Animator or Visual Effects Artist
What the work is
Designs and creates visual effects or animated content to conceptualise or enhance characters, scenes, backgrounds and other elements for film, television video games or other media.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Collaborates with directors, producers or other team members to understand the visual effects or animation requirements for a production
- Designs and creates visual effects, 2D or 3D animated elements, storyboards, frames, sequences and environments using digital art software
- Integrates visual effects and animated sequences with live-action footage or digital environments
- Troubleshoots and problem solves technical or creative issues that arise during the process of creating or integrating visual effects or animation
- May develop a sequence of key frames and character movements, providing a comprehensive visual script
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a graphic design studio making logos, posters, packaging and animation for clients. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A client sees your first concept and says that is exactly it
- You solve a crowded layout by taking things away until it breathes
- A poster you designed goes up in a shop window and you spot it walking past
Hard days
- A client's cousin has made a version in a free app and wants you to use it
- A file leaves for the printer and you notice a mistake a minute later
- Round after round of small changes that quietly undo the idea
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 242331, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.