Animation is found anywhere and in different formats: TV series, programmes and adverts, films, the Internet… There’s a big industry surrounding this art, lots of animation films are being made and many countries have joined this trend, using these productions to reflect their national identities. Iranian Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”, the Spanish films “Donkey Xote” and “El Cid: La leyenda”, the French production “Les triplettes de Belleville” or “Waltz with Bashir”, screened at Bradford Festival, by the Israeli Ari Folman, to quote but a few examples, show that there are not just American or Japanese big productions in the market.

Moreover, animating is no longer just a matter of entertaining children and we have already learned it can also be entertaining for young people and adults, but we must add to our conception of animation that it is also a very useful means to transmit committed messages regarding ecology, political and social protests, campaigns to raise public awareness, etc.

Besides, this art is valued every year in lots of festivals around the world that offer opportunities to both independent animators and studios of any size to show their work and to obtain international recognition: the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market, the Animac –Mostra International de Cinema d’Animació de Catalunya–, the Bradford Animation Festival or the Ottawa International Animation Festival, for instance.

So there’s need and space for artists in the industry and in society. Some renowned schools and universities are teaching this art and some of them show their student’s works in those festivals: Supinfocom, Emile Cohl and Gobelins in France, our same Glyndŵr University, ESDIP, in Spain, Baden-Württemberg Film Academy, in Germany… And many people are attracted to this art, people that can create their own work thanks to the available software tools and the Internet, which let them show their work by creating their own websites, or using blogs or one of the many online communities like YouTube, Facebook or deviantART.

Then, as an animator, you can try working on your own as a freelance or you can join or create an animation studio. Working independently you should take into account that you won’t just have to know how to animate, you’ll have to know the market and the many existing tools to create and publish; being multifunctional will be an important asset.

Big opportunities in the market are especially related to the production of feature films and commercials, which reach big audiences. As I said in a previous post, I’ve noticed many animated adverts in the UK, and very good ones. It’s nice to see that though having to pursue commercial aims when creating advertisements the artists’ creativity is not necessarily restricted. Probably since animation ads started appearing, spots in general have become more than simple informative pieces of video; they can be regarded as art works. That has allowed animators to use fictional and fantastic worlds or characters in them. Some examples are the Sony Bravia adverts I mentioned in a previous post or the also mentioned spots by Tandem Films.