Congratulations! You’ve finally secured that dream job you’ve always wanted at that awesome animation or motion graphics studio. Now, you’re super excited to meet your colleagues and show them what you can do.
But wait! Now that you think about it, you don’t actually have any experience working in a studio and have no clue of what to expect. You could wing it and hope for the best – OR, you could read these 5 tips we’re about to share with you and nail your first day at work like a boss.
Tip #1: Be adventurous, don’t be afraid to make mistakes
If you’ve always played it safe, now is the time to step outside your comfort zone. Do things you normally wouldn’t do but have always wanted to; go on a spontaneous road trip, go bungee jumping, heck, go poll dancing if that’s your thing. You’d be surprised at how these new experiences can help stimulate and improve your creativity as an animator.
The same thing goes for working at an animation or motion graphics studio. Don’t be afraid to explore new animation concepts and styles that you feel will blow clients away. However, do so with a strategy. Share your ideas with your team to get a second opinion. Who knows? They might actually give you excellent feedback that could improve your ideas tenfold.
Keep in mind that not all your work may turn out a success. Sometimes, trying a new animation style pays off, other times, it doesn’t. But that’s life – you win some, you lose some.
So be brave; take risks and push your boundaries as an animator but be prepared to admit when you’re wrong and learn from your mistakes. In the long run, this will help you grow and improve for the better.
Tip #2: No man is an island
Animating is not a one-man job. Even Rambo couldn’t do this job alone.
Animating is a team game that involves many other areas like scriptwriting and illustrating. Whether you’re an anti-social ninja or a know-it-all smarty pants, you need to learn how to work with your fellow project managers, scriptwriters and illustrators if you hope to complete your project within an acceptable time frame.
Remember, if a task has been assigned to you, it is up to you to get it done efficiently.
Don’t wait for others to come to you. Be proactive; initiate the first move and coordinate with team members to effectively and efficiently complete a given task. Better yet, offer your assistance to peers when you’re free so that they’re more likely to help you when you’re in a pickle.
Tip #3: Time management is key
Surprise, surprise, like many jobs out there, a motion graphic designer & animator’s job requires excellent time management to succeed (or if you want to leave work on time).
Depending on the workload, you might be assigned to more than one project. So unless you’re a genius with photographic memory, you’re probably going to want to create an easy-to-read schedule to keep track of all the projects under your care.
Besides making you more organized and productive, schedules help keep you motivated. Each project you complete represents a success for you and your business which boosts morale. On the off chance that you don’t meet the deadline, you can always utilize the information to create a more realistic timeline in the future.
Of course, having a schedule is just a small part of good time management. The next thing you need is the discipline to follow through on your schedule. Stop procrastinating and you should be getting projects done in no time!
Tip #4: Passion breeds success
I know, I know, passion gets used one too many times in articles. But it’s mentioned for good reason. Like it or not, passion, motivation, drive, zeal, whatever you want to call it, is the foundation for success.
Contrary to popular belief, success isn’t about what one does for a living, but how well one does his or her job. You might think you’re just an animator or motion graphic designer, but if you started animating videos the way Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry, success and recognition will follow.
So if you’re going to work with a negative attitude (or no attitude at all), now is the time to switch things up. Start working with the intention of becoming the best you can be and you’ll be cruising down the path to success!
Tip #5: Pay attention to detail
More often than not, animators and motion graphic designers, both rookies and veterans alike, tend to forget that it’s the little details which differentiate good animation from great animation.
Take Walt Disney’s Zootopia for example. The level of detail in the animated movie is mind-blowing. Here’s an excerpt from Yahoo! Movies to give you an idea of how much effort went into producing the movie.
“Disney animators built the fur on each fuzzy creature in Zootopia with thousands of individual follicles. Animators worked with specially made computer programs to match the sheen and texture to each animal’s real-life counterpart. The coolest example was the way they made Polar Bear hair: The animals have transparent follicles, which only appear white when reflected with light — and that’s exactly how the bear hairs were created for the film, with animators amassing a huge amount of clear hairs reflected with artificial lighting they developed. The end result: (Nearly) real-life polar bear fur! If that’s not enough, the team also devised new wind-tunnel technology to make strands move believable.”
Not surprisingly, Zootopia won multiple prestigious awards (think Academy Award and Golden Globe Award) for Best Animated Feature Film, thanks partly to the animators’ attention to detail.
In a nutshell, if you want to be a great animator or motion graphic designer, produce amazing work and win prestigious awards, remember to pay attention to detail. 😉
Hopefully, these 5 tips that we’ve shared will prove useful to you newbies. If you liked or found this article useful, do share them with your friends and visit our blog for similar articles. On a side note, if you’re looking for an exciting job in the world of motion graphics and animation, then check out our job openings at Buzzworks.
