Expert: Andrew Ransavage - 9/9/2009

Question
Hello,

My Name is Carven. I am a college student am considering majoring in a design-related education.

I have narrowed my choice to 3 majors: 1)Animation, or 2)Graphic Design/Interactive Design, or 3) Multimedia Arts, but am having trouble decided which one of these to pick since they all have aspects I like. I am ideally looking for a career that would allow me to have a taste of each one.

I would like to ask you a few questions about animation so that I may have a better understanding what lies ahead for me. Your feedback will help me to determine whether or not I am ready to make a 100% commitment to the field. I want to know the honest good and bad aspects of the field.

Here are my questions for you regarding animaton:

1) In this current difficult economy we have, how are job prospects for Animators and how is the industry being affected in general? What do you expect the job trends for animators to be like in the future?

2) What are the current starting salaries ranges? And how much should I expect with some years of experience/promotions?

3) Describe to me a typical day in class/work. What is the work environment and culture like? What are the tasks, duties, functions, responsibilities? What kind of problems do the animators deal with that cause the most stress? What percentage of time is doing what? Could you give me an example of what your class/work projects are/were like?

4) What are the most satisfying and dissatisfying parts of this career in your opinion? What excites you about animation, and what do you find boring or most frustrating and why?

5) How do people advance in the animation industry? What skills or talents are most essential to succeed in this field? What skills are most new animators lacking that are affecting their employment potential? What animation software is absolutely essential to learn?

6) How does one break into this industry? What are the best schools in the in or near the Massachusetts or New England area that you know of? If you are familiar with them what do you think of Northeastern University's program, MassArt or New England Art Institute (for animation/graphic design)?

7) Which local animation studios do you know of within the Boston, MA area would you recommend I should visit to get an inside look at the real working world of graphic design, and ask further questions?

8) After graduating, where do you see most students successfully able to secure a job within the field? As in which states or industry are constantly looking to hire animators.

9) Based on all your experiences in animation what special advice would you have for someone just starting with this career path? Any personal words of wisdom/feedback?



Please pardon my long email message, but take all the time you need to answer these questions thoroughly. I would greatly appreciate it and it would be a tremendous help to me in my final decision.

If you have any collegues you know of that would love to answer these questions too, please feel free to forward my message to them. I'd love to hear from as many sources as possible.

Thank you soooooo very much for your time and help.
Sincerely Yours,

Carven B.


Answer
Hello, there is a lot of questions here but I will do my best to answer them. First, I work in the field of architectural visualization so I can only speak about this area of the business in any specific manner.

1. The economy is definitely poor and job prospects are few. I expect things to pick up sometime next year.

2. Salaries obviously fluctuate greatly based on many factors but a starting artist should expect at least $35k and they can easily go above $100k with experience and management.

3. I work for a large architecture firm that employ several dedicated visualization staff spread out over different office locations. We work on still renderings and animations of various project types and lengths.

4. Office life can be predictable and stagnant sometimes, but for the most part I enjoy everything I get to do. Modeling, rendering, animations, etc...

5. Work fast. I can't emphasize that enough.  3ds max is a must.  Maya a close second.

6. I'm not familiar with that area and my education background is in architecture.

7. See 6.

8. California

9. Work hard and quickly, timelines and scheduling dominate this industry. If you're the best animator in the world but you can't meet deadlines, you won't last...

Good luck!
Andrew