Misunderstandings about animation are everywhere. People may not understand who the target audience is, how it’s done or how the industry works. And there are plenty of common myths about animation. People tend to believe these, even though the reality is something completely different. So you might be asking what the top five myths are. Here at Austin Visuals, we’ve found that some of the common ones are:
1. Animation? That’s just for kids!
This one pretty much tops the list. It’s something we hear all the time. There’s a certain feeling that only children watch animation – and not only that but anyone else who actually works on animation has the mind of a child. Not true, we’d like to say. First off, if this was true, animation as we know it today wouldn’t exist. No-one will contest that children are skilled and creative, but most kids wouldn’t be able to produce, plan and draw television-quality animations, much less anything on the level of Shrek or Cars. Second, even not looking at Japanese animation (anime), which has many feature-length films and programs targeting mature audiences, many American animations enjoy a wide audience of adults who enjoy the animations for having very well-put-together packages, engaging plots – and all this with an air of innocence peculiar to animated products. Not only that but there’s video game animation, which can touch on some rather mature topics. Having a high regard for animation doesn’t make you childlike or intellectually limited. It just means that this is a genre that you enjoy. Maybe you enjoy it enough to work in the industry!
2. Traditional animation is of higher quality than computer animation.
It’s an unfortunate common sight to see jerky Flash animations with two or three disjointed in-betweens applied to quickly-drawn vector art, or the attempts at 3D-to-2D that look like poorly done Poser models run through a poster filter. When you look online, this sort of thing is far more common than high-quality computer animations. The fault isn’t with the animation itself, though. It’s with the animators. Consider traditional animation: Quality takes time, right? Why wouldn’t the same be true in computer animations? Too many people think that things are easier to do in computer animation, they can take shortcuts and produce low-quality animations in a matter of moments. But to make something truly visually pleasing, it still takes attention to detail, dedication to perfection, time and outright skill. Amazing quality can be created by the right hands, in any endeavor.
3. There’s no way “up” in an animation studio.
Many people think that if you land a job with an animation studio, you’ll spend the rest of your life erasing someone else’s tweens in a dungeon of an office, likely for minimum wage. But that’s just it: It’s minimum wage for a starting position. In a studio environment, a beginner generally starts off doing cleanup work or in an internship position. This doesn’t mean you’re there forever. As you prove your skill and learn the ropes, you’ll move up into positions better suited for your talent, not to mention the studio’s needs.
4. Nobody does traditional animation any more.
Not true at all. Many studios supplement with computer animation tricks, but many favorite shows are still created using traditional 2D animation techniques. This holds true for animated feature films as well. Yes, computer animation has its advantages, but there are certain imperfections of human style and technique that it can’t duplicate.
5. If I want to be an animator, I have to be a master artist!
No, not really. You don’t need to be Rembrandt in order to animate well. A grasp of drawing and art in general you do need to have, though. If you intend to animate, you’ll be drawing or modeling and then creating animations from that. So whether you’re a good artist or not, you need to understand scale, anatomy, proportions and other artistic principles in order to be successful. But you can put the oil paints away.
At Austin Visuals 3D Animation Studio we specialize in providing the following 3D Animation and Video Services:
- 3D Animation, FX, and 3D Renderings
- Animation, Video Production, and Graphics from concept-to-completion
Contact us Today to request a free quote and to learn more about how Austin Visuals can help you with your business and your 3d animation needs. Austin Visuals can help you save time and many headaches of getting your project off the ground and best of all we make your imagination, reality. Call us today at 512-591-8024 or email us at : [email protected]
