Is 2D Animation a Good Career?

2D animation is part of a much larger field of creative professions focused on bringing artistic ideas to life in various media. 2D animation is most commonly associated with traditional, hand-drawn animation and 2D Animators are usually employed in the film and television industry. This means that there are a lot of adjacent career paths that intersect with 2D animation and students interested in a creative career may want to think about the options on the table.

What is a 2D Animator?

2D Animators are creative professionals who plan, design, and build two-dimensional animated assets in everything from traditional animation and video games to digital advertising and user interfaces. As long as a digital asset is made to move, it is likely that a 2D Animator was involved in the process. 2D Animators may also be involved in the development, design, planning, or storyboarding phases of a given project, depending on their level of expertise and the kind of project in question. On the whole, 2D animation is a versatile skill used in various industries and fields, making it an ideal career path for anyone interested in a creative career.

In today’s world, unless a project consciously uses the unique affordances of hand-drawn animation, almost all 2D animation work is computer-assisted. This shift means most animators have begun using computer design applications such as Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro to add the illusion of motion to a set of static images. 2D Animators may also use tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to construct certain kinds of specific animated assets, such as moving digital logos or online GIFs. This emphasis on digitally aided animation tools means that your training as a 2D Animator will cover a lot of technical training.

Read more about what a 2D Animator does. 

3D Animation

The field most commonly associated with 2D animation is 3D animation. As the names imply, 3D Animators work with many of the same tools, but they add depth and weight to their animations in a way that is absent in most 2D animated projects. Both fields use Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro to build their animated assets and add them to completed video files, so there is a great deal of overlap between the two career paths as far as technical knowledge is concerned. 

The primary difference between the two is the kinds of projects they tend to work on. 2D animation has fallen out of favor in the television and film industries for a few decades as 3D animation has become more and more accessible, affordable, and easy to use. 3D Animators are likely to be working as effects artists who produce and composite the digital effects that are added to film and television projects in post-production. This can be as simple as digitally altering a character's costume to creating entire living beings that are animated and added into scenes after the principal shooting with real human beings is complete.

You can learn more about 3D animation career options at Noble’s 3D Animator Career Hub and you can find training options in their Motion Graphics course offerings.

Video Editing

Another field adjacent to 2D animation is video editing. Video editing is the technical art of compiling individual film clips into a single, cohesive project. It is the act of adding meaning to a film by how scenes and images are cut together. Most Video Editors use Adobe Premiere Pro or similar software, so there is significant skill overlap between Video Editors and 2D Animators. Video Editors are also often the professionals responsible for inserting animated effects into a project, meaning they are likely to work alongside 2D Animators often.

Video editing is often thought of as a more technical art form than a creative one. While there is an immense amount of creativity involved in editing video projects, you are working with another department’s finished footage and you need to compile videos in fairly specific ways (both to the specifications of the director/manager and in line with common expectations of a well-edited product). If you want to work with a narrower set of creative tools, video editing might be right for you.

To learn more about the career paths open to a Video Editor, consider exploring Noble’s Video Editor career landing. If you want to explore professional training options, Noble teaches a wide array of video editing courses.

Visual Design

A lot of contemporary 2D animation work is done for webpages or consumer software, meaning that 2D Animators may find themselves working alongside Visual Designers, UI Designers, or UX Designers. These professionals build the layouts of user interfaces and other digital software applications, and they often employ 2D animated assets as a means of making their designs more evocative or more accessible. This means that knowing 2D animation skills will pay off in the long term if you move into the field of visual design or UI/UX design.

Visual design will require students to learn a relatively different set of tools and techniques relative to 2D animation. While both career fields make use of tools like Photoshop and After Effects, Visual Designers will also need to make use of tools like Adobe XD or Figma to construct, test, and iterate on designs for web applications or other digital interfaces. Plus, if you go into the field of UX design, you’ll need to learn how to construct surveys, run focus groups, and analyze user behaviors as part of your daily work responsibilities.

Students interested in visual design should consider exploring Noble’s comprehensive visual design courses and user experience design courses.

How to Decide Which Career is Right for You

Deciding on the right career path to follow can be tricky since it is a major decision and can feel very speculative. One of the questions that you want to ask yourself is what kinds of creative projects you hope to be working on. 2D animation work primarily lies in the film and television and consumer software industries. If you feel that your calling is in webpage design or digital effects, it is possible that you may want to look elsewhere. 2D animation is also becoming increasingly niche in some fields, so while you can still find work in advertising, you may find your options more limited.

Another thing to consider is the environment in which you work and how much creative freedom you will want. If you want to work in a bustling, team-centered environment, you may want to find work as one of the flavors of animator, while someone who prefers to work on their own is less likely to find rewarding work in the field. Students who are more data-oriented may want to consider a career in UX design, while a student who is technically minded but still creative may want to look for work in the field of video editing.

Learn the Skills to Become a 2D Animator at Noble Desktop

Once you’ve committed to learning the skills necessary to become a 2D Animator, Noble Desktop is available to make that dream a reality through professional skills instruction. Noble offers a wide array of 2D animation classes, available in person or online, and all of these classes are taught by expert instructors with years of on-the-job experience. This structure means that regardless of how your course is delivered, you’ll receive real-time instruction and be able to ask questions and receive personalized feedback on your work. Similarly, no matter whether you take the course in person or online, you’ll benefit from small class sizes and all of the professionalization support options, including one-on-one career mentoring in the career-certificate programs. Finally, every Noble class comes with the option for a free retake within one year, meaning that you’ll have the chance to build your portfolio and get even more hands-on experience in preparation for entering the job market.

Students interested in a career change may consider enrolling in Noble’s Motion Graphics Certificate program. This class aims to teach students how to use tools like Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro to create evocative 2D and 3D animated assets for many practical projects. In this class, students will be guided through the process of using After Effects to animate text, photos, and videos, and they will learn how to modify these animations in subtle but perceptible ways slightly. Students will also learn how to create animated images using layered Photoshop and Illustrator files (this course does not include instruction in either of these tools, they are prerequisites for taking the course). Finally, students will learn how to use Premiere Pro to edit their animated assets into video files. All this work will culminate in a series of professionalization seminars, including a portfolio-building workshop and a one-on-one mentorship session, intended to prepare students for a career as a 2D or 3D Animator.

Students who aren’t ready to make a significant career shift but do want to learn 2D animation skills may want to consider one of Noble’s many motion graphics bootcamps. These classes include the Adobe After Effects Bootcamp, which provides students with guided instruction in the use of After Effects for creating animated digital assets and the Adobe Premiere Pro Bootcamp, which teaches students how to use that program to compile their animated assets into a completed project. These courses are excellent starting points for new animators looking to learn the trade. However, they don’t provide students with any of the professionalization services offered through Noble’s career certificate programs.

Finally, students who aren’t sure that they want to start learning 2D animation but are intrigued by the possibility should consult some of Noble’s free training resources to learn more. Noble’s Learn 2D Animation page, as well as their Learn After Effects and Learn Premiere Pro page compiles a weird range of articles, free seminars and resources that students can use to help them on their 2D Animation career path. Noble also provides prospective 2D Animators with a career information hub to help them decide if a career change is right for them