Hello! I wanted to ask you what i have to do to become a character designer like you. It is my dream job! I've been searching college courses for this but nothing would come up. Would you have any advice for getting into that career? Thank you!
Hmm… First of all, thank you for the question- I hope that I can do your query justice! I will answer your question in two parts: highlights in my personal journey to Cali, then a list of advice that may be able help you.
I think I took an atypical route (or maybe not) into animation…
I did not go to school for animation. I actually went to school for industrial design with a focus in automotive styling. Yes, automotive styling is a thing, a real thing! See my capstone project! We did pitches for cars, but i’ve never done a pitch for a show or anything like that. I’m constantly amazed at what I’ve seen interns do because I never did that stuff.
I went to the University of Cincinnati. You know who else went there who is in animation now? That’s right. NO ONE. Actually, everyone is a little surprised when I tell them that I’m NOT from California, so I don’t know if that tells you something. I will eat my shoe if I ever met someone from in animation who went to the same school as me.
I did not initially PLAN to go into animation. I went to UC because it was close, cheap, and convenient; I didn’t start thinking seriously about animation until I started my internships. Animation was never a dream job for me, since growing up, I didn’t know it was an industry. Looking back to my college days, I was lucky. As aimless as I was somtimes, I was fortunate enough to have landed in a major that allowed me to explore my options.
I had internships in California. However, none of them were in animation (seems to be a recurring theme!). They were all toy design. But wow, it did help that when I got my job at CN, that I wasn’t completely new to the area (CA). It also helped too because my experiences in toy design allowed me to help out with prop design, not just character design.
I posted my work everywhere. And that got me a lot of contacts. Deviantart was my jam!
I was hired during college. I had done some freelance for CN for Ben 10 Omniverse during the beginning of my senior year, which was only a month long gig. As it was approaching graduation time, probably about 3-4 months before, I sent everything I had portfolio wise to the line producer of the show. I also reiterated that I was set to graduate in a few months. About a month or two before graduation, I got an offer for a character design position that would begin a month after I graduated.
I said goodbye to Ohio. I packed up most of my belongings in my hatchback and drove 2000+ miles to start the next chapter in my life. I found my place on Craigslist, a studio apartment that I currently live in. Doing this is a lot easier if you know that you have a job, especially if the area where you’re moving in far away.
Went from CN to Nick in a span of 3 years. Spent almost two years on Ben 10: Omniverse, just celebrated a year at Nick on TMNT. There was a few months between CN and Nick, but I did a few freelance gigs in between. We just got picked up for a fourth season on TMNT, so I estimate that I will be employed until spring or summer of next year. I have only been in-house at two studios, but I’m hoping that with Nick, I can break a two year mark, lol.
There are a multitude of factors that can determine your trajectory into the animation world, but my basic advice is below:
Drawing is not just a visual game, it’s physical and mental. Physically, you practice those hand movements so that over time, it becomes second nature to draw a face correctly, or understand how to pose a character. Mentally, you have to steel yourself for frustrations within yourself and against other people. You’re probably going to have those periods of when you don’t feel too good about your work, but that’s expected, and that’s just part of the process. You have to practice, and sometimes just by practicing, you can really get into a groove! You can begin to create a workflow.
I honestly don’t think that you need to go to college to become proficient artistically. I went because at the time in my life, it was an expected option that turned out to be a fun and fulfilling experience. But just to let you know, any design work that I post on my blog/dA were done outside of my actual major. So what that means is that on top of my regular classes, I took the time outside to work on those designs, etc; I was very committed and dedicated to getting better. But that’s not to say that college didn’t help me, because that’s not true. It did help me, as I met a lot of interesting people, and through that experience, I was able to network relatively well. Again, having two out of three of my internships in California GREATLY helped.
So breaking it all down, here’s what I can offer you, in no particular order. I’m sure there are others, but these were the ones that popped into my head…
Advertise your work. You ain’t gettin’ hired if no one sees your work. Tumblr, Blog, dA, online portfolio, webcomic, business cards, conventions, art shows etc…
Network. Being a designer more than likely involves talking to people. REAL people. If someone who potentially can help you get somewhere e-mails you, you e-mail them back within a day.
Be decent. Don’t be a butthole, guys, don’t do it!
You’re gonna get criticized. It’s inevitable.
Build a thick skin. Your boss and teachers are not going to like everything that you do. And they’re gonna let you know it. LOL It’s how you respond that might make or break a career.
Take opportunities as they come. Let’s say that you’re in school, and suddenly you are offered the dream job. The job starts NOW; what should you do? My advice to you is to just take it. If you’re not gonna take it, there are hundreds of other people who are waiting in line.
Be truthful to yourself and be better. There are always people who comment that they didn’t have time to do something. The truth behind that is that you didn’t make the time. There are extenuating circumstances of course, but at the end of the day, your potential employer is not interested in what you can’t or didn’t do.
Find enjoyment in what you do. I think this is what really helped me. I love DC comics, and I drew a lot of DC stuff in my younger days. Finding something that I loved and that I loved drawing is very important in building up your style.
Whew, lots to tread, but hopefully helpful. Good luck! (and work hard!). The points above are a bit bare boned (and based on my own personal experience), so feel free to add a comment or a photo reply if there is something that you guys would like elaborated on.
tangentwithtanner
snowghoul
dededos
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
