Day in the Life of an Animator

Being an animator is, without a doubt, one of the most niche jobs you could have. It involves using a huge number of different skills in a day as well as trying to implement a ridiculous amount of changes and additions to projects all at once. On top of that, you need to be an incredibly talented designer and artist, as well!

This skillset is quite a hard thing to have and to get by with, but the typical day in the life of an animator is an especially interesting one. What kind of tasks can you be expected to take on if you had this job?

Handling The Creative Process

Although there is no real set day in the same way that a typist may have a very specific program to follow with each day, you still are expected to work hard! You will spend a lot of time in creative meetings with other animators and other teams trying to come up with the ultimate plan for an animation and ensuring that it ticks all the boxes in terms of comedy and style.

You will be expected to handle most of the creative thinking, whilst also ensuring that you take on some very specific plans and ideas along the way. Whilst you need to make it all come to life it usually just needs to fit with a script or a setting provided by the writing team.

Create!

You’ll be spending a lot of the time at the desk creating mock-ups and trying to design something that fits with the project’s overall style. It takes a bit of time to get it right, but you will quite easily get used to it if you just take the time needed. The best part about this is that it just lets you be yourself; no messing around and no cheating. You’ll instead be dealing with a boatload of different subjects and tasks along the way, ensuring that you deal with as much as you possibly can without really taking too much on over the one day.

Meet Deadlines

Like any other job, an animator’s work comes with various different activates that need to be finished, and stages within a drawing or design that they need to be completed on deadline. This takes a bit of time and will obviously put the pressure up but you should, in time, be able to get used to these unique challenges without too much trouble.

Animating is fun, but it really is a demanding and specific job!

Want to know more about creative careers? Check out our Career Paths section for information about education, salaries, and more in creative fields!