How to Be an Animator

The complexities of animating, and animating well, are far beyond what many of our minds are capable of mustering up. If you aren’t an animator yourself, it’s difficult to imagine the process of building literal bones and muscles, or studying the movements of animals so closely, that you know how their breath interacts with their anatomy. 

The word ‘animation’ can be sourced back to the Latin verb ‘animare’, meaning, “to give life to”. And that’s exactly what animators do. They breathe life into an image, whether that be by making it hunt, crawl, growl, run, cry. As an artform, a lot has changed from the days of hand painting figures onto transparent, celluloid sheets. The grainy images from years past have since been replaced with those so painfully detailed, that you feel you could reach out and touch them. Reality is often only replaced by the reminder-to-self that octopus-bearded ghost pirates, and six-winged birds with dragon tails - do not in fact, exist… hopefully.

For Danu, it was the older forms of the art that first lured him in. He’s renowned as one of the best in the business - and for good reason - but many would be surprised to know he’s actually self-taught. It was over 18 years ago, in his home-country of India, with no access to animation training institutions, that he began that arduous process. Nowadays, he’s responsible for some of the most breathtaking work on our screens. Aladdin, Avengers End Game and Jurassic World, are a mere few of the many fantastical projects Danu has been responsible for. He’s an expert in CGI animal and creature animation, the co-founder of esteemed VFX studio, Viskefi, responsible for award-winning animation films, and knows all the entry-level animation tips. 

Today, Danu answers the question many yearn to know: How exactly do you become an animator?

LBB> Danu, what is something if young creatives knew about animation would make them fall in love with it?

Danu> It’s important to learn the artistry behind the movements and how to bring a character/ creature to life by understanding their personality, rather than worrying about other elements. People spend time stressing about Maya or 3dsmax, or how they need to move the rig controls. Maya and Max are just the tools most of the training divisions teach in animation, but the artistry behind the movements is missing. If young animators can think about it from this point of view, they will know how much is too much and how little is too little in terms of the movements and performance of the character. That, after all, is what you as an audience love to see in a shot, scene or sequence.

LBB>  Do you think there is a general uncertainty around entering animation that deters people from exploring opportunities?

Danu> Maybe it's not as popular as the other jobs like engineer, doctor or lawyer. Most often, parents don't treat this as a profession due to a lack of knowledge about the industry. Hence, they don't tend to encourage it either. But nowadays, things have changed; everyone knows the animation industry is out there, and universities are developing animation and artistic courses. I think it just comes down to a lack of information or related training courses/ schools in the industry. 

LBB> To those having trouble finding ways in, what is the first step to becoming an animator?

Danu> First, find information about the industry and how an animator spends their day in terms of creative freedom and the challenges they face in a normal working day (a lot of articles online). You should also try to find and follow good animators from the industry - get connected to them via Linkedin or other social media and follow them. There are some interesting podcasts and YouTube videos about some good artists, so be sure to seek them out (there can be a lot of info). Also, consider reaching out with questions, meet them for a coffee, or just get on a call. The good thing about the industry being so small is that artists are happy to guide you. Finally, attending animation-related meetups and networking there will help you to meet people in the industry who could become helpful guides.

LBB> Can you remember one influential read or video that inspired you as an animator?

Danu>  Well, most of my childhood, I grew up watching the Jungle Book movies, TV series and TV commercials - anything with CG in it caught my attention, especially going into my teenage years. It’s through those things I was introduced to animation. Then Jurassic Park and Terminator got my attention, and I was always curious to know more about them and how they made those movies. Those are the things that made me pursue my career in animation and VFX. 

LBB> We’ve talked frequently about how complex creature animation is. Do you think new animators should be intimidated by such a great feat?

Danu> To be honest, no. There are two things a new animator needs to focus on: First is developing skills in software tools like Maya (the industry standard and preferred software to animate). Second and most important is understanding the reasons behind any movements the character makes. If they can understand these two things, then the roadmap is clear.  

Planning your shot is important too. You must study animal movements and how they behave because that’s what will help you to understand them. You can then bring that same essence of the animal into the animation.  Knowing the anatomy of the animal or character is helpful, but it's not a hurdle; you don't need to dive in too much. Understanding the creature's mood, which leads to their behaviours and movements, can give you a great foundation to work on the shot. 

References are important. You can collect your own or use your lead’s. Without these it can be really difficult to figure out what the creature needs to be doing in the shot. It’s only when you miss the planning stage or don’t use references to assist with the execution that you’ll end up scared. 

LBB> Are you ever done developing your skills, or is there always room for improvement?

Danu>  I wish I could say yes, but NO. There is always room for improvement. But this is the main element that makes our job super interesting on the daily. We are constantly developing our skills in terms of tools, technology, and artistry. We’re fortunate that our industry demands a massive variety of characters and creatures to animate. Studying the personalities and acting choices of characters and their nuances always keeps our job fresh. 

Daily research then implementing your learnings into shots is the fun part - don’t get me wrong, it’s stressful too when you can’t get it right, but help is always on hand. 

Every time we get to animate different animals, it's an opportunity to dive in deep and learn more about them. It’s the same with the tools, often we need to make new ones based on shows demanding new workflows. Here, we get to assist artists so they can work with these tools more efficiently. It’s all a learning process. 

LBB> How closely does your team work together on each animation?

Danu> Most of the time, all the animators work closely. They all work with the same character/creature in the sequence, but different animators will work on different shots. Often however, without their knowledge, individuals will reflect their own personalities or make the animals move differently, which leads to consistency issues. Hence, keeping the habit of working together in a team, rather than animating in isolation, helps to tackle these issues.  

Shots in continuation demand this workflow especially, in terms of matching the emotional temp beats between them. It ensures consistent quality. If you end up with some shots that are excellent quality, littered with some poor ones, it’ll ruin the audience's experience for sure. 

LBB> Can you describe the feeling once a creature is brought to life?

Danu> Bringing the Thunderbird creature to life in the Fantastic Beasts movie when I worked at DNEG in London, was one of the greatest tests of my skills as an animator. 

Originally, I started on the show as the senior animator. This allowed me to do the initial tests with my lead. Understanding the story and personality of the bird gave me good direction regarding the graceful look and feel of the movements. The physicality of the bird however was incredibly difficult given it had six wings and a dragon-like tail. This is where I had to lean on a lot of references. I began studying birds like osprey, eagles, and owls to understand how they move in real life situations; how they stand, and how they fly. I then looked at birds with long and shorter wings, observing how they influence the body’s moves. From there came the task of making the bird interact with the environment and actor. Working on the bond between them, to bring that caring, playful relationship, and a bit of wildness to the fore was tremendously arduous. 

After these three months, we brought the Thunderbird to life in the way the director had envisioned it. That was really special. It’s kind of indescribable. 

LBB> What is the most detailed creature your team has animated, and are any tasks too big for Viskefi?

Danu> At Viskefi, we love bringing those animals/ creatures to life; we did a few white-labelled shows. Still, hush-hush of course. We animated some komodo dragons, tigers, reindeers, dragons and a few dinosaur shows. Most prominent were two creatures. First was the zombie tiger (for the Army of the Dead movie) - this was for the Netflix promotions on 3D billboards. Animating the tiger in a menacing way as well as the work that needed to be done for the different 3D screens, as well as countries was tricky, both technically and artistically.  

Secondly, there was the animation of the Cryolophosaurus for a virtual reality show. We had to bring it to life in a museum. Bear in mind, this is a creature which is 2.5 to three metres in height, around seven metres long, and 500 kilos in weight. Showcasing the creature’s weight therefore, with the physical specs and behaviours took a lot of trial and error. It was brilliant to bring those extra bits of the Crylo into the museum, witnessing the confusion that happens when he comes to life. Interaction with the things in the museum and walking around with the dinosaur physically was super rewarding at the show’s end. 

LBB> Animation requires great precision and can be rather intense. So, what are ways your team prevents burnout?

Danu> Lack of experience with the details and rushed timelines will cause these burnouts. To tackle these issues, we always listen to our animators and understand what went wrong in the show and how we can correct it next time. We’ve introduced practice training between the shows so that animators can practise and plan their shots well for next time. The training session covers how to plan and execute your shots in shorter timelines and what to look for as a base to plan and execute the shot in terms of blocking the shot and showcasing the director to approval, as well as how to push or polish the shots to great quality. 

LBB> What would your last bit of advice be to young artists and creatives interested in joining the animation world?

Danu> Get to know about the industry and interact with the animators who are in it. Artists will be kind enough to help and guide you if you approach them politely. As a fundamental, always learn the tools and understand the artistry behind the movements by using real-life references as study materials. It’s important to always share your work with fellow artists and seniors for feedback and comments. Spend more time working on the tasks themselves than reading about animation; practice more and more until you get better at it. The main and most important thing is to leave your ego at the doorstep before you enter the work environment and absorb from the peers, mentors and seniors. That’s the best advice I can give.