Top Tips From Animated Gurus

Written By Annie Campbell

Hi friends, Annie here. Quite recently I was invited to be part of an Animated Women UK Scotland panel discussion on how to break into the animation industry. The evening was an absolute delight and I wanted to take a moment to share my experience as well as include some tips mentioned as part of the panel discussion.

The event was organized by Scottish branches of the Animated Women UK in conjunction with the Royal Television Society and sponsored by Rockstar North.

Learn more about the event from this article by Byline Corrie Young. Photography by Calum Main.

Here are some of the things tips that were covered by the panelists:

Showreel tips

  • Keep it short

  • Show your best work first and end with your second best work at the end

  • Depending on the type of work/role that you want to do, it can also be useful to show shot breakdowns or work-in-progress sequence images leading up to the final shot

  • Details matter so make sure you also look at fonts used, alignment, music volume and music

  • If it was a group project, make it clear what your role was in that particular shot

  • Include your contact details, social media and website links

CV/Resume tips

  • A personal statement is ok but avoid the generic phrases like “able to work in a team or alone”, personalize it

  • Keep the design clean

  • Keep it to 1 page if possible

  • List what you did for your jobs in bullet points, not just the projects you worked on

  • Avoid including a headshot

  • If you are including a logo, make sure that it is vectorized

  • Spellcheck

  • When creating a PDF, insert links to your email, SM channels, website etc - make it easy for the reviewer to navigate your CV

  • It can be useful to list the software or programming language that you've worked with (but generic things like word or ppt might not be necessary)

Cover letter tips

  • Make sure you do your research on the company and cater each cover letter towards the company and job application

  • Find out who these letters are being addressed to and include their name(s)

  • Avoid generic, blanket phrases and statements, hiring managers can see right through this

  • Personalize your letter for the company, mention what projects of theirs you like

Soft skills tips

  • Practice talking about yourself to prepare for the interview step

  • Make eye contact

Annie Campbell

Annie is a medical illustrator and animator who runs Now Medical Studios with her business partner, Emily Holden. Her experiences as an art director, project manager and multimedia artist for various studios and companies in the USA and UK have provided her with a broad range of skills and expertise that she now brings to every project. Annie firmly believes in life long learning and sharing.

One of her passions is sharing the business of medical illustration with younger artists embarking into the field. She founded and is an active contributor of Learn Medical Art with Emily, a channel dedicated to creating and sharing tutorials, articles and resources from the field.

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