Max the Mutt Animation School Blog
This is the place to stay on top of what we are doing at Max The Mutt Animation School
Today I posted a response on AWN to a young man worried about chances of ending up at a top company. I thought I’d share it with you, so here it is!
Studying Animation
You didn’t say what you’re studying. Do they have an animation department?
Does it include life drawing, anatomy, cartooning, character design, layout, story boarding and lots of classical animation? 2d and 3d computer animation? Acting and improvisation? Drawing for animation? Visual storytelling?
Studying all of this will definitely get you on the right path. If that’s what they offer, you’re on the way.
Once you graduate, the fact that you don’t start at Dreamworks doesn’t mean you won’t eventually get to work for them, and it also doesn’t mean that that’s the only good gig in town. Sometimes you can actually learn more working for a smaller company where you may be called on to do a number of different jobs.
Certainly in my experience, graduates have been hired based on their demo reels, portfolios, professionalism, and ability to sell themselves at an interview, not on what school they went to. When we first began and were unknown, we had some students who were hired by big companies that only learned about the school because grads had submitted portfolios and demo reels!
Companies need good employees. They don’t make more money because you went to a certain school.
Which reminds me, if some schools have so many applicants that they can take in people who already have lots of skills under their belts before they even begin (and would probably succeed no matter where they went to school) those students may end up ahead of you…but not forever!
It’s the right thing to pursue your dreams and start to develop your potential even if you’re a late bloomer. You still have the right- and the obligation to yourself- to try. If you have the curiosity and the passion and you keep animating and thinking and learning, you’ll get better and better. You’ll catch up and you may even surge ahead.
The grads who end up at top companies share passion, work ethic, and a desire to be shown where their work could be better. They can’t wait to get back at it and do it better the next time. They take direction well, which also makes them desirable employees.
With animation students, it’s also telling who does extra work, who keeps animating over the summer. . who are the students who redo exercises?
Ken is right about criticism. The instructors who have high standards are your friends. They’re telling you what isn’t working, what to redo, what to work on. That’s what you should crave! It should be expected, if you’re a student, that work will not be perfect and that you’ll need to try and try again.
If you have a positive attitude about learning, can deal with frustration, and know that you’ll need to do more than satisfy the course requirements, you’re well positioned to improve.
It’s more about working at it than anything.
