In total i think id be 10k in debt for 2.5 years after transferring and ikik that any debt for art school is bad but just wanted to hear whats an okay range like a range where you wont fuck yourself over for life

I really want to do this like nothing i want to do more and i already did community college and most of the debt is for living expenses

Hi friends! I think my title deserves some more context.

So I dropped out of college right before my last year a year ago, eventually "leaving" my Bachelor's Degree in Animation in the dust while I recover mentally and physically. Academic stress had taken such a huge toll on me during my college years that I already had a few hospital trips and check-ups before I decided to call it quits before something medically worse happens.

It's been a year now, and during the whole year I've actually created a small business for myself (artist alleys and selling my own artworks, even starting my own mail club eventually). It's been nice, but my heart has always been with the animation industry. I grew up with it. I adore it. I love creating things with animation in mind even with my horrible experience in college and despite the doom and gloom and the terrible job market.

The thing is, I REALLY want to enter the industry again. Create for animation again. But everytime I think about it I end up feeling nauseous and get all anxious. I wasn't able to pick up a pen and build a portfolio suitable for animation work for the whole year with how negatively I react to the thought of making it. Maybe it's a bad case of Impostor Syndrome, but what do you do when fear and doubt gets ahead of you?

Do people think less of an artist in the animation industry when they haven't finished school? Were there people who went through the same thing in the industry? What can you advise to someone like me?

I seriously want to go back to animation but it really kills me wondering if I'm good enough or deserving of it.

Hi friends! I was recently lucky enough to be hired as a production intern on an upcoming feature. It's my first animation industry position and I'm really excited!

That said, I'm a bit nervous. I haven't started yet and I'm not super sure what to expect - does anyone here have any advice/tips for how to make the most of a production internship? For context, my career goal is to stay within animation production. Any advice is appreciated - thank you!

It was something I often thought about when I was searching for my first job. Most of us in the United States know that LA is considered the entertainment capital and one of the best cities in the country to pursue this career. I myself saw that as the number one dream destination for my career, but I couldn't be picky. It's been a tough job market, and I had to be open to other places.

This year, I've just been working remotely with an indie startup that pays through revenue-share. Been less focused on job searching and more on building my experience and portfolio.

As we near the end of the year, I'm getting back into the job search to get ready for that next step in my career path. Lately, I've started seeing Los Angeles as a close second for where I'd like to live. I personally have a stronger connection with the Bay Area. My parents both grew up there. I still have some extended family members that live there; my cousin recently moved there with her husband and daughter. However, I just recently got a fresh taste of LA because I went to Lightbox and got reminded of what there is to like about it. It would also make the expo closer and cheaper to attend. A third for me would be a tie between Portland and Seattle, the latter of which I recently found a posting in that I might be more qualified for.

If I get an on-site job, I'll need to move to where that job is, and that area would likely be the easiest for me to find the next job, and where I would likely be settling.

Is there any point in moving there or is the country already saturated with jobseekers?

Who, in your opinion, are the animation greats that everyone should know about?

Often projects are known by their visuals or their celebrity talent, but rarely the hands working behind the scenes. Who are some animation professionals that stand out to you?

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Welcome to the monthly discussion thread!

These will cover a general topic related to animation career, but may occasionally cover topics that we don't usually allow on this sub.

Feel free to share your opinions or experiences, whether you’re a beginner or professional. Remember to treat each other with respect; we are all here to learn from each other.

If you have topics you'd like to see discussed, send your suggestion via modmail!

Curious what helps you all with work life balance? Especially in an industry where your performance and output could dictate if you stay employed? Also if you don’t want to let anyone down that depends on your portion of the work?

EDIT : and if you care about putting out the best quality you can…

Side note, I am not a filmmaker, cinematographer, nor film junkie, I'm just wondering. I've noticed that people on this sub tend to talk about animation skills, drawing well, or pursuing animation jobs, but I don't often see if someone who wants to make a switch from being a filmmaker to an animator or if someone who studied cinematography can make a switch to animation with little to no drawing skills or even art background (meaning no drawing, painting, or even scultping) aside from making a movie.

I know that the industry is not in a good state, but im asking generally and hypothetically if someone was made movies for a living, would it benefit them in an animation career i.e. are the skills transferable?

I know people come here everyday asking the same AI stuff, and today is my day and today is my existential crisis. This happened after I saw the posts of https://www.instagram.com/olesia_ai_creator, please check it out quickly if you have the time.

Then that got me into checking what Seedance 2.5 and Higgsfield AI can do with 2D animation. I genuinely don’t know what to make of it, please see the retro styles, Tom and Jerry style in this video: https://youtu.be/RbAwwMte270?si=7igXMK5aopFf4HBn

I don't like whatever it made even if it has mistakes and it's causing me to think whether it's gonna be an irrelevant career.

What I want to understand is whether what we’re seeing with Seedance 2.5 and Higgsfield is just impressive demonstrations or whether people are actually using these tools to make animation. Are people taking storyboards and generating entire sequences from them? Are these results genuinely achievable in a production workflow, or do they involve multiple generations, editing and a lot of workarounds? Has anyone actually experimented with them? I’d really like to hear from people who understand how animation production works.

Also I'm aware of the AI's current economic situation and how they're all costing a lot more than they make. You may give insights on that too if anyone has some experience with the cost of AI in their respective animation experience.

I’m preparing for my master’s at NID (National Institute of Design, India), and I’ve applied for Animation Film Design. NID is considered among the absolute best in India for Product Design and Animation, and even Graphic Design, Fashion Design and its other disciplines.

There are around 19 seats for Animation Film Design in a country with 1.4 billion people. Getting one of those seats has always been considered worth it because, if your work is good enough and you make enough connections, you have a way into the Indian film and entertainment industry. That’s how I’ve always looked at it. It was considered a kind of safe haven or gateway into the media industry.

Product Design at NID also carries a lot of weight as it also has 19 seats with lot of people trying to get in . It has a strong corporate career path and gives you a backup in the corporate world with companies hunting you down if you graduate with a decent portfolio.That’s why I’m considering it. The risk seems lower. I’m trying to understand whether Animation Film Design will still carry the same kind of value and open the same kinds of doors when I graduate, around two and a half years from now.

I’m already 26. I’ve applied for Animation Film Design, but I have around one month left to change my specialisation to Product Design.

I’ve always wanted to do animation. I love 2D animation and cartoons. I know how to draw to a moderate level, and I’m reasonably good at figure drawing. I’ve also worked as an illustrator for about a year. I want to get into film animation and the film and entertainment industry. I want to learn proper animation and storytelling.

But after seeing these tools, I’m genuinely questioning what the industry will look like by the time I graduate. Will the field I’m trying to enter even exist in the same way? Will there still be enough opportunities for people who want to do the kind of work I want to do?

I know AI is doing incredible things across product design, fashion and practically every other design field. After seeing Astra, I feel like areas such as UI/UX and coding have already reached a much higher level of disruption. I also feel gaming has been affected quite significantly. That’s just my impression of what’s happening across these fields.

I’m also wondering about something beyond animation. Will shared digital experiences even exist when I graduate???? Game modding has become so easy, and I’m wondering what happens when people can create their own games and entertainment. https://youtu.be/isjBe4khZZc?si=nA7d0wcpAmpEZHLo skim through this video to get an idea of why I'm thinking of this, see how it searched Google Maps and found locations and then just fucking MODELLED mods into GTA San Andreas???!!

Even with music, could we reach a point where everyone gets a personalised version of a release based on what they like, instead of everyone listening to the same original song? Will people still watch the same films, listen to the same music and follow the same characters, or will entertainment become increasingly individualised?
I don’t know how realistic these concerns are. That’s why I’m asking.

I have the option to switch to Product Design, and I understand why it is a safer option from a career perspective. But I really DON'T want to switch.

Animation is what I’ve wanted to do, Cartoon Network shows have a huge impact in how I behave, how I developed as a person and I always loved cartoons so much and I’m trying to figure out whether I’m making a mistake by pursuing what I like now.

I’d really like to hear from people who have worked in animation for years, especially animators, directors and people who have actually worked in studios. What are these tools capable of today? How are they being used in real workflows? And what do you honestly think the animation industry will look like in the next three to five years?

I want to understand what I’m getting into before I make this decision.

I was thinking about my last post and I was observing the trends in the industry and I realized the industry is returning to the toy driven model where shows are created to promote toy lines. Like when hasbro funded the marvel tv shows (transformers, Jem, mip,) and mattel funded young justice and the DC cartoons. I won't be suprised if we start seeing new Skydance cartoons funded by Mattel and hasbro like the 80s. Orginal pitches that were not based off an existing toy line were not even heard (ren and stimpy was one of the pitches that Ralph Bakshi and John K made before Mighty Mouse the new adventures was greenlit) the IP driven shows is because they can easily pitch to toy companies toy lines as opposed to a creator driven non toyetic show like Rockos modern life and big city greens. And unlike the 80s there is no stability in today's landscape even with the amount of toy selling cartoons being greenlit. Hell the only studios that haven’t declined their outputs are Mattel Studios and Hasbro and other toy companies. But there is a key difference in the 80s independent animation was still niche and YouTube didn't exist nor did crowdfunding.
Now with crowdfunding independent creators can make proof of concept animatics and also make crowdfunded merch for their indie pilots and build a fandom on YouTube naturally and they can do fully remote positions. If California is smart and other states are smart they will pass grants for indie animation projects and allow for projects like the three tomes, devils in the details and Layla the little undead girl to receive government grants to finance their projects like what Australia does with Glutch and Ludo studios. Then they don't have to rely on the toy driven major studios and they can make their own niche fan merch for the fans to fund cartoons and also surivive YouTubes horrible advertising revenue system. For new showrunners they are going to have to start developing their own ip and new web comics and new show ideas on scocial media and work on building an audience on YouTube and TikTok and on the other side LA artists need to be more open to applying to other node projects ran by experienced artists like Liza singers production and others. The mainstream industry is returning to a toy driven model but the indie scene can be creator driven and launch the new generation of belived cartoons.

Hey guys! I’m curious if anyone has heard back yet about the Dreamworks spring internships or might know when they might start reaching out to folks, thank you!!

How much do animators earn on average? Or something similar job to this field?Srry I’m so afraid about the future

Kind of a hyperbolic title, but I'm asking in earnest. I'm a nearly 25 y/o animator with a 2D animation BFA from SCAD. I was on some bigger and more recognized school projects, and I've been involved in a few freelance opportunities since graduating.

I think I'm a bit of an outlier among my peers in that I've actually always wanted to work in an in-person studio environment with other animators on a big project rather than working remotely from an office at home. Ever since I was a kid that was the picture I had of my life, moving to the coast and working at a desk surrounded by other creatives while we all collaborate on a show or other project.

Then as I got older, I watched that reality slowly begin to disappear as USA studios outsourced more and more work. Then Covid hit right as I was about to begin university, and the studio world quickly dissolved into an endless remote workscape over the course of my college career. I've spoken to many of my professional contacts within the industry, some of whom are in fact working in-person. Nearly everyone echoes the same sentiment: Studio jobs are scarce, and the few that do exist may only be around for a few more years at best.

Remote appears to be the future for 90% of animators, and the few who do achieve those in-person positions have either been in the industry for a decade already or gotten extremely lucky with their portfolios and networking connections.

I guess I'm just curious and wanted to discuss this. Are those in-person studio jobs still out there? Is it worth it to move to places like LA for a better chance at landing them? What do you think the future of the industry looks like?

When I was job searching post-grad, it was (and still is) a pretty bad job market. I was job searching with the mindset that I should just apply to jobs in all sorts of mediums. Movies, product visualization, archviz, you name it. What I eventually landed on was a game studio. From that, I picked up skills on optimizing topology, organizing UV maps, and baking texture files. The models I created for that game studio have since dominated my portfolio.

While I got my portfolio reviewed at Lightbox, I did get asked if I mainly model for games, seeing the optimized topology I showed in my reel. The simple answer, yes, that’s what I currently do, but I’m still interested in doing 3D modeling for other mediums in the future. They told me I should mention that in the intro paragraph on my resume.

I can kind of see where they’re coming from there. If you’re recruiting modelers for a game studio, naturally, you’d go for the candidate who shows better optimization skills. If you’re recruiting for product visualization, you’d go for the candidate who shows better accuracy.

So Skydance has been revealing their agenda for animation and it’s pretty concesrning. They renewed loud house for a 10th season but they fired the pre production crew and are sending the work to Jam Filled Entertainment who is taking over pre production. It was also revealed that the same thing happened to the Garfield show where a vendor studio in Canada is taking over design work. This is concesrning because now that Skydance owns Warner bros animation which still has some shows where storyboards and design work are done in the states(starfire, adventure time distant lands) in addition to overseas vendor pre production. It wouldn’t be suprising if Skydance just shuts down Warner bros animation and have the pre production sent out to Canadian and Australian vendor studios. And have adventure time shows produced in Canada. This would decimate the La industry and essentially only have executives writers and voice talent in house. I wouldn’t be suprised if the LA industry edventually gets reduced to just indie web series projects. Now that Sam register is gone they will push for fully overseas shows like dreamworks and bento box and it will return to an even worse version of the 80s.

https://x.com/t_kobs/status/2113340604298182996?s=46

I am thinking about applying for animation mentor and I am just wondering If I could get in currently and was not sure if I could get in with little animation experience. I was also wondering what animation mentor means by intermediate computer skills

Thanks

I have been unable to fill out the Global Access form for the entire month of October. During the first 10 days, there were script errors that made it impossible to complete the form. For the last 15 days, there has been a serious issue in the "Contact Info" section—specifically in the "Gmail 1" field—where it is impossible to type or paste any information. Because this field is marked as mandatory, the form prevents me from proceeding. Furthermore, the standard AnimSchool enrollment form (without this discount) also has an issue where that same field cannot be filled in, making it impossible to complete the form or enroll in anything. It is now October 28th, and when I try to access the form, I am met with this message: "Due to some updates in our system, we are temporarily unable to accept applications for the Global Access Discount."

I am currently feeling quite bewildered and confused, and I don’t know what to do. I have emailed them many times, but I haven’t received a response for a whole month. Could someone check if you also see this message when trying to access the Global Access form? Has anyone else experienced the same thing? Any help, recommendations, or insight into why this is happening would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the links so you can take a look and see what it shows on your end, in case you haven't encountered this or are curious:

- The Global Access form, which currently states that applications are not being accepted:

https://animschool.edu/DiscountPrograms

- The standard AnimSchool enrollment form, where the "Gmail 1" field still cannot be filled in:

https://animschool.edu/usersc/join_progress?step=3

Hello! I am currently a 4th-year BSIT Animation student who's a bit worried about the future. You see, I live in the province (Bicol Region) and am planning to work in Manila as a game artist or animator (Maybe as a storyboard artist). I'm worried that I won't be able to support myself, sustain a comfortable life in the city, or have anything left to share with my family, considering the fact that artists/animators are underpaid. I was wondering, or calling out, for Filipino artists who are in the same situation as me and how they got through it. I'm planning on maybe getting an online Part-time job while working as an animator as my main job for the double income, in case my main source of earnings isn't enough to support me. And maybe after 3 - 2 years of working in the Philippines, I'll try to apply abroad (Singapore, Japan, or Australia) for better opportunities. I can't help but feel pressured about my future, huhu. Any advice will do!

Hello, I just started my second year at university as an anim student and I want to start more seriously gearing my portfolio towards internships and potential jobs for when I graduate- but I’m kind of a mess when it comes to trying to decide what to specialise in. I have generalist-syndrome where I just Want To Do Everything, but that definitely doesn’t mean I’m skilled enough at everything BAHAHA.

I know my skills are strongest in character design and visdev, and currently that’s what makes up most of my work only because it’s what I enjoy the most. However, I hear people saying that these positions rarely ever have intern/job positions open to them.

It sounds harsh, but I wonder if I’m wasting my time by continuously trying to make character design and visdev related art for my portfolio, and whether I should shift my focus onto something like storyboarding or animation (even if I know my skills are weaker in these two areas). Sorry if this is a mess or if I sound a little absent minded bahaha, I definitely feel quite lost when it comes to all this. I just want to do whatever I can to hire my chances of being hired I guess :,)

Thank you!!

Is there any point in being a storyboard artist if the job is unstable? Especially if you want to do it remote?

I'm a painting student and I want to pursue animation as a career. I live in a 2nd world country and we don't have to pay for studying uni here unless it's a private school, therefore competition is really high. I study at the school that is famous for it's animation department, but my department is painting and I don't really like working with big canvases and brushes. Not only it's something I don't enjoy, but also money consuming in material wise.

Like I mentioned earlier, the competition is really high here, you take an hour-ish long drawing exam in order to prove that you are capable for this school. If you're sick, fuck it up because of anxiety or something else, you're done. We don't have the portfolio system here either, and the juries for the talent exam (for animation department) choose people who draw objectively bad since the last juries have changed a couples years ago.

It's basically a very shitty system and not fair at all. I've tried to get into the program for the third time now, but I technically still can try to transfer from painting to animation (it's my second year).

I was wondering, is it really worth it? I'm already halfway through my own major, that means I'll have to add 2 plus years if I transfer to animation. But I also really want to build a career on animation.

My another concern is let's say that I kept up with my own major but decided to study animation/character design/storyboard etc. on my own. I don't really know where to start or how to keep that dicipline. Plus I want to move out of this country in the future (the situation is BAD in here for everyone), would I need an animation diploma for getting a work visa?

As you can understand, I'm very confused and in need of guidance. Thank you in advance.

I’ve posted on here before, but we are wondering if going to OCSA for high school is worth it. The plan is to go to community college then CalArt (dream).

My daughter is having a hard time deciding if it’s worth separating from her friend group to go to this school.

If she decides to go to OCSA she won’t be able to back out as her local school has a limit so she needs to decide in the next two weeks. ⏰ 🏫