Do you love animation commercials and want to become an expert in this field? So what is Animation and where to start learning to conquer this industry? Animation industry is a difficult road but the sweet results of seeing your products will make you agree to accept any challenge.
Let’s immediately discover the knowledge needed to pursue a career in the Animation industry through the following article!
What is Animation?
“Animation” (noun) comes from “animate” (verb), with the meaning: to create life. Animation is known as the art of animation in advertising publications; video games; movies, etc.
A special feature of the Animation industry is through design and editing tools; The image is built vividly and moves flexibly on the screen. Or to put it more simply, Animation is motion design with images.
Origins of the Animation industry
Although still quite new in Vietnam, Animation has become popular and long-standing in the world, from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
Animation gradually gained attention thanks to outstanding animated products such as Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse in the 1920s.
Steamboat Willie (1928) – one of Disney’s earliest works, although not voiced or accompanied by sound effects, this is still considered one of the most widely known Animation films. at this time.
Following that series of successes, the forefather of the animation industry at that time – Walt Disney also released the book “The Illusions Of Life”, laying the foundation for the art of creating art. animation art.
What is Animation job?
Animation is a very popular job with young people who love painting and art today.
Different from pure cinema, Animation creates motion strokes not thanks to traditional film cameras but from different methods such as hand-drawing, digital art, 3D images, paper cutting, and models . , etc…
And of course, the stories created by animation are script-based with logical plots, character lines and specific scenes. The people who do this work are called Animators.
According to a report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics , the average salary of an employee in the Animation industry fluctuates as follows:
- Average annual salary: $70,530 ($33.91/hour)
- Top 10% high salary: : $123,060 ($59.16/hour)
These salary figures are a great motivation for you to study Animation right now, right?
8 popular types of Video Animation
Depending on each project, you can choose from different animation design styles. Accompanying that are the technical requirements, costs, as well as time to invest in different products. Here are 8 popular animation genres
Traditional Animation/2D Animation
Animation Traditional is basically what is combined from flat graphics, on 2D space, to create motion for characters and backgrounds.
As one of the most traditional and classic animation techniques, 2D Animation is still quite popular when it comes to video and movie production applications, such as animation, promotional videos, etc. because of its convenience and flexibility. It.
Traditionally, each 2D Animation’s motion frame will be drawn entirely by hand, consuming a lot of time to perfect the product.
However, with the development of technology and digital tools today, the process of developing a 2D Animation video has also become faster and more convenient.
This also means the progressive development of the traditional 2D Animation industry. What can be clearly seen here is the widespread popularity of Anime – the Japanese cartoon genre with famous names like Doraemon, Naruto, etc. or familiar movies on Cartoon Network like Gumball, We’re Bears, etc
3D Animation
The emergence of 3D Animation as a new revolution for this industry. So what kind of animation is 3D Animation?
Not only allows Animator to develop vivid character lines, from “real” to “surreal”, 3D Animation is also applied simulation for architectural designs or manufacturing new products.
Typically, 3D Animation is used for creative products such as movies, interactive commercials, commercial videos, and marketing campaigns.
However, for simple video projects, 3D Animation does not seem to be an ideal choice because the production cost is expensive and requires a lot of time to invest.
Stop Motion Animation
Originating from the last century, Stop-motion is one of the oldest animation genres that you can easily find in classic motion series such as Caroline (2009), Shaun the Sheep (2007) (The smart sheep), etc
To produce a stop-motion video product, you need to design a sequence of photos that specifically illustrate each character object and stitch them together to create a sense of motion.
The cost of producing a stop-motion video is not too huge with simple equipment, not too advanced, but still ensures the aesthetics for viewers.
Rotoscope Animation
Rotoscope is an animation technique used to redraw moving scenes, frame by frame, to create real motion.
Similar to traditional Animation, this type also requires the artist to animate the movie scene on layers of glass.
Animation genre is often used in cases where you want to bring a “real” feeling to the viewer when the moving character looks like it is interacting with the surrounding environment. And of course, the budget for this type of Animation will be cheaper than producing a standard 3D Video Animation.
Motion Graphics
In essence, motion graphics – or motion graphics are not developed from the art of animation, and its definition is also different from Animation, which is more related to Graphic Design.
Depending on the type of content you want to convey, motion graphics are developed and used in the animation industry.
Often you will easily come across motion graphic animations applied in the field of multimedia and advertising thanks to the simple production process and reasonable fees.
Read more: What is Design? Graphic Design Industry Overview For Beginners
Typography Animation
Create moving text – this is exactly the simplest, easiest to understand definition for Typography Animation.
If you pay close attention, you may notice that Typography Animation is often used in movie intros, or movie titles. In addition, they also appear in the form of commercial videos, presentations, etc.
Claymation
What genre of Animation is this that sounds so strange? Actually, Claymation is a combination of Clay (clay) and Animation in English.
This is a type of Stop-motion Animation technique that uses pieces of clay molded and shaped like characters, as well as background objects in the film.
Claymation video content creators move or distort them back and forth between frames to create continuous motion.
With a unique youthful, playful and colorful style, Claymation is often applied to video production or animated films for children.
The process of producing the Animation genre is also very elaborate. This makes claymation more suitable for short projects than feature films.
Cut-Out Animation
Similar to Claymation, Cut-out Animation is another form of stop-motion.
However, instead of using clay, Animators will take advantage of cut-off paper materials, attaching them to create characters and backgrounds for video content.
How is the application of Animation in the business?
Besides applications for the production of movies and TV shows, Animation is also an effective tool for businesses in today’s digital age.
Animation can help upgrade your company’s website/app design to become more vivid and eye-catching, as well as help create impressive digital marketing/marketing campaigns.
Some specific applications of Animation can be mentioned as:
Explainer video (Explaining video)
Explainer videos are explanatory videos intended to convey information in a simple and understandable way to the target audience, partners or investors involved.
Content shown through explainer videos is usually about product/service information, a business’s workflow, etc.
Loading page (Page waiting to load)
No one will be patient enough to wait for a “blank, blank” white page to load, do you agree?
So, using Video Animation now is a practical solution to help you “satisfy” and keep the guests waiting at your website/app.
Not only that, loading pages with interesting and vivid animations can help businesses reduce the risk of high bounce rates, and at the same time show their unique brand personality.
Transitions
Transition effects via Animation will bring effective visual effects to help the company attract users to better interact with its products.
For example, a slight change in the design of the Drop-Down Menu makes a difference to the user’s visual experience of your app/website.
Micro-interactions
This concept is used to describe small experiences inside a product or any area of a website, closely related to user experience design (UX Design).
If you’re having a bit of a glitch in your interface design, consider adding some small animated interactions.
For example, adding motion effects to call-to-action buttons can help businesses increase the conversion rate of their feature.
Videos on social networks
With the goal of entertainment and story building, video animation is the perfect tool for businesses to create interactive content with users, and of course, it cannot be without another important element….
Yes, the answer is branding.
Advertising (Ads)
It seems that you are too familiar with promotional video formats with motion animation scenes, right?
Using Animation in advertising brings great advantages to businesses; help reach target customers easily through attractive and impressive visual effects.
Read more: What is advertising? Interesting things about advertising in marketing
Motion logos
Something with creative, fun movement will keep you “holding your eyes” on it for longer. This is extremely useful if businesses can take advantage of it to increase brand awareness.
And in this game, the Animation technique is definitely the first name to be called out because of its simple implementation and effectiveness.
What do beginners need to know?
Training skills and design thinking
Although Graphic Designer and Animation (Animator) are two completely different jobs. However, they all have the same starting point, which requires you to have basic skills and thinking about visual design.
These are jobs that use images to convey messages. Therefore; it’s hard to get started if you don’t prepare yourself with design capabilities; stable image thinking.
Take design courses first to learn how to use the tool; layout and color manipulation.
Don’t forget to bring with you passion and patience because the Animation industry cannot learn quickly in a day or two. To learn Animation and become proficient in the craft; you will probably have to spend at least 5-6 years studying and working continuously.
What animation style do you want to pursue?
This is essential for those who work in the arts, and the Animation industry is no exception.
Build your own design style and stick to it. There are some people who will suit the cute and casual style. Others, however, are the opposite; they choose for themselves a more rigid and abstract visual style.
Don’t worry if you still haven’t come up with a suitable design trend for yourself today. As a beginner, boldly experiment and experiment through a variety of creative genres and styles.
From there, you will know what style is for you and you can do it best.
Refer to relevant courses and certificates
For some young people, well-trained in Animation is the ideal choice to initially pursue their passion.
If you have enough money, consider enrolling in universities with a reputation for Animation, or Design and Fine Arts in general. You can even think about studying abroad to learn and explore more deeply about the industry in an international environment.
However, this is not inherently required to become an Animator. You can take short courses, or self-study for other certificates to beautify your resume.
Some famous certificate courses on the Internet that will help you build a knowledge base of the Animation industry can be mentioned as follows:
- Udemy : This is a website that provides a lot of quality courses with many different genres and fields. You will receive a certificate after completing the course for a very reasonable fee.
- School of Motion : The courses here are tailored to each student, depending on their skill level and goals. You can also download a lot of useful documents and resources to practice Animation skills; as well as interact, ask questions to experts in the learning process.
- Motion Design School : Besides paid advanced courses, you can still find free courses for beginners to learn Animation.
Animation is a job that requires mastery of technical tools
Unlike static images, which simply bring ideas from the page to computer graphics.
To have a well-organized and beautiful Animation film; requires workers to use a variety of tools and support equipment. It often takes a long time to work on specialized design software.
If you have the opportunity, try to attend short courses of training centers specializing in the Animation industry to see how they create a movie and use the tools to create effects.
From there, find out for yourself; learn how to use it before going any further on the professional path.
Practice skills and experience through projects
What is the next step for you to grow in this industry? The best way that Malu would recommend is to experience real work projects to hone your skills and sharpen yourself.
Find yourself freelance jobs to test yourself while working in this field. Explore many job opportunities and accumulate as much experience as possible.
You can also apply for internship positions to have your first “rubbing” with the profession. Let’s start small to go further with big successes.
In addition, try to find real teachers/mentors to lead you to better development – to become a competent and professional Animator.
They can also help you network and connect with other industry professionals. So, don’t be afraid to explore and learn!
Read more: Good books to improve graphic design skills Designers should read
Create and complete Portfolio
Finally, after having the first products; Create your own portfolio. For people working in the Animation industry in particular and Design in general, a beautiful and informative portfolio is an indispensable tool when applying for jobs.
Read more: What is a Portfolio? How to create an impressive and beautiful Portfolio
The more invested in your portfolio and showcase your work, the more your design thinking and abilities will be recognized by employers, and even industry professionals.
