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Your Non-Animation Job

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Your Non-Animation Job

Many of us, who don't yet have employment animating 40+ hours a week, are relegated to doing something else in order to pay the rent: teaching, illustration, layout, cab driving, etc.

So what are you aspiring animators doing for a living instead of animating?

As a side question, how much of your free time do you spend working on your own unpaid animation?

For about 2 years now and until the end of this month I am a Computer Systems Support technician at my school. Noooow its time to see if all that education paid off, yes?

I'm a little charred on my own personal project for the time. I'm giving myself a few weeks off of it while the craziness of starting a new life whirls about me, then I'll get back on the thesis wagon.

I'm a video editor at a small production studio. We do mostly commercials and news stories in Florida. Right now I am in charge of a lengthy documentary series about Florida Legislators. I get to listen to them all talk about how great they are and how they never did anything that wasn't in the best interest of their constituants (people that voted for them). On the side I do a little bit of illustration work and I'm still trying to write a 3 part novel as a hobby. Being a husband and having a puppy and a cat also seems to be a full time job. I have applied to go to Ringling for Computer Animation next fall and if my dreams come true I will once again be a student (only this time I will love what I am doing!)

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that has been given to us." ---Gandalf

I animate full time, but it's web animation... beggars can't be choosers I guess. I also do alot of freelance Flash animation and web design.

yep!

Scattered, SCAD's winter break is from Nov 23 to Jan 3 :D *dances happily*

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

My day job led me to animation. With any luck, animation will rescue me from my day job, but I'm a realist with my dreams.

I've been teaching high school English and multimedia for 10 years. When I started I had some good computer experience with AutoCAD, word, and other simple programs. I dove in and learned Photoshop, Flash, Premiere, After Effects, mostly on my own, but I did take a few classes--photoshop, illustrator, and Flash.

I'm working on animations for a niche market and hope I can be patient enough to animate it well in my spare time. Sometimes I want to use the computer to speed things up, but when I stick to the pencil it does much better and is more satisfying.

The longer I teach high school, the more cynical I get. Today I got a bright idea to do a topographic map of on of my classes based on grade average, then draw/paint a picture representing it. I can tell you it wasn't the peaks and mountains that inspired this idea, but the vast below sea level flatland below. A pretty entertaining thought, but not such a positive way to inspire myself.

Good news? Great benefits, good paycheck, 5 minute commute to work. Being able to let my wife and young Rupert Jr. stay home while I work, which I think will be much better for the boy (actually his name's pete). I've had hernia surgery this year, my wife had the baby-- a five day hospital stay (not a three hour tour), and our teeth are in great repair. Life is good, but I'd like to go to a career change in the next ten years.

Tough to beat the hours, the vacations, and the benefits, though...

Cartoon Thunder
There's a little biker in all of us...

after getting my degree @ new york university in 1982, i spent several years in the advertising industry, which i decided i didn't like. so, for the last 19 some odd years, i've been a residential remodeler, dreaming of having time to do another film. i've started one, but the amount of raw time needed to finish it is not something i can usually swing. i look back wistfully at the hours i had as a student. well, i'll just keep plugging along.

I've been working as a freelance illustrator for the past 5 years. Before that, I did animation, illustration, and multimedia development (coding and programming).

These days I'm sometimes paid to do animation, but not often. I work in Maya, 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, and sometimes Flash, making buildings, furniture, props, and landscapes: just about everything except for animals and people. It's good relaxing work, but I'd rather be doing character animation.

Being a freelancer, there are weeks or months of down time, and that's when I animate. During those periods I teach myself advanced 3D character animation for a few hours each day. The rest of the time I just goof off, watching cheesy sci-fi movies or running around the city.

I get the spare changes I call "money" out of DJ'ing and playing with my band. Sometimes a freelance job drops by, usually illustration or TV motion graphics.

I applied for a scholarship to finish my master's 2 times but they negleted it.

Most of my revenue still comes from the Lourival Werneck Foundation for Ciantifical Research (a.k.a. my dad)

I'm a designer/illustrator and in my spare time I attempt to learn animation and 3D modeling. :p

I'm a student right now. Since I am on winter break I normally work about 12 hours a day on animation. :D If I'm not animating then one of my friends have kidnapped me away from the computer so I can spend time with them.

"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane

designer and qa

Pretty much QA work (for software and web based stuff) or Graphic Design stuff, more production art really but some creative "license" i guess..
pays da bills.... wait; no it doesnt!
oh well..

Since I am on winter break

On the 8th?

i used to spend 2-3 hrs per day in animation. I want to learn something new...

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part timer

I part time look after my son part time make a short film, my girl friend also has part time work so we just swap between working and baby time.

Previously I paid bills by working in the games industry. After doing most of the cutscenes on my last project (a halloween kids game), I couldn't face the up coming project, a football (soccer) life style game, and had to bail. They even offered to add more cutscene work to the football game as a sweetner, but I just could'nt face it. Pose to pose Wayne Rooney...... I think I would go postal.

In my notice period they had me building a jewelery shop where you could buy bling for your football star and his girlfriend......oh the shame.

websiteEzromation blog/doodlesDeranged Scratchings

I trained as an architect, and happen to be very busy even in the GFC, as the government has been pouring money into building schools, which is pretty much all my firm does anymore. So...can't complain too much, it keeps me fed and clothed and I still get to run out to ballet class at 5.30 :D Although...I pretty much never animate anymore because it's too hard to spend hours concentrating at the computer after a full day of CADding. The last animation test I did was a very rough basic walk, over a long weekend. That and I've decided to spend the remainder of my youth semi-seriously studying classical ballet, while my body is still holding up. It's a massive timesuck, but it feels so good after a full day shlumped over a computer. Also? I can't stop drawing ballet dancers...

My day job or "night" job atm is in nursing. I have been in nursing for about 10 years, but my first love and one I can't get out of life is art and animation. I've really gotten into graphics and computer art over the last year or so. Im LOVING it. It keeps me sane.

Nursing pays my bills and in the mean time, Im going to animation school, and learning graphic and computer art on my own.

I'm a Production Assistant at an animation studio. Came on full time in July 2008 (part time and internship before that). I also did BG/Layout for an animated series; the whole season apart from the fist 4 episodes.

After grad school I was fried and didn't animate at all. This fall I started an animation workshop with a well known 2D animator and it kick-started my interest. So I've been animating 2-4 hours a day (drawing, coloring, planning, scanning, compositing) and I intend to get back into 3D/Maya ASAP. The plan is to transition into a junior position in animation - Technical Assistant. We'll see.

Not sure if this counts as "working on animation" but there's a lot of training docs here at my studio that I review whenever possible. We're in down time at the moment so I've been able to do a lot of reading. They also have videos and tutorials so it's a great place to be while I'm not animating.

I'm in my last year in college, and I'm working as a lifegaurd part-time. Here's hoping I find an animation job after college! :cool: