Video Game Animator Career Profile
- Career Name - Video Game Animator
- Category - Art & Design
- Skills Required - Life skills 40% - Career skills 60%
- Basic Subjects - Art, Business Studies, Biology
- Minimum Education - High School
- Species Worked With - Pets, Critters, Farm Animals, Wildlife
- Short Courses - 340 with Rewards = Points +Badges
Do you want to work as a Video Game Animator?
READ: This page helps you read about the career and the information you need to decide whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: ​Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for your career, then join the OZT community! Members have access to tools while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTOR
UPDATED:
29 April 2024
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What is a Video Game Animator?
A video game animator is a professional responsible for bringing characters, creatures, and objects to life within the virtual worlds of video games. They use animation techniques to create movement, behaviours, and interactions that enhance gameplay and storytelling. Video game animators play a crucial role in the game development process, working closely with designers, artists, programmers, and other team members to create immersive and engaging gaming experiences.
Alternative Names
Alternative names for a video game animator may vary depending on the context and specific roles within the game development industry. Some alternative titles or roles that encompass aspects of video game animation include:
Character Animator:
This title emphasises the animator’s specialisation in bringing characters to life through movement and performance.
Creature Animator:
Focusing specifically on animating creatures, monsters, and other non-human entities within video games.
Environment Animator:
Specialising in animating environmental elements such as foliage, water, weather effects, and dynamic objects within game worlds.
Cutscene Animator:
Responsible for animating cinematic sequences, cutscenes, and scripted events that advance the game’s narrative.
Motion Capture Animator:
Working with motion capture technology to capture and animate real-life movements for use in video game animations.
Gameplay Animator:
Concentrating on animating gameplay-specific actions and interactions, such as attacks, jumps, interactions, and special abilities.
Technical Animator:
Combining animation skills with technical expertise to implement and optimise animations within game engines and tools.
Lead Animator:
Assuming leadership responsibilities within the animation team, overseeing the animation pipeline, providing artistic direction, and mentoring junior animators.
Senior Animator:
An experienced animator who may take on more complex animation tasks, provide guidance to junior animators, and contribute to overall animation quality and direction.
Animation Director:
In larger game development studios, this role may oversee the entire animation department, setting artistic direction, managing workflows, and ensuring animation quality across multiple projects.
These alternative names reflect the diverse roles and specialisations within the field of video game animation, highlighting the varied skills and expertise required to create compelling and immersive gaming experiences.
Disney cartoons?
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was the first animated cartoon by Disney
Moving cartoons?
Cartoonists that draw moving cartoons (for movies and TV) are called animators
What does a Video Game Animator do?
Category:
Art & Design
Focus:
The primary focus of video game animators is to use art skills, together with technology, to animate game backgrounds and characters.
Daily Tasks:
- Discuss brief with clients
- Develop a storyboard to help the idea
- Prepare model drawings of each character
- Draw special effects (animated movements, shading, texture)
- Presentation to clients of work done
- Create and add new work to a portfolio
- Administration and filing
Where they work:
Environment –
Game animators normally work indoors in a design studio or office setup. They do also spend some time in the outdoors, studying the animals they need to draw.
Places of Employment –
Most Game Animators work for large game developers, TV and film production houses, governments, research and education facilities.
Average Salary:
On average the income per year is around $55,000. This will differ from country to country.
Difficulties:
The most difficult part is always to get your designs seen by future clients. For this a lot of animators need to be well versed in the setup and use of social media. They may work long hours and over weekends and holidays to finish work within tight deadlines.
​Future growth and Possibilities:
The VR industry has seen a remarkable growth, and is expected to create a good line of new jobs in the future.
3. Which Skills are required?
The skills required for a career as a video game animator can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills:
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills:
- ​Good business knowledge
- Good artistic skills
- Basic customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Excellent computer literacy (drawing software)
4. Which Subjects must I have at School?
The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
5. What will I need to Study?
Minimum Requirements:
​To become a video game animator requires at least a College Diploma or even a Bachelor’s Degree.Â
Focus:
A good background in drawing is essential, so be sure to perfect your doodling and sketching skills. Short Courses in the software packages used are essential, especially when you do make use of computer software to draw and render your drawings.
Duration:
The duration of College and Bachelor’s Degrees can be up to 3 or 4 years. Short Courses are usually between a few weeks and a year.
Possible Career Preparation Paths:
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
​To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths:
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternatives (there are a lot more):
Stepping Stone Career:
Being a video game animator can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high fees etc).
You can begin as an intern animator after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and apprenticeship:
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal careers, most of the skills you will need as an animator will be acquired through practice. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior cartoonist or expert.
Join the Video Game Animators Group in STEP 8Â to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of all the people who enter the career:
6. Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
Although not required by law, certifications may help workers establish their credentials and enhance their skills.
Learn more about requirements by joining OZT in STEP 8.
Professional Associations:
7. Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards animation.
Join the OZT community!
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming a video game animator.
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being a Video Game Animator, please click on the JOIN GROUP button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
If this career is NOT the career for you, then you may return to the MAIN CAREERÂ menu, and search for something different.
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