Animation studios are equal amounts of fun, hard work & competition. You must continuously evolve your skills, and upgrade your abilities to work in a team. We bring you six tips to achieve success as an animator.
Focus on strengths
Understand your and the teams’ abilities. Efficient division of labour can lead to a well-made movie. It is best to play to everyone’s strengths & weaknesses. It is good to push people to develop new skills, but not in the middle of a project. Don’t force a good art designer to create lighting set up. Let each person on the team contribute to the best of their abilities. Of course, once a project is over or when you have some free time on hand, encourage members to learn new skills. Set them small goals to test progress, and guide them to go further.
Communicate
There’s no such thing as wasteful communication. Even coffee breaks & water-cooler chats are an integral part of building trust & reputation. And you will be surprised how many times it is these very casual conversations that have led to some of the most iconic scenes in animation history. Did you know that Inside Out was born out of director Pete Doctor’s question about his teenage daughter, “What’s going on in her head?” In fact, the studio encourages employees to meet and chat all day long because it believes that this leads to better story ideas. But don’t over extend those coffee breaks!
Use open source technology
Often you will find yourself caught between creativity & deadlines. Well, help is at hand. Reach out to freelancers and switch over to open source technology. It’s that simple. The market is flooded with freelancers who can share your workload on a contract basis. Don’t be afraid to delegate. Embracing open source technology too, can do a lot to enhance your skill set development.
Understand the work culture
Go with the flow. Every animation studio has its own work style. It is always better to introspect on the work culture before you join. If the studio carries a warm & friendly atmosphere, you can share jokes & anecdotes with your team. But if the environment is formal, gossip at the water cooler may not be such a wise decision.
Collaborate with your colleagues
If you are stuck with a problem, approach your mentor. Similarly, if your colleague comes to you with an issue, take out the time to see if you can solve it. The more you collaborate, the lesser you are bound to make mistakes in communication & skill sharing.
Go beyond your job profile
On a good day, when you are on a creative roll, you will finish your work ahead of deadlines. Don’t spend the rest of the day watching cat videos. Use that time to share the workload of your teammates. In the process, you are bound to learn new things, and your gesture will be remembered in times of need.
