Movies and video games are the most collaborative art forms that we have; it combines large amounts of technical knowledge, artistic skills, and business insight to create a successful product. With so many jobs and the different fields of expertise needed to make a modern film or game, you need to maintain an adequate level of professionalism when working in the industry. This post will cover the concept of professionalism from an animator's perspective, touching on the relationships between departments in the studio pipeline and the importance of critique.
Due to the scale of most modern animated productions, each studio has its own production pipeline; this is to ensure that everything runs smoothly and to a specific timescale.
Here is a link to Pixar's USD Pipeline for more information.
https://renderman.pixar.com/stories/pixars-usd-pipeline
Having a production pipeline is excellent; making it work properly is where professionalism comes in. As an animator, you will be working closely with the director, the layout department, riggers, and even more people in video game production. Working with the director is one of the most critical aspects of the job; you need to accept that you are creating someone else's vision. Some directors will allow for more creative input, but some won't, and you need to remain professional; throwing a hissy fit in front of everyone is sure to kill your reputation.
For me, I feel that critique is one of the important ways of remaining professional in the industry for animators. Animation is a public art form, so what I might think looks good could look bad or not make sense to someone else. When working on a shot, we can lose our ability to see our work clearly, so critique is essential.
In the early stages of my mech shot, it was completely different, and some parts of the animation were not working.
After a couple of weeks of critiques from my mentor and peers, I made sufficient changes, and the shot looks way better now.
It is vital to drop the ego when receiving feedback; if someone thinks that something doesn't make sense in your shot, chances are, they are right. It can be easy to ignore input from people you believe aren't talented or non-animators, but people who are going out of their way to give you a critique want to help you, and you should take their advice seriously. If you do not understand the comment, or someone gives you a vague suggestion, ask them if they can be more specific; you cannot implement feedback that you don't understand.
Giving critiques is just as important as receiving them; giving critiques makes you a better animator; as you spot flaws in someone else's shot, you end up noticing those same things in your own work. When giving critiques, you should always be respectful, give it your full attention, when you point out a problem, always offer a solution, and treat it as if it were your own shot. Merely saying someone's work looks good doesn't help anyone; sure, it makes them feel good, but you both walk away learning nothing. If you really want to help someone, give them honest feedback.
Animation director, Brad Bird gives fantastic advice on feedback on the Animation hustle YouTube channel.
Professionalism is essential; you will be working with so many creative people with exceptional ideas, and you need to learn how to get along with everyone. Being a negative egomaniac affects all of the artists around you, and if they aren't doing their best work because of you, it's likely, you won't be working at that studio much longer. The animation industry is pretty small, and if the word gets out that you have a bad reputation, you will find it hard to get a job. So, treat everyone with respect, be a great person to work alongside, and you will go far.
Cheers,
Marc
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