Cartoons and animations are all around us. We grew up with them, we laughed at them, we may have even cried with them. We enjoyed them as children and even still as adults. But where exactly did they start? Someone had to take the time to create them, and that someone is the animator.

The world of animation is a fascinating one and it covers more than just cartoons. There are also video game animations, animated logos, and web site animations just to name a few.

Animations are actually composed of many different "frames" of drawings of the same kind, but each drawing has been altered just slightly. When these frames are then added together in sequential order, an animation has then been created.

To be an animator, one has to be extremely passionate about art and drawing. All animations start out the same way, as either a hand drawn or sometimes a computer drawn prototype of the future animation. Once the basic drawing has been created, they must then fill in the finer details such as color, texture, and background, if any. The image is then transferred to film or scanned into a computer. Each subsequent drawing of the same object or objects is then processed in this same fashion.

Aside from having a natural affinity and talent for drawing and art, an animator's natural talents can and should be honed by attending college or a professional school, and majoring in, of course, Art. The average time it takes to graduate is two to three years.

There are a few required courses of study in which an animator must take. These include:

-Graphic Design
-Art Appreciation
-Computer graphics
-Video and multimedia effects
-Animation

The student animator may also learn or choose to take courses in:

-3D digital animation
-Modeling and sculpting
-Creative writing
-Game design

The job industry for experienced animators is extremely broad and diverse and offers many different opportunities for aspiring and experienced animators. Virtually, every industry has a need for them. Television, animated motion pictures, the gaming industry, graphics design companies, among others are some of the industries in which an animator can find employment.

The most common job for an animator is as a cartoonist. However, animators do so much more than just create cartoons, and they can also find employment as:

-Web designers
-Illustrators
-Painters
-Sketch Artists
-Graphic Designers
-Logo Designers
-Visual Artists
-Computer Game Programmers
-Multimedia and Photoshop designers

Because of the ever growing demand for animators and new types of animation projects cropping up daily, interactive cell phones for instance, these demands have opened up lots of career opportunities for them. Plus, with the increasing popularity of computer and console games, graphic designers with animation and web site design skills are becoming one of the most sought after professionals by employers.

The annual salary of an animator varies greatly by the type of animation work that they do. This can range anywhere between $44,500 per year and $66,700 per year.

Do you know what salaries in animation are? Find out here: http://www.animatorsalarydata.com

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