In this feature of our “Day In The Life” series, we are stepping into the world of one of our senior animators at Igloo Creative House, Elay Shtephman, where every day is a new adventure in bringing inanimate objects to life. Imagine waking up each morning, grabbing your trusty pen and tablet, and diving into the creative world where the possibilities are endless. Whether it’s a 2D hand-drawn masterpiece or a 3D computer-generated extravaganza, Elay’s job is to breathe life into characters and make them move in ways that will leave audiences mesmerized. 

What is an Animator

An animator is responsible for creating and designing the movement and actions of characters, objects, and visual effects in films, television shows, video games, and other forms of media. This can include tasks such as designing character movement, choreographing action sequences, and animating special effects. Animators may also work closely with other members of the production team, such as writers, directors, and designers, to ensure that the animation supports the overall vision for the project. Additionally, they may be responsible for testing and troubleshooting animation to ensure that it functions correctly and meets technical requirements.

Day to Day

Elay kicks off the day with a glass of ginger lemon honey and some entertaining conversation with the team at the office and then gets to action. The tasks at hand can range in scale from small tasks for explainer videos to character animation for videos in the gaming and high-tech industries. From there, the team starts off the pipeline with a brief from the project manager and the art director. Once a brief is given, animators receive the design files and layout from the design team to help structure the process to be done in the most efficient manner. Once this is complete, the animation process begins. The processes here become dependent on the project itself. For 2D animation, Elay’s go-to tools would be adobe after effects along with the help of scripts and extensions. Blender would be the tool for 3D animation. In order to stick to the vision of the project, communication with the art director and rigger is of high importance. After a successful alignment on the vision of the project, Elay would search online for anything that could be a good reference for the character’s animation. If no good references could be found, a team member would help act on the motion that needs to be captured. The next step in the process would be a review from the direction team and revisions if needed.

When it comes to facing any challenges for any project, Elay’s success in overcoming them has always been the ability to consult the team and allow a group effort to break through any obstacle.

At Magic Media we are veterans of the film, tv, gaming and entertainment industries, offering comprehensive VFX services for in-game, cinematics, and more, as well as animation and full art services! Our main goal is to to provide a one-stop solution for any project. We love nothing more than collaborating with creative minds, so drop us a line and let’s talk!