Creative Industries

If you are a budding artist – what about Animation?

Animators bring drawings or computer generated characters to life on screen. Artistic talent is highly valued within the animation industry. Producing an animation involves many stages and processes. This can include generating ideas in the development stage to building models during production, and editing the final piece in post-production. Each stage can involve several specific tasks carried out by different people. There is a large number of artistic roles which including 2D and 3D computer animators, 2D drawn animators, layout artists, model makers and storyboard artists. The progress of a production involves:

• Directors and Producers create ideas, plan the project and find funding
• Production designers create the look
• Storyboard Artists take the script or ideas and show the story in a visual way
• Layout Artists draw how each shot will look
• Digital Painters touch up colours
• Animators and Modellers follow the storyboard and use computer or stop-frame animation to create movement and personality
• Texture Artists ‘paint’ colour and texture onto digital models to make them lifelike
• Compositors join the different layers of animation
• Editors add the soundtrack and produce the finished piece.

There is also a huge, growing and exciting industry in visual effects (VFX), much of which is produced in the UK. This requires a combination of creative and technical skills. Visual effects are now used in film, TV, adverts, games, websites etc. They attract students with a variety of degree backgrounds. There are a number of degrees on offer specialising in animation. If would be wise to attend such a course if this is an area where you wish to build your career.

Or The Games Industry?

The gaming industry is now huge and offers many interesting creative roles. Animation is obviously required and these roles are specialised for gaming. They are responsible for the portrayal of movement and behaviour within a game. Other roles include the overall game designer supported by the creative designer responsible for the look and feel of the game and the games artist who creates the visual elements of a game, such as characters, scenery, objects, vehicles, surface textures, clothing, etc. A team of programmers create the code and audio engineers are responsible for the soundtrack for a game, including music, sound effects, character voices, spoken instructions and ambient effects. There is also a commercial team who take the product to market and implement marketing campaigns to maximise sales. There are a number of Computer Game degree courses, specialising in development, programming, production, art design or animation.

Art and Design in general

There are many areas that you can use your artistic skills, some of which have been covered in the previous sections. There is a significant demand for graphic designers who use lettering and images to communicate information and ideas. A graphic designer is responsible for creating design solutions that have a high visual impact. Their designs are required for a huge variety of products and activities, such as websites, advertising, books, magazines, posters, computer games, product packaging, exhibitions and displays, corporate communications and corporate identity, i.e. giving organisations a visual ‘brand’. To become a graphic designer, you will need to have IT and drawing skills. Another career option is an illustrator who uses creative skills in art and design to communicate a story, message or idea. They usually specialise in a particular design medium, like drawing, photography or digital illustration. Work is predominantly freelance, and possible markets include:

• Editorial – magazines, newspapers and comics;
• Books;
• Advertising – posters, storyboards, press;
• Fashion – forecasting;
• Merchandising – greetings cards, calendars, t-shirts, ceramics, etc;
• Corporate work – brochures, catalogues;
• Multimedia – TV, film, computer games, websites, apps, animation.

If you are interested in working in art, but not as an artist, there are also a number of opportunities. These could include an arts administrator, working in galleries, museums or arts organisations etc on projects and initiatives, a gallery curator, managing collections of paintings and objects or an art valuer.

There are a large number of degree course specialising in graphic design, art, history of art etc.

How about photography?

If you are a talented and enthusiastic photographer, then why not consider carving out a career in this area. A number of businesses and industries require photographers. Editorial photographs used to illustrate and enhance a story or report, are used widely in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, books and websites. In addition, there is a large industry in advertising photographs as well as fashion photography for websites, mail order and fashion houses. Photojournalists capture images of current events for newspapers, magazines, websites and press agencies and general photographers are required for weddings, events and staff. There are also a number of specialist areas such as forensic photographers, scientific photographers and unit still photographers on film sets. Behind the scenes are digital imaging specialists in the lab responsible for colour-correcting and digitally manipulating images. There are a number of photography degrees on offer.