Building a career in animation is probably an excellent choice for people. You will get paid a higher salary and an opportunity to display your creativity through animation. Several animation films, such as “Ice Age,” “Frozen,” and “Kung Fu Panda,” have gained a lot of popularity. Both adults and children love these movies. Interestingly, these unique movies are created by professional animators. Working as an animator will give you an opportunity to breathe life into a specific character.
But to become an experienced animator, you must opt for an animation basic course for free. The courses in animation can help you obtain the skills and knowledge to become an experienced animator.
How much do Animators earn?
A professional animator in India can earn between INR 0.3 Lakhs and INR 7.6 Lakhs. But the average salary of the animators is INR 3.3 Lakhs, which is INR 27,500 monthly. This estimate is made according to 443 salaries of various animators across different sectors.
Moreover, if you wish to become a “Character Animator,” you will get an average salary of INR 50,000. At the junior level, you will receive a salary of INR 15,000 per month, and at the Senior level, you will get a salary of INR 65,000 per month.
On the other hand, art directors have an average salary of INR 50,000. If you’re a junior-level Art Director with one year of experience, you will receive a monthly salary of INR 40,000. But a senior-level Art Director who has over 5 to 10 years of experience will receive a monthly salary between INR 70,000 to INR 1,50,000.
What does a professional animator do?
Professional animators have the skills and knowledge to design characters in movies, mobile applications, and games. Animators can develop 2D and 3D animations and models for a business website.
They can also create unique films with complicated special effects. You can easily bring your unique ideas to life with art skills. You can easily work as a self-employed animator and get to work for your relatives or schedule.
You can also work at a reputed company where you can create outstanding video game characters and many more. As an animator, you will get the chance to take care of all types of animation projects.
Some of these projects will even help you learn more as an animator. To develop your creations, you can utilize animation software or sketch them with your hand. It’s guaranteed that you can make 2D and 3D realistic animation videos for countless purposes.
As an animator, you can also teach others about animation, which includes all the topics and important points. You will speak with design experts and clients when you work as an animator. That way, you can learn more about a specific project. You also need to:
- Utilize the storyboards to plan out the animations
- Make the animations with the 3D modeling software
- Make all the changes that your clients or colleagues request you.
You can easily manage all the deadlines when you have technical skills and artistic talent. This is a crucial part for all the animators out there.
Education Requirement for Animators
To become a professional animator, you must obtain an undergraduate degree in Arts or Animation. The classes must teach topics on drawing, films, and computer software. But if you wish to make animations for movies or games, you need Bachelor’s Degree program.
Portfolios are known as the best ways to display how great you are in animation. Due to such reasons, you must create a portfolio while studying animation. After that, you can add your cartoon animation projects to it.
You can also learn more about animation through self-study. Studying on your own will also let you do research and learn about tools like prototyping software, illustration, and 3D modeling.
Job Roles in Animation
You will come across countless job roles in the area of animation. Some of these are:
- Lighting Specialist: As a lighting artist, you will work as a digital animation or visual effects team member. You will be responsible for applying all lighting effects to a scene. You can also add another virtual light to improve the characters or objects within the scene, such as rim lighting.
- Texture Artist: Your job as a texture artist will be to paint all the surfaces of the textures on the animated objects, characters, props, and even settings. You will come across endless textures and might encounter mud, sweat, wrinkles, blood, scales, and even fur. You will also find textures that do not exist in real life.
- Compositor: As a compositor, you have developed the final picture of the VFX sequence, shot, or frame. Compositors are known to work with various digital materials, such as matte paintings, live-action videotape, and CG [computer-generated] pictures. They have to place them together so that they look as if they are one single consistent shot and picture.
- Lead Animator: Lead animators are also known as “Animator-in-Chief.” They can take care of animation projects for game development, television, and film studios. They use computer software or their hands to create all the characters from scratch. But they do not work alone. They have a team of professional animations which work together on all animation projects.
- Character Animator: Character animators are known to design and create characters with animation software. They also take the help of puppetry, 2D animations, and 3D modeling. The character animators make characters that utilize movement to tell a story. These professionals can take on projects based on animation films, mobile applications, television shows, and even video games.
Conclusion
The animation sector has become a multi-million-dollar sector. The sector has generated an excellent employment scope, providing career opportunities across various fields. Working in the field of animation will let you work on movies, television series, and video game projects. So, all you need to do is enroll in a professional short courses online and reap the benefits of the impressive salary package.
