Animation industry has grown so wild that good animators are being hunted at a fast pace. As the succession of animation industry is touching new heights more the demand of brilliant animators is hovering in the market. With the rapid evaluation of animation over the years animation has evolved much more than being just about drawing and coloring figures. Now animation involves a series of tasks requiring different skill sets. It obviously involves the basic task that is drawing and coloring but besides that modern animation requires applications of Physics, Mathematics, and Information Technology as well. An animation film starts from idea development and followed by pre-production, production and post-production phases. With the rapid growth in animation industry techniques to upgrade animation keep evolving. Animation is used even in non- animation films to show something that cannot be shot in reality and it is so evolved that it is impossible to tell if it has been done by animation.

Animation is just not limited to movies. Nowadays it has huge scope in advertisements, multimedia websites, video games, mobile applications etc. In countries like USA animation was always big and has evolved to unimaginable heights because of huge money involved in it. In India it is fairly recent that animation has start coming of age. Now there is a huge scope for animation in India as well. Animation movies has started being made in India, lots of animation is used in films as well and we can always see many animation based advertisements on television. In fact there is a lot of animation related work being outsourced from India as well for big budget Hollywood movies as well. With international companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Fun Bag Animation looking at India for sourcing content as well as doing projects in collaboration with the Indian animation companies, there has been a growing demand for animators in the country. Therefore, on the employment front, opportunities are many.

Animation application areas include many avenues in the following:

• Entertainment (movies and television)
• Business (product promotions and marketing demos)
• Sales (presentations)
• Education (Computer Based Tutorials/Web Based Tutorials)
• Publishing (graphics and printing)
• Virtual reality in Defense
• Web designing
• Engineering
• Advertising (commercials and print ads)
• Fashion designing and interior designing
• Development of computer games/mobile games
• Medical, legal and insurance industry (presentations and models)
• Studios and training institutes

A strong portfolio of work is an essential part of landing a job in computer animation and becoming an animator. Numerous job opportunities are available in India as well as abroad in the exciting field of animation. Specialized computer knowledge and skills are essential for various jobs in the field of animation. It is a booming industry with wide job openings and one can work on full length animation movies or any other related fields like television, advertising industry etc. An Animated feature film, which offers considerable employment prospects, is a combined talented effort of a wide variety of artists. Some of the jobs offered in the industry are:

Content Developer:

A Content Developer is a member of the creative class involved in the creation, aggregation, or distribution of intellectual property designed to inspire, educate, persuade, entertain or inform the user.

Modeler:

Modeler is the one who makes the models for animation. They should have a solid understanding of anatomy, form and volume.

Story Broad Artist :

Those with strong drawing skills could be hired as storyboard artists who can visualize a sequence of events from frame to frame.

Character animator:

They bring characters to life and generally have knowledge of traditional animation, stop-motion animation as well as claymation.

Background artist:

The background artist is the person who specializes to paint the background of the characters and sets the background for the project.

Layout artist:

layout artist is just like a cinematographer of that animation project as they are decides the lighting and camera angles and he is sketching the background design for the animation.

2D animator:

They involves the creation of a high volume of separate drawings that define a sequence.

In-between animator:

In between animator one can learn all the basics of animation and it is the beginning position of an animator.

Scanner operator:

The scanner operator does the scanning of the clean up artist’s drawings.

Compositing artist :

Compositing consists of layering individual frames of animation on top of one another to create final images. These images are then strung together to create complete shots or mini animated movies.

Special effects artist:

They integrate live-action footage with Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) or other elements (such as model work).

Audio & video specialist:

An audio-visual production specialist assembles, adjusts and operates various audio and video components, including cameras, microphones, lights and sound mixers.

Visualizer:

Visualizer is a largely redundant name for a Storyboard artist or Concept Artist and is a mainly freelance occupation found in Advertising agencies to assist Art directors in drawing scamps and storyboards to a standard that they themselves could not manage for presentation to clients.

Texture artist:

They applies a surface to the 3D modeled character, object or environment.

Rigging artist:

A rigging artist takes the modeled, textured 3D character or object and sets it up with a skeletal system or joints (if required). Without this step, the 3D model would not be able to animate, talk or move fluidly and correctly.

Clean-up artist:

The clean up artist checks the accuracy and consistency of the designs and drawings. To be a good clean up artist, he should have good draft-man skill with the knowledge of density, width, volume and mass.

Lighting artist :

They create variations of shade, color intensity and shadows

Digital ink and paint artist:

It is the duty of a digital ink and paint artist to give colors to each frame.

Compositor:

It is the compositor brings together all the different characters and backgrounds in to single frame.

Editor:

His job is to edit images content etc.

Key frame animator:

Key frame animator draws the pictures of a movement’s beginning and end.

Rendering artist:

They take all the data in a scene such as models, textures, animation, lighting, etc and output the correct combination in the form of individual frames of animation.

3D animator:

They takes the sculpted, textured and rigged 3D model and breathes life into it. This is done by putting in order the key frames such that they appear to be in motion.

Image Editor:

They assembles various visual and audio components of the film into a coherent and effective whole

Website designing, CD-Rom production, graphics designing and three-dimensional product modeling are some other fields where animators can gain employment. . It has chances in fashion designing and interior designing and even in medical, legal and insurance companies for their presentations and models. Animators could even find jobs at print media and publishing firms. Free lance work is another option for animators, particularly those specializing in web animation. . The gaming industry that includes video and mobile games is looking forward for good animators. Some animation institutions appoint students for teaching assistance, so they can take career in to teaching profession also.

The good salary is the most attractive part of this profession. Within years these professionals can earn six-digit salary. As a junior animator or trainee one could get between Rs.10000- 15000 per month. A three to five year experienced animator will get 25000 to 40000. And a well-experienced animator who has a good portfolio of excellent animation work could easily get 50000- 60000 per month.

If you want to be on the cutting-edge of technology and innovation, simply learn more about what a career in animation can offer you.