Search form

which career is right for me?

6 posts / 0 new
Last post
which career is right for me?

Hello! :)
i know this forum probably is already full of people asking how to become animators,but this thread is a bit different,so hang with me please.

i'm in my twenties trying to get a clue of what i'm going to do with the rest of my life.my parents work with cinema and i always had fun going to the shootings and them watching the movie on the big screen.it's really magical.
and i always loved animations,it's like,a step further into this! you guys reaaly bring life to dreams and them dreams to other lives! videogames too.it's fantastical! :eek:

so i went for that direction for my studies,and in my heart i don't believe i was\am wrong,but i think i might be walking on a bad road,as i'm not much of an artistic person(can't draw shit,don't have that subtle and sensitive view that most designers do,i kinda need to see the purposes of things).i've been studying softwares like maya,zbrush,after effects..but i've not been producing much.my friend who is in the same course looks like he is enjoying himself much more when modelling and specially drawing,he's like natural at this.

is it just me being lazy or i'm really not suited out for this? but then,wich kind of job i should pursue that's still related to animation? i'm also pretty terrible with programming and maths(gosh,i feel like a lost case here :( )
please,don't tell me to just give up! hope you guys can help me in any way
thanks in advance!

You are not suited for this. :(

Sorry, but I'll come right out and say it.

You answer your dilemma with this:

so i went for that direction for my studies,and in my heart i don't believe i was\am wrong,but i think i might be walking on a bad road,as i'm not much of an artistic person(can't draw shit,don't have that subtle and sensitive view that most designers do,i kinda need to see the purposes of things).i've been studying softwares like maya,zbrush,after effects..but i've not been producing much.my friend who is in the same course looks like he is enjoying himself much more when modelling and specially drawing,he's like natural at this.

The question that this brings up is: if you are not artistically inclined, if you are not producing art, finding it awkward or difficult to create art, then why would you want to pursue a career choice that asks those very things from you?
To turn a phrase here, don't expect the egg to crack and think it'll all just come running out.
How on Earth do you think anyone else can supply you with the insight or guidance to attain professional-level, if you yourself say you actually produce only timidly small amounts of work???

If you want to have a career as an animator, you need to be able to animate.
And let's seat this even more firmly, you need to be able to animate well.
Not just piss around with some pixels or a pencil and paper, but to do so at the level that the studios are producing work at. You are dead-weight otherwise--of no use to the biz. Likewise if you want to be a storyboard artist, layout artists, designer, director etc........I mean just insert any of those kinds of position in place of "animator".

If you are not doing this stuff already, if you are not (working at) drawing at a near professional-level, animating, designing, cartooning.......what-have-you....you have a greatly steeper climb up the career hill than say someone like your friend. The degree of difficulty in gaining competence......in catching up to someone like your friend and then going onto attain professional-level ability is probably going to be extremely difficult.
You might very well be looking at a degree of frustration and heartache far more intense and pronounced than some-one who actually does show some facility for this craft.
Desire to do it is one thing.........but ability is what you HAVE TO demonstrate.

Based on what you have written here, this sounds like its an affectation with you and those are profoundly the wrong reasons to attempt this.

In all good conscience, I cannot encourage you here and I'd be dishonest with you if I said you should continue.
I hate crushing some-one's dreams, and I'm sorry.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

thank you very much ken,for the post and the feelings!

what you told me isn't much different then what i keep saying to myself.a good animator is not enough,you must be great! and be passionate about it!
if i don't have the skills required to animate,i have to find a job that i can excel at! although this is easier said than done.
but i won't give up to animations at a whole,if i keep searching maybe i can find a hole where i can fit :p in the meanwhile,guess i'm going to try some movies-related stuff

thank you very much ken,for the post and the feelings!

what you told me isn't much different then what i keep saying to myself.a good animator is not enough,you must be great! and be passionate about it!
if i don't have the skills required to animate,i have to find a job that i can excel at! although this is easier said than done.
but i won't give up to animations at a whole,if i keep searching maybe i can find a hole where i can fit :p in the meanwhile,guess i'm going to try some movies-related stuff

The thing is less in what you want, and more in what you do.
If you start now, who knows what the outcome will be?
I cannot honestly speak to what your ability to focus is........no-one can do that--so I can only assess you based on what you provide, and based on how I have seen others perform from similar starting points.
Human determination can be awesome.......almost frightening.......but how many people to we see truly manifest that? Not many.
There's a lot of reasons for that, but they mostly come down to our beliefs about ourselves.

The person that says they are going to do this, and who doesn't give a flying flip about what anyone else says, AND THEN takes action starts a process that potentially can see the result they are aiming for.
"Every action we take is a cause set in motion".

Good Luck.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Animations process

How about rigging, texturing, rendering, lighting, mass effect, editing, voice & sound effect, or cleaning up the model before animating ? There are so many difference catalog for you to choose without create and design before you looking at another directions.. :)

Ken Davis is right I think. After reading your first post it sounds like you are not suited to this. If you are not artistic in the drawing sense, you could still have options in more of a technical aspect of animation or 3D, but it sounds like you aren't all that excited about it. It definitely doesn't get easier to maintain interest, it gets much harder.

Having said that, there are other roles that may be suited to you, still within the animation industry. If you like the stuff, have an interest in it, maybe you might try your hand at producing. In which case you would find a studio and start as a Production Assistant (a PA), helping full producers plan projects, find the talent, meet with clients, discuss budgets and storyboards, deal with artists etc. It's an extremely important part of the industry and a producer with good knowledge of 2d and 3d tools and processes is rare and valuable.

Nothing says you need to give up on the industry, but be honest with yourself about the right role for yourself in it.

-Chris

---------------------
Chris Smallfield
Head of 3D - Shape Minds and Moving Images
My Work