A Golden Era for The Irish Animation Industry
We are in a golden phase of Animation in Ireland, with multiple studios expanding and working on high profile worldwide animation series and features.
ANIMATION AS A SERIOUS CAREER CHOICE
You don’t necessarily have to be a brilliant artist to work in this burgeoning industry, there are so many technical roles that are crying out for well trained candidates that have a love for animation and possess the programming skills that are essential to make it all work.
Go to a modern studio and it’s all about the workflow, and by that what I mean is how a project progresses from idea through to final delivery. It’s not all about individual artists, but about designing tools to aid them in their work, streamlining and automating actions so as to ensure they can spend all their time creating, rather than processing.
TD’s (Technical Directors) are fast becoming the most valuable personnel within an animation facility as it is always difficult to find someone who understands the animation process and can program in Python. For a concise and clear breakdown of what a TD does take a look at this link
What route can you take to get involved?
At the moment in Ireland , it is more likely that you will find games courses more suitable as they are more programming biased but also, given that modelling is generally required, these courses will give you an appreciation of how the animation workflow hangs together. I am unaware of a dedicated Animation/VFX Programming course currently being offered in Ireland.
There are currently more jobs being advertised for animation in Ireland than students graduating and in order for the industry to keep growing we need increasing numbers of high quality graduates every year to ensure that Ireland can continue to box above its weight in terms of animation output.
In my humble opinion where this should start is in primary and secondary schools, showing them that animation is a genuine career with genuine prospects that are creative, rewarding and most importantly fun (most of the time). This doesn’t solve the short term shortage but will set the foundations for the future of this creative industry.
Animators everywhere ( Well Dublin/London/Paris/Lisbon/Madrid/Barcelona/Milan) Boulder Media are heading out to Europe to talk to you and recruit you to work on a major project. In our small way we’d like to put the word out there to help in any way we can. Keep an eye out here as details are posted about where and when they will be in your country:
https://www.facebook.com/Boulder-Media-196511640528050/”
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Further Reading:
Ireland’s 1980’s Animation Boom
Hollywood Reporter – Irish Animation
6 Signs You Should be Working in Animation
Jobs in Animation
Education Opportunities
The Cartoon Saloon Story
