Hi Kelly,
It's no problem at all.
How did you get into the animation industry?
After school I did a portfolio course at Colaiste Dhulaigh, I then went into second year of Animation
at Colaiste Dhulaigh, then I went and did the Animation Degree at IADT. So four years of studying
animation in total. After
that I got an internship at Geronimo Productions (then called Monster)
because the director knew me from Twitter. The internship was production work but I showed
an interest in animation and showed I was willing to learn to I got an animator role on their
next
show and the one after that. When production wound down I then went on to be an FX animator
at Kavaleer. After that I decided to go into more of a production role and was approached by
Meabh and Jay at Mooshku about working on their current project.
What are the day-to-day situations you are faced with?
As the Co-Ordinator it's up to me to make sure everything is running smoothly. I'm Meabh's right
hand man, so any day-to-day issues that come up are mine to solve. IT issues, office problems,
scheduling quirks
are usually the sort of things I come up against. "Production" is essentially
"management". But my experience of working in animation gives me a great sense of the
battlefield, I wouldn't want to do this job without having worked across other areas first.
What motivates you in your career?
I got into animation because I was really into creative stuff as a teenager and
dreaded the
idea of working a regular job. But as I get further into my twenties I'm far more interested
in the business end of things so I've moved way more towards production
and
management.
What can be considered the most enjoyable aspect of this career?
Working on cool projects is probably the best part of the job. You meet really interesting people
and you get to be creative. Because the industry in Ireland is so small you can move around and try
out many different jobs so it's as varied as you want it to
be. You're never tied down anywhere and
everything changes often.
What Skills are valuable as 2D Character Animator?
Being able to listen is huge. There's plenty good animators out there that don't get kept on at studios
because they can't take direction or critique. The best animators will be responsive and positive.
They're always willing to learn and always find joy in
whatever they're working on. So I'd list
communication and a positive attitude as the best things an animator can have.
What are the pros and cons of your career?
Pros: It's fun, you're always learning, you've lots of freedom, you meet lots of people, you get to work
on cool projects, you get to do something you're really passionate about.
Cons: There's quite little job security, the money doesn't scale too well over the years.
What skills should I develop to have a better chance in the Industry?
Keep an eye on what software people are using. Flash is always a safe bet for 2D. Knowing ToonBoom
won't hurt either. Animation Skillnet are frequently doing courses in various skills and softwares which
are really handy if you feel weak on anything. Beyond
that I highly recommend having a good attitude.
People will be kept in studios because they're easy to be around, and very skilled artists will be let go
because they're too difficult to work with. Soundness goes far in this business.
In terms of a showreel, what should a 2D Character Animator present in their own showreel?
Different people have different opinions on this but mine is keep it snappy and have your best stuff at
the start and the end. Try not to include too many college exercises because you don't want your reel
blending into someone elses. My general rule of thumb
is 90 seconds of your best work with music that
isn't annoying (I like to use spanish guitars), you don't want to throw something like The Killers on there
only for the Director to hate them and want to turn it off again.
What software is primarily used to animate 2D characters?
Flash has always been the most reliable. Some say it's going away but the last three Animator job
openings I've seen are for Flash. Toonboom is great too but harder to learn. Some studios use
CelAction but it's cheap garbage that you should avoid.
Was this software hard to learn and where there any technical difficulties while using it?
Flash is super easy. There's loads of stuff on YouTube about it and it's very intuitive. ToonBoom has a
lot of rigging stuff in it so it's a bit harder to pick up and get going but there's some decent books on it.
With Flash
and ToonBoom all you really need is a laptop and a tablet to get going. CelAction is a
nightmare to learn, because it's terrible.
What part of 2D Character Animation can be considered the most difficult part?
Some animators are really good, some are really fast, very few are both. Sometimes if
a project is badly managed the animators
will have to work extra fast or long hours and it
sucks. You're at the mercy of storyboards, riggers and directors and they definitely get
the brunt of the labour. But generally animators are always improving and getting faster
so things get better.
Is there any other software that you use for Animation, such as in-house software?
At Mooshku we work exclusively with Flash (which is actually referred to as Animate now (sorry!)) so no
other animation software is used. As far as I'm aware very few studios in Ireland use their own software.
What are the pros and cons of such software?
Generally studios avoid using their own software because it's expensive to maintain and you'd have to
train each new hire. Whereas with stuff like ToonBoom you just hire people who are already good at it
and will sorta just
slot into production.
I hope at least some of that was of use to you. If you have any more questions or want more clarity
on anything just hit me up.
Cheers!
Graham Scott
Production Co-Ordinator
