I want to be a Animator, what do I do?

Question

I'm already going to school now and will be getting my BA in Business Admin. in spring '09.

I finally decided I wanted to be an animator...you know making cartoons and stuff like that. I'm not sure what school is best or what exactly what major to choose.

Should it be art or media production or , what???

I wanna go to a University in LA. Anything that will help me grow into a successful animator, director, or whatever it is?

If I had to choose a person I would like to be like it would be Hayao Miyazaki.....eve though he's japanes.

PLEASE HELP ME!

Answer 1

I am an Animation Student. I'm not sure whether Australian standards are different to over there. But here, there are about two different kinds of animation courses at EVERY university. I am majoring in 2D/3D animation.

Ask yourself these questions

Have you taken any IT/Art courses?

Are you good at Art and computer programing/screen play?

Are you good at telling/presenting stories?

Are you good at maintaining deadlines?

Can you cope with long hours and stress?

It's not as easy as it looks. But if you insist, i suggest you start practicing. Buy some programs about animation (like Adobe CS3 Flash - pretty expensive) start perfecting your drawing techniques and know all that coding. Even movie maker is good, you really got to learn the basics of screenplay.

Its not a really good idea to wanna pursue the business if your creativity and art skills are lacking. You have to be able to draw, and imagine characters. Are you interested in Anime?? If you are i suggest you download the HOW TO DRAW MANGA books (you can download 1-10 by torrent somewhere) and start practicing.

Also, don't expect to be great at it straight away. Expect to be working on your projects for hours on end. It takes a while, but in the end it's worth it....

Good luck (hope i didn't put you off)

Answer 2

If you want to be an animator you should major in Animation. There really isn't a substitute - on a general art course you might learn to draw better but you probably won't learn anything about animation, as they are taught quite seperately (there is a LOT to learn in animation, which is why it has its own degree). When you apply for a job as an animator, you have to supply a showreel demonstrating your animation abilities, which is why you need to learn animation in college. You can't jump into a job as an animator with just an art degree. Usually you will take an internship with an animation company as part of/just after your course, though.

You don't mention whether you have them, but if you want to study traditional animation (it sounds like that is what you are interested in, rather than computer animation - please correct me if I'm wrong, as they require different skills) you need to have strong drawing skills, and be able to do fast gesture sketches, though you'll learn the latter skill if you do a degree in animation. If you're less good at drawing, you may want to look at computer animation instead - which art skills certainly help with but aren't as vital as for 2D animation.

You do have an advantage being/wanting to be in CA, as it is probably the animation hub of the US. I don't know much about animation schools there, but perhaps this list of good US animation schools will be of help to you:

http://www.animationarena.com/best-anima...

Being an animator is a fantastic career if you love to do it and you should definitely go for what you love to do, so best of luck!