Finding Work in the Animation Industry [The Animation Industry: Preparing for a Career - Unit06]

Finding Work in the Animation Industry

03/02/25 - 04/02/25

Introduction

This blog post explored the process of looking for jobs in animation. This ranging from analysis of lecture notes through to reflecting on how my current skills and experience align to a range of different job roles. The intent here is to start looking ahead to the future and understand how my skills align to the current market.

Lecture Notes

The notes below highlight the key points from this unit's lecture (Williams, 2020) on job hunting :

Not just a case of doing a course and expecting offers at the end of it.
A strong portfolio and demo reel is the most important factor to gaining interest from animation studios.

Hosted on blog/ website
Embedded in Linkedin Page
Easy to find!

Apply for job postings

'Be the Rhino!' - have a thick hide and don't fear rejection.
Cast net wide, however, apply to studios that link to your skills and style.
Create a spreadsheet and track your progress over time.
Tailor applications to the studio to show you understand the work they do through a cover letter.
C.V. and Linkedin should be up to date and ready to go.
Job adverts will ask for a whole 'shopping list' full of requests for the ideal candidate, however, that perfect candidate might not exist. Therefore, you should still apply to these because you do have some of the skills relevant to them.
You can always learn the basics of software in a hurry.

My previous experience with job hunting has been generally fairly positive. I've been incredibly good at setting my sights on a particular goal and working hard until I can achieve it, which is a valuable skill. In my third year of my undergraduate course I decided that I wanted to be an animator specifically and tailored all my projects to building skills and experience in this discipline rather than spending time on others like modelling. This allowed me to develop a strong portfolio that I used to apply for jobs.

I took a wide but targeted approach to job hunting towards the end of my undergraduate degree. I primarily used LinkedIn to connect with animators from various studios and shared my demo reel. I explained current experience and shared my showreel and opposed to asking if there were any positions available I asked for feedback on my reel. My goal was to build relationships with people and demonstrate that I could take feedback and implement it to raise the quality of my work. Whilst many didn't reply a handful did and one of these put me forward to their HR team because they were looking to recruit a junior animator. This company was Eutechnyx and I was successful as part of the interview process and moved to the North East of England to work on video games!

I feel this was a strong approach because I was building relationships and demonstrating what I had to offer opposed to expecting something in return. Products are made by people so I felt building personal relationships was important and would demonstrate what I could offer a team in addition to my animation skills.

Since working for Eutechnyx I have gained a teaching qualification and taught games art and animation to college and degree level students. It was tough getting into industry and I wanted to give a little back and work with young people. With this experience I have a highly broad skill set. I have strong resilience working in an often under-funded sector and proven ability to meet the requirements for a demanding job. I have strong project management skills to prioritise and organise workload across periods of time to deliver. I have the skills to understand individual needs and tailor communication and support to help them. I have strong skills in short term and long term planning to sequence sessions that support other people building new skills. I have a vast array of experience crafting effective feedback that helps people develop their skills in addition to receiving feedback to improve my practise.

I'm currently studying this Character and Creature Animation masters and this is a way for me to reconnect with my craft and push the quality of my practical and academic study skills. I worked on an array of awesome animations at Eutehcnyx from Nascar the Game to Warhammer: Storm of Vengeance. Whilst this work was good, I've been really connecting with my mastery of the animation principles to bring characters to life on this course. I've been developing my narrative communication and ability to develop story driven animations. I'm really proud of the work I've been creating and even though I have industry experience its amazing to see the quality of my outcomes grow as an animator!

The areas I can further develop is definitely my understanding of new tools, particularly Unreal Engine. I used Unreal Engine 3 extensively at Eutechnyx and I've been using Unity a lot recently, so whilst I have game engine skills I could develop my experience of Unreal specifically because this is a tool in demand. I could re-explore the import/export processes, lighting and ability to render and iterate cutscenes in the engine. This is likely to feel familiar , however, I need to jump in and experiment. I tend to pick up new software packages easily because I have strong skills in independently researching and solving problems I face as well as having strong understanding of core theory. This often means I know what I want to do and I know the terms to search in order to give me the answers quickly. Therefore, new software or pipeline I find very enjoyable to learn and easy to pick up.

Job Vacancy Analysis and Skills Alignment

1. 3D Character Animator (Experienced) - Blue Zoo

The key roles and responsibilities are :

Must Have:

Advanced understanding of body mechanics, posing and getting the best performance possible out of a character.
An advanced understanding of Maya or similar software.
Ability to receive and act on feedback and respond to direction.
Excellent time management and prioritising skills.
Ability and drive to share your knowledge and skills with other team members.
Demonstrable experience of being a team player and great collaborator.
Excellent creative problem solving skills.

Bonus Points:

Python or Mel script knowledge.
Good at drawing/additional creative skills (acting/dance).
Shotgun or FTrack experience.

Comparing my experience to these :

I have strong animation skills featuring a good understanding of how characters move and are posed. I use live action footage to support pose development including acting out performance myself to acquire bespoke reference.
I've been using Maya since 2008 for character rigging, animation and rendering. I've used this in an education and professional setting. I've also taught this software which requires a deeper understanding of the software package to be able to communicate how and why it works the way it does.
I've worked in a studio environment with external clients to develop outcomes that satisfy their needs. I've worked extensively with academic tutors to constantly iterate and develop my work. I've also worked in education where the quality of your delivery is closely monitored with forensic level feedback from a variety of sources. I'm keen to produce the best quality outcomes possible and value the input of others in the best interest of the outcome.
I am highly organised and use a range of project management techniques in my everyday workflow. At Eutechnyx I developed and managed various animation production pipelines to plan time and update project managers. Education is a frantic environment with numerous tasks that are all the highest priority, which can be very challenging! However, I use kanban and prioritisation strategies to juggle multiple tasks. I find it easy to look into the future and understand where crunch points might occur and take relevant actions to reduce stress during challenging times.
I am a keen collaborator and often share my knowledge with others. On my masters qualification I developed a Discord server and frequently offer support to other students that have less experience than I. In my teacher role I've ran various continued professional development days where I share knowledge and develop skills to help others in their role. An example of this is the WorldSkills Centre for Excellent programme where I cascaded a range of teaching, learning and assessment sessions to a wide range of other educators.
I have creative problem solving skills through preproduction practises to solve creative challenges ahead. I also learn and adapt to new software and skills easily. I like to understand how things work and how best to optimise a pipeline. I'm also highly reflective and I'm always looking for ways to improve processes. I do this in my current role when designing, planning and delivering the curriculum between multiple academic years.
I have some basic Python and C# knowledge, however, haven't explored this professionally. I've produced some small games and experimented with the Godot engine. However, this is a skill I'm keen to develop in Maya in relation to using MEL scripts to produce advanced character rigs.
I have good drawing and acting skills. My drawing does tend to lend itself closer to illustration, however, I regularly draw rough sketches to communicate ideas in association with research. Whilst my acting is definitely not professional it is part of my creative process to understand how animations are crafted.
I have not used Shotgun and FTrack and would absolutely need to research these to understand what is required. However, this appears to be a shot tracking and review software that could be used in animation dailies and to track progress over time. I have experience with a range of project management techniques including planning production on my indie game 'Squishy Sports' that I have communicated to publishers.

2. 3D Gameplay Animator - Ubisoft

The key roles and responsibilities are :

Key responsibilities :

Create high-quality character animation that capture nuanced emotional states and personality.
Develop and maintain a consistent animation style that defines the game's visual identity.
Collaborate across multidisciplinary teams to integrate animations seamlessly into gameplay mechanics.
Optimize animation workflows to enhance production efficiency and quality.
Prototype and iterate on character animation systems, pushing the boundaries of technical and artistic expression.

Requirements:

Previous experience as a 3D Animator in the video game industry.
Advanced-level proficiency in Autodesk Maya, Motion Builder, and industry-standard animation tools
Advanced understanding of animation principles: weight, timing, anticipation, secondary motion and performance to give characters weight, personality, mood, and believability.
Passion and enthusiasm for video games.
Strong communication skills and ability to provide and receive constructive feedback
Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Bonus Skills:

Knowledge of drawing and traditional 2D animation.
Experience with motion capture technology, performance cleanup and facial animation techniques
Understanding of rigging and skinning characters for animation.
Scripting skills.
Proficiency in game engine animation systems (Unreal Engine or Unity preferred).

Comparing my experience to these :

Many of the bullet points from the previous job post analysis apply here and I will focus on the new aspects.
I've developed a consistent animation style in a range of productions but notably working on Warhammer: Storm of Vengeance in collaboration with Games Workshop. Particularly when animating the orc characters to create a strong but 'janky' style to uphold the personality of these characters. I animated some flying orcs too that had a very cartoon-like, stylised flight path that I checked with the IP holder and they loved this! Similarly when creating special kill animations that also reflected their character.
Whilst working at Eutechnyx I worked with a range of different departments to implement a range of animation assets from gameplay animations, quick time events, cutscenes and more. This often revolved around integrating assets through bespoke engine workflows but also developing tools to achieve results such as fireworks, interaction systems and more.
I have 3 years experience working for Eutechnyx, a video games animation studio.
I've used Motionbuilder to work with keyframe and motion capture animation to produce animation assets.
I've developed a range of strong animation outcomes that show evidence of the 12 principles of animation. This was evidence in my work produced at Eutechnyx but also my current work on my Masters qualification.
I have a big passion for the games industry having worked in the industry in some capacity for 14 years. This spans the video games industry, education and working on my own indie title. I've promoted our game across the U.K. at various events including EGX. I'm also a keen gamer.
I have strong communication skills in written and verbal. I've produced an array of strong written assignments of my masters, all scoring a first or higher. I also teach and communicate information and ideas in a variety of ways.
I have experience animating in 2D using bone-based 2d animation in Spine and Unity.
I've worked with motion capture animation to produce gameplay animations and cutscene animations.
I've experience rigging and skinning characters. Throughout my time at Eutehcnyx I rigged a range of characters ranging from humanoids to cars to mechs and combinations of these. I also explored limited rigging using a 5 bone 'starfish' rig that rigs a low poly crowd character with 5 bones.
I've worked with both Unity and Unreal, however, I have more experience with Unity. My previous experience with Unreal was Unreal Engine 3.

3. Animator - Industrial Light and Magic

The key roles and responsibilities are :

What You’ll Do :

Responsible for the successful animation of a series of shots on a specific project
Participate as a team member in determining various aesthetic solutions; provides feedback to other members of the production by attending dailies on a regular basis
Maintain or exceed a consistent level of productivity while meeting deadlines and producing high quality work
Responsible for acting as a “mentor” to Entry Level Animators and must be able to assist them with their shots
Perform other tasks related to the creation of computer-generated animation

What We’re Looking For :

3 or more years of relevant professional VFX experience and a Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in traditional animation or computer animation
Demonstrate experience working in computer animation with a focus on detailed, hyper real mocap and facial performance
Expert knowledge of traditional animation principles, acting, film production and compositional design while demonstrating exceptional skills as an animator based as evidenced by a portfolio, demo reel and/or references
Knowledge of UNIX and shell scripting; expert knowledge of Maya, proprietary and other software programs
Ability to take on a delegated task with a minimum of supervision
Excellent organization and communication skills

Comparing my experience to these skills :

Similar to the last point lots of the previous bullet points will apply and I will focus on the new aspects.
Working throughout industry and education I have concistently worked to meet deadlines. I beleive this is attributed to my strong project management skills and ability to estimate and plan task time to meet deadlines. I am studying my masters part time alongside a demanding teaching role and I am able to balance all demands and produce high quality work in all areas. I achieve well in my teaching role and haven't achieved anything less than a first in any of my assignments. On top of this I have also balanced a personal life too to achieve a work life balance, even though this can be challenging!
Whislt working at Eutechnyx I mentored a range of work experience students and I developed these skills further teaching games, animation and VFX courses at college and university levels. I have a strong understanding of how to design and deliver feedback to have maximum impact.
I've used a vast array of software and tools to produce outcomes linked to games animation. This includes VFX development in game engines; experimentation with programming and producing small games; 2D game animation and more. I love to learn new workflows and techniques and have good skills in researching to solve problems and achieve outcomes.
I've produced facial animation, however, this is an area I could explore in more depth, particularly with motion capture processes. However, I have experimented with game facial animation solutions like face fx.
I've not used UNIX and shell scripting - this would be something I would need to research and learn!
I work well independently. I endeavour to completely understand a task so that I can work out the intricacies, which enable me to work well independently. I work well with answers to questions or understanding where creative free reign can come into play in order to produce the outcome.

Additional Resources

Upon further research I found some useful links in a blog post (Williams, 2022) that I wanted to save for later reference :

Conclusion

This was a super interesting exercise because even at mid level roles I feel I have a range of skills that meet most of the requirements. There are some areas that I was less experienced in, however, these would be relatively easy to tackle and develop skills. Key aspects to develop were:

Rigging skills with scripting - ideally python/mel.
Current Unreal Engine experience
Facial animation

This provides a clear focus for what I could develop and research to build my skills and demo reel. I have strong research skills so I could use these to plan and develop short, high quality animation outcomes that demonstrate this experience. These aspects are not a surprise to me and this shows I'm aware of my strengths and areas to improve which is good.

In order to tailor your showreel and application to specific applicants it is important to target studios that produce similar work to yourself. At high level this would be aligning 3D animation to 3D animation studios opposed to 2D animation studios. However, this goes down further to the type of animation you're producing. Is it more family friendly cartoon animation or more mature action focussed animation? Is it geared more towards film/tv or games? A big difference between film/tv and animation is the familiarity with a game engine for game studios because you will be working with these daily! Demonstrating these skills in your showreel is important to ensure that you show the studio you can produce the type of work they need you to produce.

Another key thing I picked up was that most animation and game studios operate in a hybrid working model with often 2/3 days expected in the office. This would mean physical location would be important to securing specific roles. In my search too there were not an abundance of animation roles advertised which suggests that a lot of studios work on prospective animations opposed to advertised positions.

Overall, this was a good experience that demonstrated my experience across my professional career and this current masters are very relevant to most animation job roles. The potential challenges I might face are geographic location, in Newcastle there are not as many animation jobs therefore I might need to consider how I could engage with hybrid roles or consider relocation if I were to apply for a hybrid role not located close to the North-East.

Learning Outcomes

Understand the structure of the animation job market and where to find opportunities.
Identify effective strategies for applying to animation jobs and internships.
Reflect on common challenges in job hunting and how to overcome them.

Reference List

Williams, A. (2020) 'Finding Work in the Animation Industry' [Video Lecture], 7WCT2011-0105-2024: The Animation Industry: Preparing for a Career. University of Hertfordshire. 19th August.
Williams, A. (2022) ‘Kevin Richards Explains the Role of Animation Recruiters - and How to Make Use of Them’, Animation Apprentice, 26th September [Blog]. Available at https://animationapprentice.blogspot.com/2022/09/kevin-richards-explains-role-of.html (Accessed 7th February 2025).

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Matt Lawson-Hall Animation