Is 30 Too Old to Learn Animation?

The short answer to your question is no, 30 isn’t too old to learn animation. You are never too old to learn a new skill. If you’re in your thirties, you still have a lot of working years ahead of you. You can learn animation and have a full career that is brimming with excitement and creativity if that’s truly what you want. It’s never too late to start living out your dreams, changing careers, learning new skills, or deepening the skills you already have. Life is all about learning new things, having experiences, and expanding, so if you have a goal or dream of becoming an animation professional, you have many options available to you that can help you reach your aspirations. 

Why Learn Animation at 30?

Animation isn’t what many people think it is. It’s a lot bigger than The Simpsons and Disney movies, and it can open the doors to different fields. Animation is used for creating moving graphics for websites, video games, and visual effects just as much as it is used in tech, medical, engineering, and architectural industries. It can even be used to create 3D models for medical professionals, students, and mathematical professionals. There are a lot of possibilities in this field, so learning animation in your thirties can be very rewarding. Animation skills can lead to careers in multimedia artistry, game development, 3D design, and motion graphics design, among others. And it has the potential to be a lucrative career as movies, the Internet, advertising, retail, and video games all rely on animation for their products.

With animation, every project brings new challenges and fresh energy. It’s hard to get bored or find the work to be stale when things are always changing. You’ll work on projects with hard deadlines And using the software that animation professionals use is fun. Each type of software has a different function, so you can use After Effects for video compositing and motion graphics design, Photoshop to work on still images, and Cinema 4D to create stunning special effects or exciting video games. You’ll use multiple software to create the layers that come together to create amazing animation works. One of the appealing things about animation is that it’s extremely versatile in ways that allow your creativity to be in full bloom. You can enhance your existing work by adding elements of motion and weight, and open the door to learning additional skills such as digital video editing that can make you more versatile in your career.

There are many animation careers you may find alluring, like Multimedia Artists and Animators, who design complex animations and graphics, basic designs and illustrations for product labels, and create background designs. Motion Graphics Designers blend graphic design with animation to digitize film action sequences and create visual narratives for commercials, apps, games, and video games. As a Game Developer, you’ll be involved from concept to finished product, creating characters, storylines, and backgrounds for games that will run on gaming consoles, computers, and mobile devices. A 3D Animator uses their understanding of human and animal movement to create rich, realistic experiences in films, television, games, and online media. They’re even involved in creating theme park experiences at parks like Universal Studios and Six Flags. 

How Long Will It Take to Learn Animation?

While there is no short answer to this question, it’s important to understand that animation is a constantly evolving field that changes with the needs and expectations of audiences, technological advances, and Animator innovation. No animation professional, no matter how long they’ve been in the business, knows it all. There’s always more to learn, which is part of what makes this field so dynamic and exciting. Because animation involves a variety of techniques to create moving images from static ones, the time required to learn these varies depending on the complexity of the skills needed. Learning animation at a professional level can take several months to years for most people, and your prior experience and your goals will impact your learning timeline. If you really want to pick the shortest route to animation, you need to have very clear and specific goals. You need to know what area of animation you want to go into, so you can tailor your animation training to the skills that are most relevant to your aspirations. 

While you can learn the basics of several animation tools like Autodesk Maya or Final Cut Pro in days or weeks, you will have to spend a significant amount of time practicing to become truly proficient and comfortable with the software and creating animations with them, and even more hours additionally to have professional-level animation skills that an employer will value. If you intend to build an animation career with your studies, then you’ll need to invest in advanced animation courses that cover more in-demand skills and a variety of animation tools and techniques. For those who are unsure of what kind of animation professional they want to become, learning common animation software can help you find your specialty so you can hone in on the courses and skills that will best benefit you. 

The type of animation you’re interested in getting into will have some bearing on how long it will take to learn animation. Learning to create computer-generated special effects or visual effects for film and television involves a lot of techniques. Game development, medical or mathematical animation, and illustration are other animation specialties that focus on particular skill sets. Where a Game Developer or Medical Animator would need to be well-versed in 3D modeling and rendering, an Illustrator will focus more on constructing hand-drawn or computer-generated still images. Each has a set of tools that are better suited to the job duties, which also means that it will take varying lengths of time to learn the tools and techniques for the job. And again, the amount of time you’re able to devote to practicing your craft, the more adept at animation you’ll become. 

Ways to Make Learning Animation Easier and Quicker

There are some things you can do to make learning animation more efficient. Consider enrolling in a bootcamp, certificate program, or apprenticeship. If you already have foundational animation skills, you can consider applying for an apprenticeship. Think of these as paid on-the-job training opportunities. You’ll get to experience firsthand the day-to-day activity and functions of animation professionals, and there’s usually a guaranteed job awaiting you at the end of your apprenticeship. While apprenticeships aren’t as common as they once were, they are available in animation. This live, immersive, and hands-on approach is a very helpful and effective way to learn animation and secure employment. Likewise, you could seek out internships, but these do not usually pay you for the experience, and you’re not guaranteed job placement at its conclusion.

Live classes also make your learning far more efficient. Not only will you have access to structure guidance and peer support, but also live and personal feedback. Attending live classes, whether online or in person, gives you more peace of mind while also holding you accountable for staying on top of your studies and actively working to pursue your dreams. While it can be alluring to opt for one of the on-demand courses that offer pre-recorded lessons that you can take as your schedule permits, it will most likely cost you a lot of your time. It takes a lot more motivation to stay on top of your studies, set a schedule, and not procrastinate. Perhaps one of the biggest draws to live online classes is that you can attend a course that’s hosted hundreds or even thousands of miles away from your location. This allows you to choose a specific instructor or training center that you feel will best support your learning goals. Other noteworthy advantages include skipping the commute and being able to attend class from anywhere you have a wifi signal.

When you choose a live class, there are usually two scheduling options, part-time and full-time. Each has its merits, but you can only choose one. While a part-time schedule makes learning animation easier, a full-time schedule makes it quicker. Part-time training is easier because the learning doesn’t seem quite as accelerated. You’ll have more time to practice the techniques you’re learning, there’s often less homework, and the learning is spread out over a longer period. Many students prefer part-time animation courses because they can continue to prioritize their personal or professional obligations while also taking steps toward a future in animation on evenings or weekends. Part-time schedules often double the time it takes to complete a full-time animation course. Full-time schedules are extremely fast-paced and teach you what you need to know to become an animation professional. These classes are typically held during the workday for four to five days a week, which makes them graduate students faster. If you need the fastest, full-time training is it. You can expect to spend days, at best, covering course topics instead of weeks; and you will have plenty of work to do outside of class to keep the curriculum on its timeline and to help reinforce the course materials.