Getting Your Education Has Never Been Easier

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:38:30 EST

Whentalking about animation one of the least recognized position outside ofthe field is the layout and background artists. Inside the professionthough, it’s quite another story.

By definition, layoutartists plan the action of scenes under the supervision of thesupervising or episode director. They draw both the background and howthe character elements fit within a shot. To do this, they takeinformation from the storyboard and translate it into a format and sizethat can be utilized by the animation and camera departments.Experienced layout artists will even plot camera moves.

Forexample, look at an animated fight scene. In the foreground will be theprinciple fighters and their props. In the middle ground one will findsupporting characters and such. The background often is the setting inwhich the fight is taking place. A layout artist using a house willhave a very different sequence than one using a street corner or asport arena. Replacing that one background completely changes thecontext.

Inmany ways, the layout design dictates what action takes place. Goingback to that fight, you want a character in the foreground to eitherjump over, slide under, run around or even pick up a table in front ofit, not run through it (unless it happens to be a ghost). Because ofthings like this, the layout artist usually reports directly to theepisode director.

Whilethere are a number of ways to become a layout artist, the one thing allhave in common is a love or drawing and painting, particularly settingsand landscapes. One should also be comfortable in using a variety oftools, ranging from pen to paint on to computer. To top it, a layoutartist must be familiar with the jobs his partners do, if only to maketheir jobs easier.

Asfor education, any good online or one campus art school will give alayout artist all the basics of the profession he or she will need.What is suggested though is to find one that also offers animationcourses, if only to learn how to better blend one’s work with theothers you’ll end up working with. From there, the goal is to build agood portfolio and see if one can get an assistant’s job at a studiowith an experienced layout artist.

Whenone lands an assistant’s job, the average salary usually is around$25,000 a year. The average layout salary for experienced personnel isdouble, at $50,000 a year. If one gets to be a master, or “rough”layout artist, it’s not unheard of to make over $100,000 or more. Likeeverything else in the entertainment field though, it should beremembered that all work is for-hire. When the project’s done, it’stime to upgrade the portfolio.

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Getting Your Education Has Never Been Easier