Job Roles in Animation – Job Searching
Task 1
The job I chose to look upon was a character designer. A character designer job is to create characters for TV, film or games. They are often given a short brief description for inspiration and work from there. To achieve the characters personality and traits they use facial expressions, costumes, poses, gestures and posture. Creating memorable characters is achieved by using simple shapes, colour and ideas. For example a recognisable silhouette or a piece of clothing. Other skills they need are drawing skills, being able to draw the character in different perspectives, action poses, correct anatomy and facial expressions.
Task 2
For my research into jobs I went onto Indeed and looked at animation jobs in my country. When I was looking for junior or intern jobs on job sites I found it very difficult to find possessions in Northern Ireland and Ireland. However I found a couple in Dublin which are closer than the one in Culver city.
This job is outside my country meaning I would have to move which I wouldn’t be happy enough to do due to circumstances. It also looks like you need past experience which I don’t have yet.
I came across this job for a freelance storyboard artist. Looking at the job requirements it looks like I would be capable to do most of theses. It looks like something I would be very interested in doing this as a job.
I found another job with the same company for a 2D animator. I would also be interested in this job however I would need past experience.
Overall I would be most interested in the storyboard artist job as it is an entry level job and is something I would like to do in the future. Storyboarding is a good starting job as it requires basic drawing skills which I have. I also have experience with storyboarding through my education and personal work. The job requires working closely with the art director and lead producer which means I need good communication skills. Making sure I have good basic drawing skills so that I can follow the style guides. I need to work in tight deadlines and bring work on time. Lastly I need an eye for detail and cinematography to make boards fun and readable.
Task 3
Anatola Howard
Anatola Howard is a 2019 Graduate of the character animation program at the California Institute of the arts. She works in animation and comics. She has been in the animation field for a couple of years working for Cartoon Network, Netflix and comic books.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/MAROONRACOON
Personal Website / Portfolio – https://www.anatolahoward.com/tagged/art
For most of her early career she posted illustrations and comics online using Tumblr and Twitter. She did start her career by making a game called “Maggie’s Apartment”. It was a click and point game released in August 2017. Players take on the role of Maggie who is trapped in her apartment by a lockdown order. It gained traction online and her worked got more popular. In California Institute she made various short films and illustrated books.
Maggie’s Apartment Game
Books
Her current work was for Cartoon Network working on Craig of the Creek as a story artist. She also was uncredited for visual effects, art department and writer. They are still active online still posting illustrations and comics. Personally I think they got to there current position is cause there work is creative, imaginative, have amazing and dynamic drawing skills. Her portfolio is massive and she has a lot of personal work under their name. She can do storyboards, character design, animation, environments, directing and writing. She has lots of skills and she can be more options job wise.
Showreel
https://twitter.com/MAROONRACOON/status/1154115165459120128?s=20
Short Films
Their journey tells me that I need to get my work out there and us social media to my advantage. It also tells me to keep drawing to improve my skills so that I can create more dynamic work and animation. Keep a well filled portfolio and do other things outside animation like comics or illustrations. Also teaching myself about basic writing could help bring my ideas more to life. If I got to her standard of work I could be open to all opportunities in the industry.
Stevie Borbolla
Another career I would like to do is a storyboard artists and character designer. I looked at another artist in the industry, Stevie Borbolla. They studied at California Institution of Arts in 2013. Stevie Borbolla is a storyboard artist and character designer that has worked with OK K.O! Let’s be Heroes!, Harley Quinn and DC Super Hero Girls.
Twitter – https://twitter.com/stebvi
Website – https://stevieborbolla.com/
They have a big blog on twitter and tumblr with a big collection of character illustrations and designs. This has helped for there work to get out there and reach businesses and clients. They got a job at Cartoon Network doing storyboards for OK K.O!.
Just like Anatola Howard they have big portfolio of work and illustrations that have kept over the years. Including school and recent work. Both their journeys tell me that I need to get my work out there and show everything off including rough and finish pieces. However an advantage they both have is that they’re both from California which has most of the big studios. If I keep a portfolio now I’ll be able to show my progress with personal and educational work.