Some
general career advice for animators (a few success “secrets”)
Jeremy
Cantor
Establish and maintain
good contacts.
The old adage, "It's not what you know, it's who you know",
certainly applies (to a certain extent) in the animation industry. I landed
my first "real" job on my own, but every one I’ve scored since
was the result of a contact (including freelance side-jobs, teaching gigs,
and book deals). Keep in mind though, that contacts only help you get
in the door. Your skills and professionalism are what will keep you employed.
Where do you meet future contacts? At school…on the job…at professional
lectures and gatherings…online mailing lists and forums (www.cg-char.com
for example)
It
is also extremely important to remember that if you "burn bridges"
and make enemies, the notion of “who you know” can actually be a significant
disadvantage to your career growth. Just as a positive referral
can help you "get in the door", a negative referral can ensure
that certain doors will always remained closed to you. Remember that everyone
knows everyone in this field. Try putting someone else’s work on your
demo reel and see how long it takes to get blacklisted from an entire
industry. (Actually, don’t try that. Just trust me).
Don’t go after jobs/companies
where you’re not interested in the subject matter of their end product.
Once you gain a foothold in the industry, choose
your career path wisely. If you think video games are stupid, why would
you want to work for a video game company? You won't have much to talk
about with your co-workers and you certainly won't "climb the ladder"
because doing so often requires working above & beyond the call of
duty (long hours in stressful environments), learning new software or
techniques on your own time, and taking the initiative to "push the
envelope" creatively or technically. Someone who lacks a passion
for the end product will be very unlikely to do such things. These jobs
demand a lot from you: Time, creative spirit, and the ability to handle
a lot of stress. Anyone taking on such a job "just for the money"
will certainly not last very long.
When
you’re just starting out, however, try not to be too picky or think that
any job is “beneath you”. If the industry is somewhat slow (like today),
grab whatever you can to gain experience. Do a cheap, local cable TV commercial
for the stereo store down the street. Design a tee shirt for your neighbor’s
son’s Bar Mitzvah. Take an internship.
Have the ability to
receive and professionally respond to criticism and failure.
The
ability to accept defeat on occasion is perhaps the single most important
quality that separates successful creative people from the starving artists
of the world. How many times have you heard the story of the author whose
million-selling novel had been previously turned down by dozens of
publishers? (Can you say: “J.K. Rowling”?) Accept the fact that you
won't get every job you apply for. Your short film won't get accepted
into every festival. Your director might not like your animation, and
he might be in a bad mood that day and will therefore deliver his critique
without much concern for diplomacy. Be prepared for the possibility that
you might spend a month on a shot only to have the editor cut it from
the film at the last minute. Remind yourself that a criticism of your
work is not necessarily a criticism of you as a person. In "creative"
fields, a lot of the work is highly subjective. Not everyone
is going to like everything you do. Bill Cosby once said that while he
doesn’t know the secret to success, he knows that the secret to failure
is trying to please everyone. You can certainly strive to please everyone,
just don’t expect to. If you can at least please yourself most of the
time though, you’re pretty much ahead of the curve.
You
need to keep up with the creative and technical standards and advances
in these industries in order to stay employed. There are always going
to be fresh, new, talented college students out there willing to do your
job for less money. You always need to stay a few steps ahead or you'll
get left behind. Don't look at your fellow students' work as your
competition. Look at the best work in the world and strive to be better
than that.
Develop the ability
to FINISH.
The
ability to take something through to its conclusion is another significant
ingredient for success. How many people do you know who have a dozen unfinished
project ideas sitting on their desks? Very few people finish absolutely
everything they start and achieve every single one of their goals, but
if you've ever felt the satisfaction of completing at least one task,
it'll be that much easier for you to do so in the workplace. It’s a learned
skill. Why is finishing so hard? It often comes down to one word: “Stamina”.
The start of a project is usually fresh and exciting. It's easy to
stay motivated in the beginning. The latter stages, however, can
often become tedious and frustrating and require a lot of hard work to
muscle through to the end (like the last mile of a marathon race). If
you can only stay motivated and focused during the fun parts and you lose
interest when the fun level diminishes, you won't finish too many projects.
Always
be “Scottie" (ABS)...
…as in Engineer Scott from Star Trek. When asked
to solve a problem, he'd very often respond by saying "I don't know
if I can do it, Captain! The forward thrusters are shot and we're all
out of Dilithium Crystals". In other words, it's often advantageous
to overestimate (within reason) how long it will take to complete a requested
task, and then negotiate down (and you can always expect to negotiate
down). That way, you'll be much more likely to come in ahead of schedule
and look like the hero (or at least a competent professional). Resist
the temptation to impress your bosses and demonstrate a positive attitude
by always saying "No problem, I can knock that out in an hour!"
More often than not, because of forces beyond your control (technical
problems, supervisor inaccessibility, inconsistent direction), tasks in
this industry tend to take longer than you might initially think. You
don't want to be constantly making excuses because you were too enthusiastic
and optimistic with your initial time estimates. Be reasonable with the
ABS technique however. If you wince and grimace every time you're asked
to do something and your time-to-completion estimates are always obviously
over-inflated, you could end up being labeled as "the boy who cried
wolf" or worse yet, be accused of having a "negative attitude".
Go where the action
is.
If
you want to be an animator in the Visual Effects industry and you live
in Louisiana, it's rather unlikely that your dream is ever going to come
true unless you're willing to relocate to California (or New York, or
Vancouver, etc). You'll never become a professional surfer if you refuse
to leave your home in
Take
responsibility for your actions.
In general, supervisors hate it when animators
constantly blame others for their problems. If something weird pops up
in your shot during dailies, and you know it was the result of a mistake
or an oversight on your part, cop to it. In fact, it's usually best to
nip-things-in-the bud by pointing out the mistake before anyone else does.
Sometimes, of course, things do go wrong and you are truly not the one
to blame. But it's generally a good idea to look to your self first before
pointing the finger at others. Place the blame elsewhere only after you've
ruled yourself out as the culprit. Admitting to a mistake empowers you
to fix it. And, furthermore, doing so validates your successes. (How can
you take the credit for your positive achievements, if you won't take
responsibility for the things that go wrong?) This, of course, does not
imply that it's okay to screw up all the time just as long as you take
the blame and apologize.
Don’t
expect the quality of your work to make you immune to the consequences
of unprofessional behavior.
Some folks want to believe that if their work is
strong, nothing else matters. But professionalism is just as (if not more)
important to career success. In rare cases, someone who does not play
well with others will somehow manage to stay employed for a while if their
skillset is deemed irreplaceable. However, a bad reputation always catches
up to them eventually. Dennis Rodman could get away with dressing like
a woman, hurling obscenities at referees and kicking cameramen as long
as he was the number one rebounder in the NBA. However, such imbalances
of talent versus behavior never seem to last. Stats will eventually slip
or others will come along with stronger stats and better attitudes. I’ve
seen a number of talented individuals fall from grace after becoming corrupted
with power. Always work to continually improve your skills, but don’t
forget to continually improve your professionalism as well.
Understand the difference
between DOING your job and KEEPING your job.
One
of the very definitions of being “political” is when someone prioritizes
the idea of keeping his job at the expense of actually doing his job.
And, of course, taking it to that extreme is a bad idea, but you do need
to understand that the skills required to do your job effectively are
not necessarily the same as the skills required to keep your job. Realize
that no matter how successfully you handle the former, if you don't focus
enough attention on the latter, your job security will be very low. Job
“doing” skills include artistic abilities and technical knowledge. Job
“keeping” skills involve communication, diplomacy, knowing when to shut
up, knowing how to “choose your battles”, saying the right things to the
right people at the right times in the right ways, figuring out who to
trust, understanding the hierarchy of command and following it properly,
always presenting solutions rather than just complaints, learning how
to effectively manage “up” without selling out anyone “below” you, etc.
Some of this may sound like “kissing butt,” which is an accurate description
of taking this to the extreme, but regretfully, doing that to some degree
is sometimes necessary. The trick is to strike just the right balance
between following the rules enough to maintain job security, but without
compromising your self respect. There's a fine line between being a smart,
diplomatic employee and being a “butt kisser”. Find the balance that works
for you.
Don’t assume that the
rules and politics of one company will be the same as that of the next
one.
Just
because certain attitudes, philosophies, and behaviors were accepted and/or
encouraged at your last place of employ, does not mean they are appropriate
at your new job. Be sure to learn the politics and rules of each new company
and behave accordingly. Actions that got you promoted at one company might
get you fired at another (and vice versa).
Have some cash saved
up.
As
with many professions these days, job security is never guaranteed in
the world of animation and visual effects. Layoffs are very common and
can happen suddenly and unexpectedly. Even if you are the best animator
or rigger or lighter in the building, that doesn't necessarily mean your
job is safe. There are many reasons that have nothing to do with your
actual skills that might cause you to lose your job. Financial reasons,
political reasons, behavioral reasons, etc. A project gets canceled, your
company goes bankrupt, your company gets bought out and the new owners
have different opinions on what constitutes important job skills, you're
deemed as too expensive and the accountants convince your bosses of the
advantages of hiring three college students for the same price, etc. Because
of the volatility of the industry, it's important to have some money saved
up so you don't starve or lose your house when an unexpected job loss
occurs. When you start out, it's tempting to take your first big paycheck
and use it as a down payment for that Porsche you always wanted, but try
to postpone such dreams until you're sure you'll be able to make your
payments if you're out of work for several months (or more).
Do you want to be a specialist
or a Jack-of-All-Trades? You might not know the answer at this point,
but if you do, try to make appropriate choices. Larger companies, especially
in the film industry, prefer specialists, while smaller companies, especially
in the games industry, prefer employees with a wider range of skills.
Very few companies expect their employees to be competent at every aspect
of film, TV, or game production, but typically, the smaller the company,
the more hats you will be able to wear.
Also, at some point in
your career, your skills and experience will probably rise to a level
where you will be offered an opportunity to supervise. Accepting the offer
will mean bigger paychecks, higher industry “status” and visibility, perhaps
your own office, and additional opportunities such as speaking engagements,
book deals, teaching jobs, etc. But if and when such a chance comes your
way, realize that traveling down that path might mean giving up a lot
if not all opportunities for direct creative contributions to your craft.
And the longer you travel down the supervisor/manager path, the more your
hands-on animator skills will atrophy, simply because you won’t be spending
as many hours-per-day practicing and improving your keyframing abilities.
If that path leads you to animation supervisor/director roles (rather
than, for instance, department management positions), you will indeed
continue experiencing creative growth, but mainly through your eyes, rather
than through your hands. But if you become a department manager, then
you can expect your (on-the-job) growth as an animator to stop completely.
It’s a trade-off, so choose wisely, because if you travel too far down
the wrong path, you may lose sight of what inspired you to become an animator
in the first place. Was your original plan to become a world class animator
or a world class manager? And while you can always “turn back” from your
management path and start applying for staff-animator positions, it gets
harder and harder with each passing year (like a basketball coach who
wants to play again), because you will find that your resume has become
a lot more impressive than your demo reel, and your competition for the
hands-on jobs will be animators who’ve spent all those years “on the box”
honing their skills, while you spent too much of those same years in meetings.
In other words, you may find yourself in a situation where you’re qualified
to direct, supervise, manage, or teach animators, but you’re no longer
qualified to be one!
Get
it in writing
Never start a freelance
assignment without a written (and preferably signed) agreement that includes
the deadline, exactly what is expected of you, and most importantly, your
agreed-upon fee. It’s tempting to display an friendly disposition by agreeing
to a verbal contract, but too many freelance animators have wasted valuable
time and energy based on a client’s “word” only to be short changed on
pay-day.
This
can also apply on the job. If your boss offers you a “deal” of some kind,
try to get it in writing (assuming you have enough clout to make such
a request). Be wary of a boss who refuses to put his promises in writing,
or tries to talk you into trusting his “word”.
Backup!
Backup! Backup!
No matter how careful you are, it is inevitable
that you will someday accidentally overwrite an important file or sit
down at your PC only to find that your hard drive has crashed. Backup
your files regularly and save copies in alternate locations. Because of
how easy and inexpensive it is to make backups these days, it is very
difficult to sympathize with someone who loses three months of work from
a power surge that destroyed the hard drive containing the only copy of
his personal film project.
Keep
things in perspective.
Working in this industry is often not nearly as
glamorous as it may sound to folks on the outside. Hours can be very long. Stress levels can get
very high. Supervisors can be really nasty at times (and occasionally
you might find yourself asking, “Why am I working for this clown? I know
more about animation than he does!”) Step back once in a while and remind
yourself why you got into this field in the first place. You’re one of
the lucky few who actually gets paid to do your hobby! When things get
really stressful, take a breath and remind yourself that it’s just a movie
(or a game or a commercial, etc). Do the best job you can, but don’t let
yourself get sucked into the stress so deeply that you miss out on having
“a life”. If you’re on a high profile film production, accept the fact
that it’s not your film. On such projects, you will have limited (if any)
creative control over your animations. Start a shot with enough artistic
passion to do a great job, but not so much that you’ll be unable to sleep
at night when the director completely changes his mind and makes you start
over at the last minute, or worse yet, cuts your shot from the movie after
you worked on it 14 hours a day for 20 straight days. It takes a while
to find that balance within yourself, and every project will require you
to do things just a little bit differently. Make necessary sacrifices
and put in the extra hours as needed to “climb the ladder”, however, be
careful that you don’t find yourself looking back after 10 years to find
that, while you have a few decent films under your belt, you have no friends,
you have more gray hairs than your grandfather and you missed all of your
kids’ little league games and school plays. Make sure you’re enjoying
your work most of the time and you have an appropriately balanced life.