How to Become an Animator in Columbus, Ohio

The city of Columbus, Ohio, featuring about 75,000 business organizations, nurtures a fertile economic landscape for local artists.  Recent global advances in digital graphics have multiplied the number of jobs available to local animators.

Columbus Schools and Training Programs for Animation

Colleges, Universities and other Columbus training facilities feature many different animation-related classes and degree programs.  Aspiring Columbus animators attending local visual arts colleges usually major in fine arts or communications design, but they also study computer science and various programming languages.  Columbus art colleges with courses in animated film design include The Bradford School, Franklin University, Ohio Dominican University and Columbus College of Art and Design. 

Some Columbus animators attend virtual design schools for skills training and degree programs.  Popular online colleges with animation courses include the Academy of Art University, Post University, Full Sail University, Stratford Career Institute, University of Phoenix, The Art Institutes and ITT Tech.  Many online art colleges maintain physical locations as well.  University of Phoenix and ITT Tech both have locations in Columbus.
 

Working as an Animator in Columbus, Ohio

Commercial companies in Columbus, Ohio hire local animation artists for many reasons.  Purposes include cartoons, video games, mobile apps, medical animation, website design, promotional ads, educational media and many others.  Some Columbus animators work for local animation studios like Jamination.  Others join local motion picture producers who create their own animation.  Crowd-pleasing Columbus movie producers include Advent Media, In-Line Productions, PMG Communications, Live Technologies and Zeidman Productions.  Some local animators work for animation-oriented IT corporations.  Leading Columbus info tech firms include Alliance Data, Blue Laser Design, EDS Corporation, HMB and O.T. Web Designs, to name a few.

Animators employed full time in Columbus, Ohio earn about $60,000 per year on average, with a mean hourly rate of roughly $30.00.  These figures, however, do not reflect the salaries of part timers, freelance professionals or Columbus animators employed with companies based outside the USA. 

Skills of a Professional Animator

Professional animation calls for phenomenal adeptness at creating compelling story lines, appealing scenery and expressive, recognizable characters.  Animators demonstrate exceptional drawing skills and complete familiarity with animation software.  Popular animation software programs currently in use include numerous Adobe products as well as professional animated film production packages like Toon Boom, Maya and 3D Studio Max.  Other important qualifications for animation artists include photography, page layout, prototyping and set design.  Also crucial are web page construction, interactive media development and fluency in HTML or other programming languages.  Preferred personal traits include first-rate communication skills, high-level organizational ability and a proactive, positive attitude.  Project management potential is also appreciated.