Animators bring drawings and computer generated characters to life on screen.
£14,000 Starter
to£36,000 Experienced
35 to 40 a week
evenings / weekends occasionally
You can get into this job through:
You could do a higher national diploma, foundation degree, degree or postgraduate course in animation. The most useful courses include practical skills and work placements. Relevant courses include:
You'll usually need:
You could take an advanced apprenticeship in creative and digital media. This may help you to get a job as an animation assistant.
To get onto this apprenticeship, you may find it useful to have done some related voluntary or paid work. You can contact broadcasting companies, advertising agencies, animation studios or computer games companies to find work experience.
You'll usually need:
You could start out as an animation 'runner' and work your way up to:
You can get useful information about animation roles and how to get work from Hiive.
You'll need a showreel and portfolio, depending on the role, to show your best animation work and ideas. Make your work easy to find, either on your own website or blog, or on a video-sharing website.
You can get more advice about working as an animator from ScreenSkills.
You'll need:
Your day-to-day tasks could include:
You could work in an office, from home or in a creative studio.
With experience, you could progress from animator to lead animator and animation director.
You could also work for larger animation studios, games developers, interactive media designers or video post-production firms.
You might decide to go freelance or start your own studio.