|
 Perhaps the most important thing that
somebody with an interest in animation who thinks that they might want to be involved in
the animation industry, in Japan or anywhere, can do is to first ask him/herself:
Is it the process of animation or particular
shows/characters/styles that interests you the most?
Animation work and fandom are two very different things!
The following is the lecture that animation company
production managers always give people when they contact the studio looking
for work or information:
Many people who go to animation schools are fans who want to turn an interest into a
job. 90% of them drop out before the end of their
first year in animation jobs. (Same wash-out rate as the US Navy SEAL teams...)
In fact, most drop out after the first year of school. They lose interest, find
that it is not what they thought it would be, that they would have to give up too much to
do it or it is just plain too hard. If somebody really enjoys watching
Japanese animation and really likes certain shows and characters and wants to "do
something like that someday" my suggestion is not to consider a career
in animation but to draw comics or do illustrations independently
and
continue to enjoy what they like. Animators often get tired of looking at
animation. They learn so much about how it is done that they see the flaws and where the
corners are cut and this greatly lessens their enjoyment of watching it.
(They call it "seeing under the cover".) There is only a very
small chance that somebody will get to work on something they are a fan of. I
have seen a lot of animators quit because they never got to work on anything they liked
and usually had to work on things they weren't. Animators spend their first couple of
years drawing shoes, garbage cans, fences, dust clouds, gears, sub-characters talking and
so on. It takes a lot of persistence to stick with it and move up in the
industry.
Most fans think that an anime studio is a bunch of people hanging
around happily drawing characters they like and watching anime and talking
about it. It's very different. Everybody is tired of even looking at it
and they are burned out by working long hours and not having days off. You
get a different form of camaraderie from this, however, which can be very
fulfilling.
The benefits of sticking with it can be very great. You can be
pretty creative and when you're young and single the studio can easily
become like your home and your workmates your family. It is a great
experience. If you stick with it long enough you will eventually work on
something that you like and if you really work hard then you can move into
a position with some creative input.
Before you think about moving to Japan I
strongly suggest you visit there and there is no better way to do that for a
fan than Pop Japan Travel.
You'll get to see the country and an anime studio to boot. |