Robert Stava, ARUP
There's something intrinsically magical and fun about bringing things to life via animation that taps into the little kid in each of us. I think that's at the core of why most people do it, since the down side is often crazy hours, mixed pay, and often lack of credit.
Bill Hughes, BAMTUBE
The best aspects about working in animation are the creative immediacy and possibilities. The worst is the inconsistent and “unstable” nature of those who work in the field.
Brad Trofin, Bradleez Cartoons
The best aspects are the diversity of projects and the joy it brings to so many people. The worst is the massive amounts of time spent to achieve outstanding results.
Trevor Davies, Core Animated Effects and professor at Sheridan College Animation
Members of the Animation Community are generally upbeat and have a zest for life. On the downside, Animation is a slow and laborious process - one likened to writing a novel, at one word a day.
Mark DiGiacomo, Digital Elixir Studios
Finding clients who understand the complexity and cost involved with producing animation that sells their products and/or actually has an impact in the market place due to quality and creative approach.
Alec Syme, FUSE
The best things are the huge variety of projects and the satisfaction of exceeding a client’s expectation.
Worst thing, rendering. Hate rendering.
Joddy Eric, Madwerkz
The best part of the animation field is that in a short time we have empowered any director or producer with the ability to fully realize their vision. Almost anything that can be dreamt of can be produced.
The worst part of the animation field is that the enormous ability and skill of today’s top level animation studios and animators have set unrealistic expectations of look, cost and development time-frames with content makers. The enormous cost of today’s big budget films makes every producer expect the same results no matter what the budget is.
Brad Burrow, Real Media
It is a very creative field. Your only limitation is your imagination. If you can imagine it, you now have the tools to create it 3D technology has improved dramatically over the last 10 years. The level of quality and realism is incredible. If you can think out of the box, you can create incredible animations.
The worst thing is that the more intricate your scenes get, the more horsepower you need. It is very hard to keep up with technology. It is moving at light speed. It just means that you need to keep up with what is happening or you will get passed by.
Kathy Rocchio, Slap Happy Cartoons
Best – Working with like minded people who share your sense of humour and love of creation / process of production.
Worst – The feast and famine. When the city is busy with production work it is difficult to pull an entire crew together. Everyone’s production schedules seem to coincidentally conflict with one another. Good / fast artists are often lured to work 2 full time freelance jobs.
For more advice from our experts, check out the rest of our Interview Series, here.