Animation Job Applications are a JOKE 

It's the classic: "You need experience to get the job, but you need the job to get experience."

I think the best line Ive ever heard reguarding years of experience in a certain software was during a group interveiw. "10 years experience? Sir. I WROTE that software. Six years ago."

It’s so frustrating because 95% of the jobs out there are verbal/word of mouth so applying to the ones you see online basically makes it more likely you’ll never get a callback 😢. Making friends and having social skills seems like more of a barrier of entry to getting an industry job than actual skills at this point

Job applications are a joke. You'd think that they'd get in trouble for false advertising for all the fake job posts there are.

I’ve been so worried i’ll go nowhere because i’m just starting out, barely have a portfolio or any social media following, yet i really want to get my foot in the door. Sometimes it feels like i’ll never get there or that everyone else is so much better than me. Thank you for this, this is exactly what I needed to hear

Animation isn't the only field where job applications are a joke.

I daydream about starting a studio that uses only opensource software.

People writing the requirements nowadays seem to have no idea what they are actually asking for, or are seemingly are using some bot to write things... Because wow, I've seen dystopic levels of nonsense. I remember seeing a tweet for a job that required 5+ years of experience in a specific coding language... Then the creator of said language replied below that "unfortunately he couldn't apply because he only created the language two years ago". Lol. Becoming self employed was the best decision of my whole career as a game designer. Now I can actually make things that reflect exactly what I'm most skilled at, decide when and what for myself, pick which tools I'll use/learn and most of my profits go directly into my pocket. Takes a lot of time to manage everything, I constantly go to sleep feeling very tired ... But the satisfaction of not being just a cog for some idiotic upper management (with zero morals and no actual emotional investment in the market) to profit from my creativity is something else.

When I finished animation college, it was about 6 months away from the Great Recession. Companies were not willing to train due to either downsizing, relocating, or decalring bankruptcy. And this was a college that completely believed that 2D animation would becomes more 3d animation (but then my college shut down). After survivor jobs, I landed a graphic design role for 5 years in news media went to back to college for a different career, finished., landed a job in my field 6 months after and on my 3rd month... pandemic. My role was a computer tutorial at a government building, but because of covid's distance thing, I was eventually laid-off but was still under contract so I got paid until the end of Summer. My co-workers helped me with a job agency that paid for a college online program, finished, got a job as Video Editor/Graphic Designer/Motion Graphics Animator and I've been there since.

I had a hard time landing a job for about 2 years after graduating. Took the time to keep working on personal projects until I finally landed a gig. Even once I started working in the industry, I used what I learned from the job to build on my personal portfolio in my spare time. The importance of continual improvement outside of the job cant be understated. A lot of the time the work you do for studios wont be available to display due to NDAs, as well as the fact that sometimes the show you may work on doesn't produce competitive portfolio pieces.

Having the opportunity to work in animation before, I only regretted not having enough time to myself and not taking proper care of my body because of it. Granted, my job involved making animations for this platform for a popular self-help channel, but the catch was that you basically did the job of the storyboarder, the animator, the colorist, the editor, etc. All in just 2 weeks. I had to leave the job when I started getting sick because of my long shifts, basically I was working non-stop from sun up to sun down just to have the project ready on time. After that experience I realized that nothing better would come trying to work for a big studio if the work was already a lot working for a smaller one. I also learned about the general state of the industry and how animators are usually overworked and burned out. And I realized my health is waaay more important than any job. It also didn't help learning about my ADHD and how that makes completing long term projects harder (which animation basically is). Couple that with how difficult it is to get accepted into the industry for the first time, then to be met with the strict working conditions and short deadlines and sometimes poor wages depending on the studio and country you are in. And on top of that having to sacrifice my health both physically and mentally just to finish a project is what made me leave art/animation as a hobby and just try to look for something else in order to survive. To those still chasing this dream, I wish you the best. Just don't let yourselves be exploited or robbed of your opportunity to live life just because your job depends on you working 24/7.

Jobs that say stupid things like 5+ experience in *blank* when the only way to get those 5 years of experience is to already have the same qualifications they stated prior is just ridiculous. For example, I recently applied for an HR specialist role as I have sufficient study and experience in professions similar to said role, but because I don't specifically have 3 years of HR experience (yet can do all the functions required of the position), I didn't get it. So what's the point? I can only imagine how much more frustrating it must be for artists who are constantly denied these opportunities.

Maybe not on Animation in my case, but as Graphic Designer too. I applied to more than 15, 7 called me back, rejected 5 times, only got 1 interview (probably on waitlist, it's been a week) and the other one probably ghosted me for a month now. Tried to upgrade my portfolio everytime i got rejected. I got laid off from my first/previous job because my boss told me i am "overqualifed". Been unemployed 3 months now, kinda sucks too-- even getting commissions (i paint digitally) since I don't engage in social media that much.

I remember a newspaper making fun of those companies by having a big title "Best candidates are young and dynamic preferably 18 years old applicants with 10 years experience"

Honestly even with art school, I've been struggling in part because of the sheer financial barrier even for students, such as having to negotiate directly with vendors or use free alternatives(though I've gotten fussed at for most of my 3d experience being Blender) because my school hadn't negotiated with every major software studio. I've often been one of my only classmates working on a shoestring budget. Just getting my first job is proving troublesome even though I did do an internship. I'm hoping to get some adjacent work and to take time to continue to develop my craft, but I'm worried that the longer I take, the less likely I am to be able to do what I want.

Thia is really informative. I've been working as a cartooning teacher since I graduated. I figured what better way to learn about my audience than to work with them? I've been trying to get into studios or atleast wedge my foot into the door as much as i can. I realized that my goal is to become a character designer, and I've applied to everywhere i can think of in NYC. What i realized is that there are aome unreal requirements such as 5+ years in a studio or some software I've never used. Toonboom costs at least $71 monthly. Who could afford that? I'm not saying I'm gonna give up, never rwally, it's just demoralizing that the only thing stopping me from actually achieving the one thing i worked for is a fat bank account or living somewhere totally unreachable atm.

Ah ! this was literally a god send , I've been trying to find something or just to know what to start to look for and this is really what's been such a stone on it 😂

Frequently in job ads the required experience, software knowledge or schooling is a way to reduce the flood of applicants. It makes people self selecting. If you have a good portfolio/reel you should apply regardless of the requirements. I always prioritize reel then experience, and i only look at schooling if work experience is low.

Just a couple of weeks ago this video would have filled me with dread. But I just finally landed a great job, so right now I feel like im the other side. (Salaried artist job, not a gig, hoping to stay a couple of years at least) Edit: I think personal contacts are everything. Got this one through a local game dev meetup.

Personal experience: over last 10 years I've seen fewer and fewer public job listings for animation. Seems like they are all using contractors or outsourcing overseas. Even if you do land a position for remote work chances are they ARE overdeas they'll pay you $5/hr. It really seems you have to hang out in Burbank and network to even make a living wage BUT it's impossibly expensive to live in LA. Unfortunately, animation field does not favor the poor. HOWEVER, your only way out is to create independent work that really stands out. Not easy, but better than impossible.

As a AfricanAmerican I’ve never seen these poc-oriented diversity hires applications. I’m not against it. But, not all poc are historically treated with the same level of WS in the US, it’s a hierarchy. With that said, these poc applications don’t seem to be working in terms of opening up the industry to historically marginalized American peoples to the Animation industry. The animation industry tends to be dominated by White & Asian studies (mainly Japan. But China & South Korea are making waves). I haven’t had any luck in getting internships, apprenticeships or any type of work in the industry. Besides all the good points you made about why getting into the industry is harder now, I won’t say how I know, but personally the growing anti-AfricanAmerican sentiment in recent years (like the right, alt-right & “woke” cry wolf scapegoating etc) has played a hand in my difficulties in “being given a chance” (not that anti-black intersectionality ever disappeared in the first place). Even with cg animated effects heavy films like black panther, (not that people should be this bigoted), I had a business executive tell comment on one of my old post, that Africans had no large civilizations-so game world based on Black people cant work🤦🏾‍♂️. This is a taste of the difficulty AfricanAmericans, AfroLatino & other African descent people have to face trying to have a leading presence in the Animation industry, US or otherwise. Tiana, in princess & the frog, was a frog throughout most the movie’s runtime, amongst other issues.

I wanted to give you a big thanks for making this video and speaking up about these issues. I feel like I've been going crazy and alone for so long about the current state of the animation industry. I highly agree that the requirements in animation jobs are a big joke as someone who is in senior year, ready to graduate out of college and currently job searching for concept art, character design, 2D animation, illustration, motion graphics, and a few graphic design jobs. I've been job searching for jobs and internships before senior year and it's very frustrating and stressful how much companies expect out of artists and animators with little to no experience at all. Even in internships and entry-level jobs, I still keep getting rejected. It never makes any sense to me. I feel I already have a good understanding how animation principles, pipelines, and productions work. My portfolio already shows that I do have drawing and animation skills, and I have been improving and working hard so much throughout my life since high school. I have been in art school for 8 years, both high school to college, and I'm still unlucky til this day. I've been in the mix of giving up job searching but also trying my best to set foot into an animation or illustration job for once. It also doesn't help that me and my family are financially struggling nearly getting evicted/homeless during the pandemic. Til this day things are still bad for us. I can't afford to buy anymore softwares to learn in or move out of my current home to places like LA, NYC, etc. The best I can rely on to continue making art and animations are in Clip Studio Paint, Procreate, and Vegas Pro. I'm gonna eventually learn rigging in Live2D and ToonBoom Harmony after graduating out of college. I feel like I'm already at a point where I have to find different ways to grow and develop my journey as an artist/animator and follow my mom's footsteps in making merch and my own business. I thought I knew what my future will be but nowadays I'm very confused and discouraged what my future as an artist/animator is even going to be anymore. Keeping promises of what projects I want to create has also been overwhelming, even if I know I worked hard with what I planned many years ago. I do plan to go indie anyways, even if I'm well aware it's not gonna be an easy path. I most likely have no choice but to find a day job to work in while I go indie, develop my store, online animation studio, and streaming part-time/full-time. There's so much plans in my path that I'm still trying to work out on my life

Probably one of the least talked yet so important for any artist, esp those starting out or fresh graduates in the industry. The part about software is also a good point. While I get that studios need newcomers to be able to know a specific software to have a smooth(er) production pipeline, it's a bit dismissive for those trying to break in the long-run imo. Most of these software aren't cheap even for a hobbyist to begin with (hence why pirated software is so rampant), and yet they expect most newcomers to be able to be experts in those specific or many (new) software in their requirements.

I think what's happening is that they have already an internal hiring process for the person they want to have on their team, but legal obligations put them to post the job publicly and available, to avoid any other than the person they want to hire, they post ridiculous requirements for job entry so that only that person they wanted to hire in the first place can meet those requirements. Simply put, it's the job was never available for you it's only a formality, and interviews are just for getting more data on potential future acquisitions.

I honestly gave up on finding opportunities in this industry.

Currently I focus on personal projects and working with independent creators willing to pay me. I'd attempt to enter the industry only after I gained enough personal experience as a freelancer... It's a big competitive ring, there's really no point shoving myself in without proving myself on my own first and getting to know and work with various people.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="79">1:19</a> That Studio Ghibli job listing is wild. Like what a lucky break those people got. You mean they weren’t expected to be perfect on day one??? 😭😭😭

What's so frustrating as a not so, but sort of newcomer the graphic Design industry is fundamentally that no comapnay wants to seem to risk employing anyone they have to train. I've a few guys who've been creative directors or senior designers and theyve always explained that what they always saw was that their was always a level of burocracy that prevented new guys to show what they had, or to get new folk who could learn through apprenticeships, all because companies see younger folk as liabilities for day to day work. Even having graduated from a technical design school, a popular a that in Canada, worked a couple years with several paid freelance work, and having had some in house design experience, companies seem to have this bizzare system of requirements behind every minute project shown in the portfolios, and the outrages expectation of years of experience required for what could be SIMPLE Jr designer positions, and even for as rare as they are, internship positions as well.

My goal is to become an online influencer on yt as an animator, creating my animated series. Although animation is not common in my country, I am just self learning and took architecture course for a while due to similarities to accuracy and measurements. For my choice, I would want to my own animation studio growing on youtube rather than joining other companies.

Yes! Thank you! 😫 Seriously they're just as bad as creating a cover letter or doing an art test. 😑

I've been doing internships and gigs during University and post-University and I still can't get a part or full time job. Plus I just saw programming language requirements in 3D jobs and I feel like I have to study coding now... It has been rough trying to step foot into this animation industry. At this point I'm considering switching to coding to see if I can land a coding job... I want to add, I've been coming up with ideas for my personal project so maybe it will help me out. Plus get the foundation down and solid story and character designs in the animation work.

Thank you for the information and the mentioning about personal project, that means a world to me!

This was great!! THANK YOU!! Love your Channel!!!!!!

Loving these informative videos ❤

Love your videos bro!!

I finally found out a reason they do this. It's partially because we're in an age where so many people are applying for jobs and flooding companies that they make it so no one could qualify so this way they can reject anyone they want and legally point to an arbitrary reason they don't qualify. This means you should apply anyway because they might take you since the requirements might be straight up a lie ony the first place. As someone who's looking for a CS software job right now I feel the pain of this video. It is not a great job market right now

Thank you so much for the advice and the details of the industry from your own experience.

As someone who wants to open a media studio one day I agree with everything you said! Which also I want people to remember if a big studio does nneed you you don't need them and you can always work solo or find yourself a small team willing to learn together.

I have an animation mentorship thanks to some of your videos! I love your work!

Im really doubting if i should go to animation school because of this.I would just end up with a student debt and no job.

Thank you for this Toniko.

I'm struggling with this right now and it's very disheartening! Still, nice to hear that the requirements can sometimes be flexible because I look at these job applications and think "holy shit I'm easily 5-10 years away from being able to claim all of this stuff"

I saw an ad posting for a coloring cook page illustrator and the provided examples that look like the generic "learn to draw" book art style. in the application they said an associate's degree is preferred. like HUH LOL

Since when I begun drawing 9 years ago, all teachers, all workshops, all artists that work or worked for the industry all told me the same thing: Artists of all sorts of branches are seen as the fifth wheel of the process despite being the ones making the very thing that generates revenue for the company and are treated as disposable garbage. Just look at anime artists in Japan complaining in last 20 years skillset required skyrocketed while payment went *lower* while also pushing inhuman work conditions. Only way out for me has been Patreon and private commissions. So far has been enough to be able to work for my own self.

Interesting video! I'm working as a freelancer now, but back when I was in full time employment, I was one of the people who got hired based on their "years of experience." Myself and some of my colleagues where overqualified for a lot of the work we had to do. A lot of smaller companies just look at who big companies are hiring, and want the same level of expertisé without paying the same money or having the same level of projects. What I find most jarring is the "hiring based on skin-color, gender etc." In many european countries that would fall under discrimination laws and is illegal as a company to do.

To be honest when I’m searching for animators, all I need for them to know is how to do mouth movements because I can’t

Let the sharks bite each other. Work for yourself. Also, as Gabe Newell has said, "piracy is not a pricing problem, it is a service problem".

im glad im not the only one been feeling down about not finding a job I want .it I'm glad you put this video out there

thx for this video!

Such a nice video to put in the background as I lose my sanity over a week long animation test

Where would be a good place to apply for more beginner friendly jobs?

But yeah man, this is me in my comp science degree :( I hate how the work stuff is like that

Any advice on how to keep drawing even when you desire to not draw at all?

i can't afford storyboard pro due to financial hardship and haven't been able to work on boarding at all since i graduated. and i can't afford to join my friends or peers in LA, which for the most part wants people LA-local only even if the jobs are 3 days remote/2 in office... I'm so frustrated, I spent a lot of time "making connections" and it wasn't worth anything 😤

I love and hate it. I'm a 3D character artist, and I just recently spoke to someone at Amazon games about advice on getting in to the industry. Walked away from the conversation being told there are NO junior positions in the industry, you need to hit the ground running and I find it super frustrating since so many techniques are locked behind industry doors and the prices for industry software's can get insane, and affording a mentor is just as expensive. you either need to be top of the top to get in to AAA or have an insane amount of knowledge to work indie whilst having up to three shipped products. The industry is so volatile to new people at the moment. (also love you vid's was watching them while going through my video game art program)

Thank you

is there any chance for non-americans to get their foot in the door in the american animation industry if they're no longer students and don't meet the requirements for most internships? I still apply to both jobs and internships, I think I have a fair enough portfolio and that if I get a test I can do well enough on it (and even if I don't know i'm turned down for my skill) but i feel like my apps are being shot down way before that.

Art is at it purest form when things is not involve around money

I'm planning to work with animation, but there is barely a market within my country, is that a good or bad thing? I think that because there is some demand, and there are at maximum 6 small animation studios and only 2 are more known, so not much competitiveness, but there are almost no opportunities outside these studios, and from 100 years of animation, only one movie burst the international bubble.

TBH, moho is probably the only studio grade software I'll use. It costs around 18 months of adobe and is the single most powerful animation software I've seen, which would allow me to do studio level animation as just a single dude. Along with this, I can use png sequences from blender for scene stuff, this making the process even more accessible. It isn't cheap, but it's well worth it.

I miss when getting jobs is as easy as grandpa's era of walking into the restaurant asking they need a dishwasher and work their way up to managerial

I tried to get a paid internship at Disney but I couldn't due to my summer school schedule

I am just about grad this semester with a ba in animation. This just mean I gotta work harder.😅

3 years of failure I feel like switching jobs, your projects are God like just what studios want while me nope am just a nobody

Hi toniko i am a motion designer, and also i have a good hand in drawing but not in animation, i would like to try it can you give me idea from where to start i mean i want few online free content or free script available in internet which i can try to create with hand drawn animation can you suggest few . will be a great help

Welp, I got into my dream art school and everything looking good, up until we discovered this school didn't make me eligible for a scholarship. Except it's a really expensive school, we can't afford it and it has already been paid. So my only option is to apply for a university that does make me eligible and not flunk it. I was pretty much destroyed after learning that, but thankfully, I did apply to ONE language school, even though it wasn't for a language I love much. But now that i see people saying how complicated getting a job in the art industry, I'm relieved to know that I get to have a safe plan. Thanks for making feel less guilty about my situation, even though I hope things will get better

I've been aplying for jobs for a decade now and I've mostly given up at this point.

I wish you all good luck

is it necessary to have a degree for applying to animation jobs abroad or are there other ways to getting in? :)))

is this about the animation industry in USA or all over the world?

At this point i am a character animator,motion designer, 3d modeller and graphic designer :D and still, at the job interviews: "have you any experience in photography?" :D

That thumbnail deconstructs your entire vibe lol.

I would Love to see you Draw Star wars Characters, that will be cool🎉

Networking and connections.

what’s this about the race thing? i need to know more about that

im 14 and i already have both of those requirements set

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="190">3:10</a> isn't that illegal in the US?

3D modeling and texturing jobs also suffer from this.

Can I apply with meatcanyon style animation

Tell me about your self What is your strenght What is your weak Subject: emmersiom Job interview Me: im in pain

Question: I've noticed that it seems like often once animators get a job then seem to move around from studio to studio a lot. Do you know why this is?

I feel this with game design too.

This is the inevitable evolution (or de-evolution) that money causes. It is occuring in all careers, and even trickling into relatively simple jobs that don't necessarily require a craft skill. For anyone without experience or good old fashioned nepotism in anything remotely challenging, you are not given any opportunity. You are left with dead-end braindead position. Exceptions exist, but they are most likely upstarting businesses. Which, due to the issue of money, will most likely fail to progress and die out. And never be able to pay you enough for your time. This problem will not and cannot be fixed. Not with the way monye based economy ""works.""

I appreciate the Tekken 2 artwork

It would be nice, though as an almost 30 yr who people would say is lagging behind due to my mental health and life events, I'm screwed. However, I figured my own smaller projects are much more important than trying to burn myself out being hired by someone who lives in the breakneck speed part of life. Unfortunately, many companies are only speeding up due to the technology "advancement" and expectations of the shitty modern world.

It's just to do your own thing. Just make sure you have a good job to protect yourself.

Why would you say something so controversial yet so true?

Now it's getting more difficult, yet not worth applying if this is their main standard of industries

I gave up a few years back.

Is it just me or do the character's in the first couple minutes look like Law, Jun, and Michelle fighters from the video game Tekken 2?

Here’s my philosophy: it’s not the programs you use that matter, it’s *how* you use them

No wonder they are a joke, they expect you to become successful (usually gain alot of fans or have a lot of traction) by yourself or as a freelancer first to then "consider" offer you an entry level position with a minimum wage. Appearantly being a freshman of a masters degree, top of the class, knowing required programs like Maya inside out and having a ton of other knowledge like, motion graphics animation, 2D animation, digital drawing, traditional drawing, video editing, texturing, modeling, lighting only gets you unpaid short internships these days. It's ironic cause future generations will have it way, waaaay harder than we do in finding a job, so much so that we will feel like the 80s where they hired people left and right in comparison to the future where they will require lead artists with 30 yrs exp as unpaid interns.

I graduated from university in 2019...a few months later COVID showed up, the whole world shit down and no one was hiring as a result (This is in the UK for context). I carried on practicing with my personal animation and illustration projects during lockdown and trying to apply to what jobs I could in that time. That 2 year time gap certainly made getting anywhere in the industry much harder...I managed to get a 2 jobs behind a bar though. I've come up against countless animation job listing that are looking for a junior applicant....that are asking for 3 to 4+ years experience. I've even seen that experience requirement on even ENTRY level listings. That makes zero sense to me.

Knowing how draw on layers isn't gonna do anymore

Jesus Christ. My mom says I shouldn't search for an art career because my artstyle is too cartoony, and I need to get it more realistic before I even try...

Great video, big agree on all of it as someone who struggled to get into the industry. And also: Lara Croft my beloved 💕💕💕 ✨💕✨💕

Yes yes, job applications suck for animation and other positions in the industry....BUT HEY, those are definitely Tekken characters I see you drawing ! NICE!!

I've been looking at internships and jobs for illustration and I keep seeing like 80% saying you'll need photoshop experience. Don't have enough money for the subscription and don't know how to use it ._.

I just straight up re-oriented my career cause i couldnt get a job in animation :')

In India people are forcing me to learn 3D animation telling me that I’ll never get a job as a 2D animator I love hand drawn frame by frame animation I recently discovered TVpaint and I love animating in it. I am very consistent in learning figure drawing perspective colour theory anatomy. I just need some guidance. Will I succeed being a 2D animator if I continue practising and keep drawing?