Advice for Students Leaving for the Industry

are you a graduating animation student or student leaving school to pursue work within the industry what are the things to expect when you do land a gig within the industry and maybe not knowing what to expect from the industry gives you a little bit of anxiety here are some of my top advises for those individuals pursuing work within the industry [Music] hey guys it's Anika Pinto and today I'd like to give my advice for students going into the industry so these are students who are just graduating from school or students who are leaving school to pursue actual work within the industry or in some cases leaving their home to live in Los Angeles where most of the industry scene is but in this video I want to talk about things to expect or things to prepare yourself so you can protect yourself from the hardships of the industry there's a lot of students coming into the industry where they have this sort of expectation in what the studio life or what the industry will grant them and when things don't work out their weight they get really jaded they want to quit the industry and they become bitter about it going to school and Cal are it's where we're very close to the industry we already had these expectations because the teachers there actually had experiences both old and recent within the industry and would tell us these stories and cautionary tales to watch out for when entering the industry but there are those out there who don't really know what to expect and when it hits them it hits them hard so I'd like to talk about my top advice I have for those people coming into the industry scene number one don't expect the company or studio that hires you to be your family there are many students out there that loosely use the word family you're part of the a family welcome to the eighth family you're part of that studio family the problem I have with students calling their employees family is that a lot of these employees will take it to heart that they are their sole happiness their place of belonging etc now this may be a cynical or pessimistic point of view that I have but I don't take the word family very lightly so when a studio lets you go for example would you still consider them your family would they still consider you as family or because you're not working for them you're not part of that family anymore my feelings were family is that they'll try their best to be there for you even though the circumstances are rough so when someone who's worked in a studio for 20 plus years and they get let go it's heartbreaking to them because they treated that studio as their family the way I personally see studios is that their relationships things either work out or things don't work out you give something and they give something in return that relationship can be long-term it can last for a really long time or it can be short-term it could just be a fling so when I think about studio work like that I can find values within myself that make me appreciate myself more without the dependency of a studio so just don't base all your happiness on this one studio and just treat it as business as a relationship number two don't expect leading roles to be handed to you like you deserve it know whether you deserve a leading role or not that's not really the point I'm trying to make here the point I'm trying to make here is that normally you don't get those leading roles as soon as you leave school you would usually start off as a trainee an apprentice or an entry-level position when it comes to the industry and eventually you prove yourself and you eventually become a normal workforce within the industry even you stay in this room or you start moving up in the ranks and become a lead or director or whatnot for a project but it's not normal that you're handed leading roles just because you feel like you deserve it and your fellow co-workers may have a lot more experience to you and are more capable than you are in leading a project because they have that experience within the industry so my advice would just to keep working to just keep proving and don't worry too much about those lead roles if you feel like you're not being heard well start working on personal projects where you have full control over that and you have a voice for it number three don't expect studios to run the way you want them to and this is a problem that I see a lot of students face when they come into the industry so imagine a student that just got hired at a studio that does a lot of family oriented animated flicks and that student is really bummed out and really angry that the studio isn't doing any mature or adult oriented animation related stuff maybe that student is really bummed out that they aren't doing 2d feature films one thing I learned about Studios ever since I started working is that they maintain a brand or an image that they want to have within the populace so if a family wants to watch top quality animation with great story they'd probably watch a release from Disney because they're known for releasing films and that quality but imagine it baby just release a core adult material that would alienate the whole crowd and would mess up their brand of their image I see a lot of students ranting about the state of the industry or wine industry isn't doing the things that they want to do and to be fair I'm just like that - I still AM but it's a lot more complex than that that covers a lot of departments that's outside of our discipline so if you get hired into the studio deliver good work contribute new ideas explore new ideas but just don't combat the studio for not doing the things that you want to do I do feel that people within the studio should challenge this studio that they work for it to explore new territory but don't be bummed about it if it doesn't happen overnight and if you still feel yourself really unhappy with the studio because of the work that they're doing that you're not a fan of then there are other students out there that fit closely to your aesthetics number four don't be Precious about the work you do for a studio if you've heard the term or expression kill your babies then I'm sure you're familiar with this especially if you come from an art school or an animation school you probably have a good idea of what that's all about before those who don't know it's when you're really precious about the work you do the work you make you're really passionate about it you love it and maybe it's just you when I do work for clients or a studio I would show them a first pass and it would give me notes where I'd have to change everything I did from the ground up even if my first pass or my first take on something is my absolute favorite it doesn't really matter to the client or the studio if I'm being paid to adjust notes and make changes then I have to do that regardless of whether I think it's better or worse I will try to justify my notes and make my decisions sound but if it still doesn't register to them then I still have to adjust our notes a lot of entry-level employees especially from those who just graduated or left school get really bitter about this when their work isn't really appreciated so they feel like the production isn't really hearing them or appreciating them one thing you also have to know is that it is all about collaboration it's all about working for a final product and things like these should not be taken personally but the thing is a lot of these people do take it personally so my advice is just to not take things personally treat it as business treat it professionally and remind yourself that you're all in this together number five isn't about grades anymore memorize how to draw the human head using the Loomis method so what who gives memorize all the Latin names for the muscles who gives a damn you can draw a whole figure without doing any under drawing or shorthand Wow good for you there are a lot of rules that teachers and schools have made for their students when they do their assignments but those are just things that the school can give you a score if you pass or fail something in a production workflow there are style guides for you to hit a certain style to make everything consistent with a project people may utilize shortcuts that may seem like cheating for students so just altering a color of an image just using sliders and adjustment layers instead of trying to hand paint everything with decisive color making skills if it gets the job done it gets the job done what may seem like cheating is just working smarter however there is a difference routine cheating and stealing and that's something I'll have to talk about in another video number six learn communication and teamwork skills you're not just yourself anymore you're not just doing it for your own grades you're also now doing it for a team a studio or a whole production if you're doing work that may be problematic to the whole production it'll affect the whole production so for example if you start drawing the characters in your own style and not being consistent with the style for the actual product it's gonna lead to people having to redo the work that you did just to make everything consistent you also have to learn how to talk with your teammates how to get in the same boat the same mindset and find solutions that make all of you work together in harmony I remember when I was a student at school there are a lot of eagles there are a lot of people who had strong opinions about the industry and thought they were top guns but that really gets you nowhere especially when you're in a team so you have to make sure everyone's on the same boat everyone's giving their best and you all respect each other remember teamwork operations is where you build reputation if you're teammates how to delight working with you then you're gonna build a good reputation when you do look for future work and I feel like having a good reputation is so much better than just having a huge social media following number seven start learning about the art of negotiation something I wish that a lot of art schools our animation schools did is that they taught students the business side of things a lot of students pay huge money just to learn the craft art-making but i feel like they want to make that money back and to make that money back they have to learn how to run businesses they also have to learn the art of negotiation so this is where you have to do your research consult your friends consult people out there get some advice from people you admire how they started out and how they started negotiating their rates if you're going to the animation industry in LA a lot of the studios are part of the animation guild one of the reasons why the guild was made was to protect the workers working within the animation industry whether it's fair pay abused in the workplace fair treatment however this mostly just applies to people working in the industry in Los Angeles California one of the most expensive places to live and within the world and in their website they do provide a list of how much you should be at least making for a studio that is part of the Union so that means mostly major animation studios within Los Angeles are part of the animation guild but even if you're not part of the animation guild or working for something that is part of the animation guild you should be okay for asking for higher pay it never hurts to ask for higher pay and usually the people that are trying to hire you will decon our offers and you guys start negotiating until you reach a deal that fits both for you but you should also consider that it's not just about the money it's also about the work hours the work you're doing what's expected out of you ask what their overtime pay situation is like it's a contract based on how long you're working for the company or is it based per project or is it based at well are you getting paid hourly weekly bi-weekly are there other benefits such as royalties bonuses healthcare gas and communal services when are you expected to be paid these are things you want to start thinking about and things you want to be on top of so you guys don't get duped or taken advantage of for your work now a negotiation is different for everyone some people fight for longer employment some people will fight for higher pay it's really entirely up to you but shoot for higher standards for yourself and be proud of the work that you can contribute and why they want to hire you in the first place start thinking about yourself as a business so the thing with in the industry especially an animation is that it's super competitive there's a lot of story artists there's a lot of animators who can do almost the same things that you can do but what makes you and maybe to beyond a position what makes you stand out where you can survive on your own maybe you want to do a comic maybe you want to go into more personal project relative stuff maybe you want a brand merchandise whatever it is start thinking about that stuff so you find worth in your own work rather than what the studio expects you to do deliver something that only you can deliver and no one else can number eight if you're on a visa start on projects where you have sole responsibilities for as a visa holder myself reputation about your work and yourself is crucial when it comes to visa applications I had classmates that were just as international as I was they were on visas but they did nothing but party and they didn't really do any work that makes them shine within their career the student films I did at school I made them my personal projects I directed them I animated them I submitted them to film festivals they got recognition one of them ended up being nominated for the Annie Awards reputation like that can help build your visa case when you do apply for a visa that allows you to stay within the country visas are getting harder and harder to get work visas that's not a guarantee visas like the old one the extraordinary ability for America shows that you're capable and that you stand out in your career to obtain this visa if you feel like you want to live in a country that's not of your birthplace and you want to get anyone again permanent residency throughout your career and your reputation with that career think about your personal projects to use as a leading role some other people are more fortunate where they can gain leading roles in a project within a studio that can help them get that permanent residency or that permanent visa so if you're doing it for visa reasons use your talents for that to get that permanent residency last but not least keep learning and studying just because you graduated from school that doesn't mean that you know everything already you know how to animate you know how to paint whatever nowadays I study Anatomy the anime is something that I wish that I studied more during school I've been trying to be more comfortable with painting I've been taking classes here and there what I love about this career is that it is a lifelong opportunity of learning there's a lot of things about animation that I love and I want to learn that too but in order to do that either I have to get involved in those projects or I have to do self studying or join classes where I can gain that knowledge to prepare myself for those tasks up ahead school didn't really teach me everything I learned a lot from school but I didn't learn everything that I wanted to know so I have to make the effort not depend on my teachers to give me that information and research and find classes and teachers that do teach the things that I personally want to learn there are students who graduate and when they start in the industry they screw up because they were not prepared for the industry work and then they end up blaming their school for not to human the skills that they needed to know while that sort of stuff can be just a fight the biggest fault here in the room is really the student if they really wants to master Anatomy they would have gone to extracurricular classes or got into workshops where they really didn't in-depth studies of anatomy for example however even as a full-time employee even if you're working in the studio you should still be open to learning new things and you should keep practicing you should break out of your comfort zone so you can grow as an artist your journey of learning does not stop once you graduated so if you're working on a project find opportunities where you can really challenge yourself and if you feel really ballsy maybe you asked a production lead to give you those challenging scenes with the intention of improving anyways those are my top advices I'd like to give for students who are graduating or leaving school or just entering the industry as brand new employees if there are things that I missed that or things that you wanted to know as a student who was entering the industry or trying to get into the industry let me know down below in the comment section otherwise I hope you enjoyed this video and thank you so much for watching interested in learning hand-drawn animation or learning how to finish an animated shot from beginning to end have a look at the store where you'll find the complete introduction - TV animation video course tutorials and other resources learn classical animation approaches drawing lectures techniques and other process videos visit the store through the link in the description below

Channel: Toniko Pantoja

Views: 22,576

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Id: KwkjAAZMm7Q

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Wed May 20 2020