Just like any other profession, the road to becoming a successful 3D animator is full of hurdles.
People claiming mastery in a few weeks or even months are too unrealistic and perhaps misleading. If you want to kickstart your career in 3D, know that it can take years of practice or even more to own your game.
Perhaps more important to master your craft is to know that your love and dedication for the art form will define your persistence. If you love painting pictures with characters, then you’ll probably enjoy the journey.
As you dive into the pond, you’ll figure out very quickly if you want to discover the blocks around character animation. Mastering character work is hard and can often be frustrating as you’ll be told to make a lot of changes.
However, it’s equally rewarding. Brands have big budgets to cover the cost of 3D animation per minute for their content.
Apart from the money, you’ll get to breathe life into characters with your concepts. You can help an audience visualize your ideas and be left awe-struck by the beautiful exhibition of your characters.
So, if you have a passion for 3D animation production, there’s nothing that can hold you back.
This guide will give you a quick insight into what it takes to be a 3D animator and how you can hone your skills to make more moolah. So, without further ado, let’s find your way to becoming a 3D animator.
What does it take to be a 3D Animator?
Persistence and patience are two forces that will take you a long way in your journey as a 3D animator.
Since animation is not learned overnight, you must hold on to the idea that you’ll need to put in long hours before you start getting the hang of things. So, it’s important to be patient.
Plus, execution can also take a lot of time. You might need to work for weeks and weeks on a 10-second animation. But that level of dedication and hard work will make it turn into something extraordinary. So, don’t rush your way to animation.
Apart from dedication, the best animation artists are observers. They have a unique worldview. You might not notice the guy with an odd walk in the shopping mall. But, these artists, won’t miss his unique demeanor.
Animators love studying life and are very thoughtful. They can often use these observations and use it in their animations. They’re dreamers and can sit at a desk tirelessly to make those dreamy ideas come to life with their animation.
So, if you’re looking for inspiration, you better start studying life. Look at the people around you, and venture out into nature to fill your imagination with colorful scenes.
If you’ve an animator friend or colleague, take them to the movies. You’ll find them observing the movies elements and details quite differently than the crowd.
Last but not the least, artists and animators are child at heart. Whether they find themselves animating 3D action scenes or racing cars, they’ll put in all the unique moves and action sequences they already visualized.
It is not to say that animation is a child’s play. But, it can be a lot more fun for people who are kids at heart. So, if you would love to do things you didn’t do as a child or want to paint some dreamy characters with your brush, then you probably have what it takes to be an animator.
How to hone your animation skills to rake in more moolah?
As mentioned earlier, you’ll need to be a lot more patient to hone your skills. But there’s a specific guide that can help you to shorten your learning curve and emerge as a more competitive and in-demand animator.
Know your path
The first thing you want to have as someone starting out is to have a clear path. You should know what you want to do. Do you plan to work with top animation studios? Do you dream of working on The Avengers, Transformers, or some other film?
Or if you plan on playing games, do you wish to work on game animation? Whatever it is, you want to be sure of your end goal.
Ask where you want to start
To start with ease and build a solid foundation in 3D, you can start with a few books and learn the 12 Principles of animation. These are the core of making great animations.
Discover tools to learn
Next, you need to grab some tools to get some hands-on experience. Know that no craft can be improved without any feedback. So, invite feedback.
You may join communities where people share animations with each other. Connecting with similar people will allow you to shorten your learning curve and even find a handful of good projects to work. You never know.
Master Body mechanics
If animations have to make sense, then it’s the magic of body mechanics. So, you need to put in more time to learn body mechanics. Understand how the human body and animal body moves. So, you can visualize what’s right.
Develop Communication
Build strong communication skills. You’ll be in contact with client, art directors and a lot more people. So, to be able to coordinate with them successfully, you need to develop strong communication skills.
Practice
Success comes to those who practice every day and are up for a challenge. Remember, there’s lot of trial and error. You might even make a hundred mistakes before you finally create the perfection animation.
Challenge yourself
Lastly, you need to challenge yourself. Get in touch with the best of the best, explore new things and reach out to people for feedback. Don’t shy away from stepping out of your comfort zone.
Bottom line
To wrap up, 3D animation is no child’s play. While it can be a tough job requiring long hours of work and dedication, it is equally rewarding.
You’re painting visuals that will be a feast for the eyes of the audience. Given the right attitude, you can land in a top opportunity with the top brand. You never know.