Character animator, storyboard artist, visual development artist, layout artist, effects animator, and modeler - all of these animation career paths have one thing in common: training.
If you want to get into animation school, you need to know how to draw. As part of their entrance requirements, every reputable animation school will ask you for a set of your drawings arranged in a portfolio to show that you possess certain specific drawing skills. Competition for spots in the top animation schools is fierce. It's not enough to simply meet the requirements when submitting a portfolio. If you want to get into an animation program you will need to aim high above all of the average submissions and distinguish yourself with an excellent portfolio of drawings. At the bottom of this article, there is a link to a number of student examples that show exactly what I'm talking about. But first things first. What exactly is an animation portfolio made up of?
An animation portfolio is commonly made up of a combination of these elements:
Life Drawings - drawings of the human figure. These conte, charcoal or graphite drawings must be drawn "from life" and not from a photograph. Get into a Life Drawing class if you can, it's the most important step you can take along the path of getting into animation school and becoming an animator. A Life Drawing class with instruction is your best bet but the next best thing is an open Life Drawing class (students each pay $10 per class toward the cost of a model and agree on a number of short poses usually followed by longer poses toward the end of a 3 hour drawing session) which will at least give you exposure to the nude model and opportunities to draw the figure.
Object Drawings - drawings of individual common objects. The key here is to draw objects that are based on basic geometric forms such as a sphere (an orange?), a box (milk carton?), a cylinder (water bottle?), a cone etc. Don't "clean up" your object drawings. It's perfectly acceptable if your drawings show some of your "rough" construction lines as these will show that you understand the structure below the surface of the objects you draw.
Room Drawings - you need to demonstrate a working knowledge of perspective. Use 2 point perspective to draw a room in your house (kitchen, bedroom?). When choosing a view of a room, avoid facing a wall directly. Look toward a corner instead. If you are 12 to 15 feet away from a corner of the room, your view will show angles that can create more visual interest.
Animation character - design an animation character and draw a turn-around of the character (front view, 職 view, side view etc.) along with various poses and facial expressions.
Storyboarding - some schools will give you a script that outlines a very simple story, a character model sheet and a number of storyboard panels. Basic story-telling skills, character drawing skills and creativity are evaluated based on your storyboard drawings.
Personal artwork of your choice - in addition to the required drawings, you may be asked to include artwork that you choose. Some schools will offer parameters for this portfolio piece ("no animation characters - aka SpongeBob", or "no photography", "no flaming skull-heads", etc.)
The format for the portfolio will vary. Some schools will ask for 8.5 X 11 scans or photocopies of your artwork arranged in a plastic folder because the artwork cannot be returned to you. Other schools will require original artwork to be submitted and then collected by the student after it is evaluated. Either way, if you invest the necessary time and effort into each of the drawings that make up the portfolio and then present the final drawings in a professional manner, your portfolio can highlight your drawing skills and help you get into animation school!
For examples of artwork taken from successful animation portfolios, visit http://www.animationportfolioworkshop.com/students-2
Happy drawing!
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