What now?

OK, so now I know (now I know) (now I know)- remember that one? Queen's The Prophet's Song, which else-, now I know what I want to do, what's next?

I guess a good start is to find out what is required to be a great Animator, right? What should I study to become an Animator?
Animation, of course. Duh!
Thing is, that a Career on Animation is not as simple as it sounds. In order to become an Animator, there are quite a few attributes to meet and skills to master rather than the ability to move things around.

For instance, Walt Disney Animation Studios Artists and Technicians come from a variety of backgrounds that emphasize creative excellence in a collaborative environment. They each share an attention to artistic detail, a keen sense of observation and a clear idea of their own strengths and personal passions. When reviewing school options, look for places that have relationships with animation and/or film companies and provide programs that include some of the following course attributes:

• drawing
  
• acting skills
  
• design and color
  
• film
• acting
  
• technology[1]
  

Each play their part and I guess in a big studio like that, being good on one of those might get you somewhere. Thing is, that is too wide for me. I'm not looking to go into a school with huge curriculum like that. Don't get me wrong, I would love to, but I'm already going for Animation. Focus, Andresin, focus.

Interested as I am, I know for sure that most animator's dream job would be at Pixar. OK, maybe there are some people who choose something else, but what the heck! I'm not doing this for them. Take a look at this!

It's all me here, so I know it could be mine. And this is what they have to say when looking for new talents:

A Pixar Animator should be able to bring life to any object or character, showing the character’s internal thoughts and feelings through its physical external motion. To do this, the Animator must be a good actor. His or her work should communicate clearly, containing simple ideas with which an audience can empathize. The animation should be entertaining to watch, employing good timing and relying on individualized, believable characters to put forth humor and emotion.

We want you to be able to bring the character to life, independent of medium. Computer-graphic technical prowess is of course important, but the emphasis is not as strong within the Animation Department. The reality is that computer graphic animators have no advantage over pen-and-ink animators, clay animators, stop-motion animators, etc. So while it’s preferable for someone to have 3D knowledge, it’s not paramount. In fact 3/4 of the Animators on Toy Story were new to computers when hired.

Good animation is clearly visible through almost any technical limitation. In fact, the thrill of great animation is seeing pencil lines or matchsticks and glue come to life; why would it be any different with a computer.

Or, as we never tire of saying: Computers don’t animate. People do.

The classic animators were inspired by real life and all of the other films around them. And so are we. We're not looking to hire Animation Nerds. We want people who draw from their own other experiences, from live action, and yes, from the Old Masters![2]

I like that! I really do. And I'm sure that I can do it.

Last but not least, I found here is an Animator Job Post at Blue Sky Studios. This opens up a good idea of what are the qualifications at least expected from a Studio.

ANIMATOR (#12)
Department : Animation
Description : Animators are responsible for principal and background character animation and must be able to work under tight production deadlines. Must show proficiency in principles of animation including weight, timing, acting and posing of characters.
Responsibilities :
▪ Work with Animation Supervisor and Director in establishing characters and design of movement.
▪ Animate simple to complex shots from start to finish.
▪ Must be able to work collaboratively with animators as well as other departments.
Qualifications :
• Proficiency in basic principles of animation and basic shot rigging.
• Drawing skills a plus!
• Must be proficient in Maya and or XSI[3]

So here I go.
I have a good idea of what I need to do. Get into drawing, acting and start working through the mediums.

I'm on it!!


REFERENCES
1. Disney Career FAQ's. Disney. Retrieved on 2008-10-22
2. Career FAQ by Pixar. Pixar. Retrieved on 2008-10-22
3. Animator Job Post. Blue Sky Studios. Retrieved 2008-10-28
See also:
A Career in Animation by Aardman

Why Animation?

I have always been quite keen on media and visual arts. I was first immersed into the visual art form of comics in the early 90's when a comic book publisher decided to kill the man of steel, the most powerful man on earth, and crippled the best detective in the world, a man dressed in a bat suit. I was so attracted and interested on the stories and the characters that I got completely hooked by them. I started to read all kinds of comic books and comic strips. Then the animation magic broke into my world with an animated series about the most dazzling character of them all, Batman: TAS. The art style of the series, the story, the action, the drama and mostly the characters moving, blew my mind away. It was already awesome to read about him, so it was then marvelous and stupendous to see him come to life. I enjoyed every single episode of that series and I develop a passion excitement and delight from the animated art. I had always been fond of animated features, but there was something different about them by that time and that was my whole appreciation for them. I saw them as a form of art and craft, a mean of expression rather that purely entertainment.

By 1996, Toy Story was hitting the theaters of the town I grew up. I remember being there and watching it on the theater, I remember the adventure and thrill it gave me and I remember wanting to see it over and over again.

Animation hit me hard at that point, but the opportunity to go for it was not in my hands at that time. I had never stopped being enthused or interested about animation ever since. I have kept on enjoying all those films and many other more. I have learned of many techniques of animation and have built up a love for most all of them as traditional animation, stop motion, computer animation pop into my eyes. I have tasted the technique of stop motion and 3D animation and I know now, I feel now the need to pursue this dream; the dream to become an animator and to be able to touch the people's hearts as many have touched mine. I want to bring all my imagination back to life. I want to be able to communicate, share my ideas dreams and illusions through animation. I want to make people feel, think, laugh or cry. I have always wanted to be able to speak to the world, to be heard and to teach something to the current and future generations. So now, I'm going for it. Maybe in a few years I can begin to turn into an animator.

So, can I become an animator?

The contender:
In this corner, weighting in at 75 kg (around 165 lbs), from Mexico City ... Andres Straulino R.
I'm also tall enough to reach the 1.78 m (5'10") mark that will let me in on most park rides.
Don't really know what difference does that make, rather that I'm an ordinary looking fellow.


yours truly

Born in 1980, just a day before the release of AC/DC's Black in Black, and a week before Kaleidoscope from Siouxsie & the Banshees, when Another Brick in the Wall, Part II, Call Me, Brass in Pocket, and It's Still Rock n' Roll to Me were the number one singles and a couple months after The Empire Strikes Back release, I grew up as a regular kid. It would took me some years to realize who those bands were, and what was going on at that time.

I remember watching cartoons and being free to stay up late whenever the Sunday night movie had one to show. I fall in love with them, but never occurred that someone actually made those. I used to think that all cartoons exited somewhere somehow, as they were touched and blessed with the illusion of life.

By the time I grew hair in my most private parts, I was really immersed in a different form of sequential art, COMICS. I always imagined how great would these turned if they could move from one pose to the other. They have now become great story boards.

Falling in love with those was an easy thing to do. The difficult part was to figure out what to do next. It was so difficult, or I was so dumb and naive, that I didn't picture that as my professional roadmap. So I was finishing high school by the time I had to choose a profession. I could have gone into the Artsy way, but NO! No, no, no, no. Those decisions where I use my feelings and intuision are always falling in deaf ears. Why go the easy way when I can do the hardest? Why go for what I want, when I can pounder my way to success the long way?

So why not Engineer? I don't have trouble with Physics. Being an Engineer is kinda cool, right? I could get paid for using my brain and coming across cool designs to help people and create wonderful products. Sounds great! So I stepped into an University to study Engineering and one of the reasons was as simplest as the fact that I could do my Math. Huh??? What did I do!!!! Yep, that's right.

Now I have a Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Bachelor's Degree, which I don't like and I have been working for 4 years on a field where my professional experience is on the Industrial Field spread among Automotive, Lighting and Production. Suddenly, I couldn't stand it anymore. It was like waking up and finding out that there is no golden chest on the other side of the rainbow, not realizing that it's a fairy tale, but because Lucky was running away with it.

I had to do something. I had to fight back. "Tan, tan tan taan, tan tan taaaaan, ta raaaan!"

So here I am. A 28 year old, with no formal arts background, no film, theater, photograph, or design skills wanting, dying to change his stars.

Can I become an animator?

This is the story. The ongoing story.