By: Shawn Kelly

Hello from the other side of the planet!

As I write this, I'm in Singapore for six weeks to help train some animation apprentices and am having the time of my life. What's more fun than visiting an exotic location, meeting new friends, reuniting with old friends, and getting to talk about animation all day?! It isn't all Happy-Go-Lucky-Land - I *am* really missing my family, my US friends, my ILM work, and especially my incredibly understanding wife, but home is just two weeks away at this point, so I'm on the home stretch!

Singapore is amazing, by the way. Really friendly people, it's super safe, the streets are shockingly spotless, and I've met some really talented people here...

I know what you're wondering, and I was wondering the same thing: "I know Singapore is famous for its great food, but how is the fried chicken?" Well, I'm still working on getting a full overview of Singapore's fried chicken situation, but so far it's pretty decent! They have the requisite American fast food stuff (a KFC at the zoo!), and a US-style diner that I went to, which actually had some pretty terrific fried chicken, and then there is obviously lots of Chinese fried chicken, but that's been a little hit-or-miss so far -- but I'm still open to trying some more places! You can never taste-test too much Fried Chicken!

This is actually my second trip to Singapore, and during the two trips I've eaten some truly bizarre things - or at least bizarre to my American eyes: Chicken-foot soup (which is exactly what it sounds like), century eggs (pickled robin's eggs, or something?), Durian (AAAAAAAAAA! Just run away! Sorry, Singapore - I know you love it, but holy moly, my white-trash taste buds just cannot handle the horror of the Durian "fruit"), and a grape-sized fish eyeball that my friend Snowy convinced me to eat. Meanwhile, she's completely disgusted by the concept of eating a banana!

Gotta love Singapore...

Anyway, I got a great question from Kevin about the animation job market in the comments on Animation Mentor’s new Tips & Tricks blog (www.animationtipsandtricks.com) that I thought I'd go ahead and answer here.

I'm not the expert in the job market, by any means, but I'll share at least what I've personally observed... I'd definitely still recommend that you guys ask around to other sources, because my experiences certainly aren't all-encompassing, and are largely limited to the feature animation and vfx animation niches...

What types of jobs are available to animators? (I'm assuming character animation in the film/TV isn't the only possibility)
Which jobs are in the most demand and which are in the least demand?
What are the best job market cities in the U.S./Canada (abroad as well)?
Do you have to move to a big city to get a job?

Kevin asks what jobs are available to animators -- he’s right to assume that the industry is much larger than simply "film/TV" jobs. Character animators have found work in many companies and studios, doing - among other things: character animation for feature animated films, character animation for visual effects films, a huge variety of TV shows, TV commercials, in-game videogame work, cinematic videogame work, bringing to life architectural CAD flythroughs, Internet flash animation, online greeting cards, Web-based videogames, crime-scene recreation, automobile safety simulations, 3D motion "rides" at amusement parks, teaching, and have also put their artistic talents to use in a variety of graphic design, illustration, and marketing jobs.

So yes, there's definitely a variety of jobs out there, and everyone has their own preferences of what they enjoy the most.

As for demand, that's very difficult to answer, as all of the above industries fluctuate considerably, often in a very cyclical pattern. For example, sometimes (such as for the last few months), the visual effects industry hits a slow patch, and it can be very difficult to get (or keep) a job. And then, often just a few months later, the demand for animators is suddenly huge as a bunch of films get green-lit and studios scramble to fill animation positions. Demand is very difficult to predict, but especially when you don't have a lot of experience, it can be difficult to find a job at times, that's for sure.

I would generally advise greener animators to not expect their first few jobs to be the most glamorous, but those jobs will often be terrific learning experiences as you climb the ladder to your dream job!

The best job-market cities would be difficult to nail down as well, because the animation industry is growing a lot in Europe, India, and Southeast Asia right now, as well as in Mexico and a number of other countries. Traditionally, the big animation cities have been LA, Northern California (San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area), London, Paris, New York, Vancouver, etc. However, Oregon, Florida, and Texas all have strong animation markets these days, as do cities in India, New Zealand, Australia, and of course all over Asia. Singapore's industry is growing quickly as well, and many governments (such as Singapore's) are making a concerted effort to support and fund a home-grown animation industry.

So basically, animation is growing pretty much all over the place right now!

As for having to live in a big city, I would say that for most of the larger animation studios, you would have to live at least near a large city, yes. However, I see the day rapidly approaching where animators can work from home much if not most of the time. Once security and confidentiality concerns can be properly addressed, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see many studios adopt at least some amount of a "work from home" system. Once that's here, which realistically is still years away and would only work for certain mediums, I suppose we'll be able to work from wherever we want!

That's the dream, anyway, because I BADLY want to animate a transformer while sitting on some sand with my feet in a warm ocean! :)

Ahhhhh... someday.... OK, maybe that'll never happen, but I can dream, can't I?!

Hope that answers all your questions! Thanks for reading, and also for the kind words about our blog!

- Shawn :)