Different animation job roles
To begin our second year we were tasked with finding out the different job roles in the professional world of animation and researching ones we find interest us. To start my search for the type of roles that interest me I began by looking at a wide range of jobs in the field of animation. I found roles such as:
- Storyboard artist
- Keyframe animator
- Background artist
- Editor
- Rigger
- Character animator
- Character designer
- Concept artist
- 3D modelling artist
- 3D environment artist
- Texturing artist
- Lighting artist
While researching I found many many different job roles in animation each seeming to be very specialised to one aspect of the process. Some of these roles really sparked my interest such as 3D modelling artist, 3D environment artist and 2D background artist as over my first year on the course I felt I really enjoyed making 3D models and drawing backgrounds and this year I am really looking forward to creating a 3D environment. After finding these jobs I decided to look closer at what these jobs entail.
3D modelling artist
A 3D modelling artist creates the 3D assets and models for the animation or game. They usually work from concepts that are drawn up for them, they must then create 3D versions of these concepts. Sometimes they must also texture their models and rig them although usually this is left to texture artists and riggers.
3D environment artist
A 3D environment artist creates the landscape for the animation or game, wether they be indoor or outdoor environments. They must be able to plan and layout the scene properly for the 3D animators to work in. To create the environment they work form concepts that are given to them and sometimes must also texture their environment.
2D background artist
A 2D background artist is responsible for drawing and colouring the backgrounds for each scene in an animation. They usually draw up concepts then refine their ideas digitally to create the final background.
Entry level animation jobs
Next I looked at specific jobs applications for junior or entry level positions. I looked through a number of job sites and found many types of animation job roles available. I looked at the description and requirements for some of them to get an idea of what I will need to do when applying for jobs in the future. Below is a list of some of the jobs I found and a reflection of two of them.
- Junior 3D animator
- Gameplay Animator junior level
- Junior Motion designer
- Junior animation assistant
- Junior technical animator
Junior 3D animator
The first one I found that interested me was an opening for a junior 3D animator for a company called Antimatter Games. The description of the job says they are “looking for someone who is passionate about animation and our projects, who can demonstrate a strong skill set”. They then go on to list the requirements for the job saying they are looking for someone who has a strong proficiency in working with Maya and 3DS Max with their showreel consisting of character animations and ability to model characters. The applicant must have a good understanding of the pipeline for creating an animation and ideally have previous experience in the industry. They also say additional skills in rigging would be useful.
Junior animation assistant
Next I found an opening for a junior animation assistant working for RAW Pictures. This job involves working alongside the head of animation for the project helping to come up with ideas for the storyboard and character design mainly working in 2D animation. The requirements for this job are someone with strong 2D animation skills with a good work ethic and willing to put their own ideas forward and work as part of a team. They should also be able to use adobe Illustrator and After effects.