Pursuing an Animation Career Takes Determination
The Delaware News Journal recently published an article about Stephen Heidleberg, a current technical director at DreamWorks. Heidleberg set two career goals for himself early in his college career. The first was to pursue a career in animation. The second was to work in Hollywood. To a certain degree, Heidleberg has achieved those two goals.
As a technical director for Hollywood-based DreamWorks, Heidleberg uses his artistic skills to troubleshoot hard-to-animate scenes. His most recent work involved painting background sets for the movie Over the Hedge. Although Heidleberg is close to realizing his animation career dreams, he’d be the first to tell you that it wasn’t easy getting to where he is today.
Animation Career Begins in School
Like many of those looking for careers in animation, Heidleberg earned his college degree in applied media arts. Before his animation career took off, he taught computer animation at a digital arts college. While there, he kept honing his skills in the college’s animation studios at night after his classes were over. The next step in his career in animation took Heidleberg to the Philippines, where he did some more animation teaching and art directing. Throughout this period, Heidleberg never lost sight of his long term goals. Eventually, his maturity as an animator coincided with a Hollywood opportunity. All those years of hard work finally paid off as Heidleberg packed his bags and moved to California.
A Career in Animation Often Takes Time to Achieve
If you ultimately want a career in animation, you need to realize that most successful animators spend some time in animation purgatory before they hit the big leagues. Teaching animation or working as an assistant in an animation studio is often part of the path towards animating full time for a major studio. The most important thing you can do early in your animation career is to never lose sight of your goals, and never give up. The ones that don’t make it are usually the ones that leave the profession after experiencing their first career setback.
Source
Animator Pursues Dreams, Delaware News Journal
About the Author
Kirk Bangstad is a singer living in Chicago, IL. Having received his B.A. in Government at Harvard, Kirk previously worked as a management consultant.
