Gauri Chhabra
Natural talent starts from the cradle – at a young age. Every parent knows that a child with an artistic bent considers the family home a vast and inviting canvas. Such childrendraw all the time… everywhere, on everything. They see Mommy and they try to draw Mommy. They see the dog and they try to draw the dog. Have you been you one of them?
If you want a job that will allow you to walk the line between art and technology, with a little bit of drama thrown in, an animation career could be a great choice for you. Animators mostly work in the movie and video game industries, advertising, or in the design of computer systems. They work both by hand, and on computers, but the trend is gravitating toward computer animation.
Acreative bent of mind and an artistic inclination measure the unrestricted boundaries of the world of animation. Animation multimedia is an amalgam f text, sound effects, graphics and visual skills.
Getting in:
There is not a single field sans animation these days. From cartoons to movies, advertisements, product designing, websites and research, animation has a hold everywhere. Now the question arises:
What spectrums of talent and elements of training are needed to produce these wonder-working “actors with pencils” called animators?
Degree and Diploma courses in animation are in abundance apart from online services. Minimum education qualification for a degree and diploma course in animation is plus two or equivalent.
After graduation in any discipline preferably Arts, you can apply for Post-graduation in animation.However, some institutions such as Industrial Design Center (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Design (NID) follow eligibility criterion that only graduate of architecture, technology and engineering, and fine arts can apply for the PG course in these institutes.
Besides these graduate and post graduate courses, there are several professional courses that focus on various styles and techniques. These courses are in Traditional animation, Stop-motion animation,Rot scoping, Computer generated 3D and 2D animation.
Besides, educational qualification, you need to have a very fancy electronic pencil. If you can draw traditionally, you are that much ahead of the game.However, if you want to do animation and can’t draw, there are ways to do that- stop-action, pixilation (which is stop-action using people instead of objects), things like that. And there’s another one, the computer. You don’t have to learn to draw to learn how to animate on a computer.If you have aknowledge of programming languages like C++ and Java, it will be an added benefit. It is advantageous to understand photography, lighting and movement for those planning to work in computer animation.
Creativity and innovativeness is key.Creativity is the visualization of illustrations and imagery, story-telling techniques and the ability to transfer ideas into form.Besides being creative, you need to be full of ideas and be willing to implement them. For a beginner, a preliminary course in 2D and 3D animation is a must. You must be able to visualize how an object will look in three dimensions and have the know-how to make an animated object look real.
Half of animation is the ability to draw, paint, run a computer, but the other half is communication skill. You need to beef up your finesse with fluid communication skills.
Pay Packet:
As a fresher you can expect a start of Rs 15000-20000 per month depending on your skill and creativity. With time and experience, and depending on skill sets, sky is the limit.
Institute Scape:
Various universities and institutes offer degree and diploma courses in animation. Some of them are:
* Frame Box, New Delhi
* Academy of Animation and Gaming (AAG), New Delhi
* Arena Animation, all over India
* Animaster, all over India
* Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Mumbai
* National Institute of Design (NlD),Ahmedabad
* Maya Academy Of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC), New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai
* Zee Institute of Creative Arts (2ICA), Secunderabad
* Whistling Woods International, Mumbai
* The Heart Animation Academy, Hyderabad
* The JJ School Of Arts, Mumbai
Growth Path:
Today animation touches us at all corners of life – gaming, movies and even education.
A significant section that has come in the gamut of animation is Gaming which is growing at an exponential rate. Game modelers, rigging artists, game animators, level designers, environment modelers and mobile game designers are some of the latest career options.We have a much bigger market than Hollywood as the cost of animation related projects is 10 times cheaper than in the United States. Some institutes like Academy of Animation and Gaming (AAG) are offering a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in gaming accredited by Karnataka State Open University.
Feature films also dovetail animation to a large extent. An animated feature film employs the talents of a wide variety of artists. Animators make up a fairly small population of the people that create an animated film. There are also assistant animators; in-betweeners; breakdown, background and layout artists; effects animators; storyboard artists; visual development or inspirational artists; computer animators; and graphic designers.
With the recent thrust of Integrated Communications Technology in Education, animation seeps its way to the History and Geography classes as well.To produce content in written form on the internet will not make learning interactive. The content has to be delivered with the help of animation. Many educational concepts can be explained with the help of 3D animation.If the author has the knowledge of animation he can make a storyboard and communicate it toeach and every student. This bridges the gap between the author and the animator. In fact, in science, you can explain the structure of molecule which is not visible to the naked eye. Animation can help us relive the historic civilizations, architecture etc. In mathematics, theorems can actually be explained with the help of 3D animation.
The various roads to an animation career all demand hard work, discipline, and patience.
It takes, in a nutshell, persistence and perseverance…
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