing people had an awesome animation teacher and even got my first job as a freelance illustrator but still no animation career.
I met Dan Haskett and then he moved away and eventually went back to cali to work at Warner Brothers.He is still a great mentor to me. Then some kind of way I ended up back in Missouri and freelancing and helping to run Mapa.
Still no animation career. I always say I was born ten years too early or ten years to late. When I was coming out of high school and then later college all the major animation training grounds were closing down and 3d was taking over. Then when things were resurrecting I needed to be fresh out of college to get into a studio so I went back to school and still ended up not really getting things the way I wanted.
It can be kinda disheartening. After years of dreaming and not feeling like my work was good enough I still cant even manage to get a crappy art job as an illustrator in a studio anywhere. I start to feel like I am just in all the wrong places at all the wrong times.
When opportunities do pop up I can even take advantage of them many times because of financial issues.
I am curious how many artists and want to be animtors are out there just like me trying to do all the right things and not really getting anywhere.
2 comments:
I hear you.
Animation is a tough gig. I spent 4 years studying 2D animation, and it wasnt enough to get a job. I had to self teach myself things like flash and toon boom to show the studios I could do it.
At the time, CG was starting to really get going and Disney closed their doors. Had I waited a few years later, I would easily have changed my decision and learnt CG animation. I dont think it is as easy to self teach, basically because of expenses and how complicated it is.
Have you got an animation showreel? Thats all that studios are interested in. So as long as your showreel is up to date and shows a good range, thats the important thing.
Hey LAWay, sorry it took for ever for my to get back to you. I completely missed your comment. But yeah i am working on a reel as we speak. I think for a while I got so down about wanting to be an animator that I just stopped. But I think no matter what i Want to get myself back on track again.
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