Coming Up Next : What Can/Should Animators Do In Downtime

P.S. - This is just an intro about my upcoming post and not the post itself.

Lately I have come across many discussions, emails, questions as to whats the future of Animation (specially in my country, India) looks like and what should we do about it to get employed or remain employed. Majority of them are from freshers/beginners, very newly inducted into production or are waiting to get that ever so elusive first break in the industry.

So I thought it would be prudent to give some thought to it and see if I can come up with something worth pondering or at-least answer some questions I have been asked. Though this post has been motivated keeping in mind whats happening in the Indian Animation Industry and what can Animators(or to-be) do, but I am filled with hope that what I am about to share will resonate across diverse set of Animators(or even in general artists and may be even people looking for jobs or already in jobs but fearful of whats going to happen next) regardless of which part of the world they are from.

Now I really desist the very over-hyped-blown-out-of-proportion word "recession" and hence I am using the word "downtime".

Also I am totally not going to get into details, of industry figures and statistics, so I wont be mentioning any studio names and what current work they have and what work they plan to get in the near future. My post will be primarily about what we can do at an individual level. We cant influence the circumstances around us, but we can for sure influence how we react to it and what can be done by each one of us.

So its all about what you can/should do at all times, whether the time is good or not so good. This post will be more about self-growth yet offer practical suggestions which will enable you be more pro-active about your circumstances/challenges/setbacks/failures instead of being reactive towards them.

I have to admit that whatever content I am sharing it with you has been condensed and sourced from different resources in the form of people I talk to, books, audio books, blogs, podcasts, seminars and so on and also layered with my own thoughts. Having said that the reason I am sharing it with you is that I am 100% convinced that you will definitely be able to relate to some if not all. I have myself tried and still trying many of them and hence that's the reason of my conviction that it will be useful for you. Its my sincere intention to help people by sharing whatever little I know and not to just increase the eyeballs/traffic for my blog. But again use your own discretion and then decide what makes sense for you personally.

Depending on how much I come up with, the post may be divided into multiple posts for ease of reading.

Also for the first time, I am making this a collaborative post where in you are more than free to send any suggestions yourself and I shall include this in a different post dedicated to just the views I receive from different people explicitly. Needless to say by due credit will be given.

You can send your suggestions/views by email(mentioned in my profile) / or using the comment section below/ or on Twitter.

Thank You !

@|b


P.S. - I am sure you would have noticed the image above where a ray of light seeps into the otherwise dark room. Its my endeavor that this post will do the same for you, doesn't matter how small the effect might be.