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Character animator skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical character animator skills. We ranked the top skills for character animators based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 34.9% of character animator resumes contained animation as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a character animator needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 character animator skills for your resume and career

1. Animation

Here's how character animators use animation:
  • Worked closely with and incorporated feedback from Animation Supervisor and Director to establish and develop scenes.
  • Directed and created concise, detailed storyboards for animation sequences and short animation promotional films.

2. Maya

Maya, also known as Autodesk Maya, is a software and a graphics application used to create 3D models, effects, and assets intended for use in such 3D products as video games, films, architectural plans and models, and other, often interactive, pieces of media. Maya has, since the late 90s, become a standard and one of the core tools in the film and video game industries, has become a part of the primary learning curriculum in schools devoted to these crafts, and has been used in many famous movies, such as Lord of the Rings.

Here's how character animators use maya:
  • Character Animator, Maya Generalist and Nuke Compositor.
  • Conceived and created games, rooms, objects, and animations using acombination of Maya and Flash.

3. Character Animation

Here's how character animators use character animation:
  • Created several 3D character animations for a children's series called "GiggleBellies."
  • Create fun character animations, Stylized cartoon characters behaviors, game "Crazy Creatures" mmo.

4. Motion Capture

Here's how character animators use motion capture:
  • Strived for excellence in all areas of production and actively in charge of motion capture cleanup.
  • character animator for commercial prototypes, animating cinematics, cleaning and incorporating motion capture data, posing styleframes.

5. AAA

American Automobile Association, commonly pronounced as AAA or triple A, is an organization in North America. AAA is a privately held non-profit driven public party affiliation and administration association with more than 60 million members in the United States and Canada. AAA offers types of assistance to its individuals, including emergency aide.

Here's how character animators use aaa:
  • Animated camera and props for a AAA client reveal video.
  • Created AAA performances for God of War.

6. Demo Reel

Here's how character animators use demo reel:
  • Animated carious rigs for the Studio Demo Reel 2012.

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7. VFX

Visual effects or, as it is known more often, VFX is a term used to describe the special imagery as well as the process of creating and applying said effects onto a visual piece of media, such as a photograph, a video, or a film. VFX is used in filmmaking to replace activities, actions, settings, objects, and animals that would otherwise be too expensive or dangerous or otherwise difficult to work with, create, or use.

Here's how character animators use vfx:
  • Completed a VFX short film named "Storm in Sight 2: Battle in San Francisco" https://vimeo.com/24080470
  • Developed and supervised a variety of projects ranging from internal demonstration videos to VFX supervising commercial spots.

8. Character Design

Character design involves creating an entire style, concept, and artwork of a character from scratch. It requires an in-depth study of the character's personality to develop a virtual understanding of its physical features. Character design is a very complicated process and demands a lot of creative energy.

Here's how character animators use character design:
  • Created logos and branding elements for several start up companies as well as traditional animations, animated websites, and character designs
  • Created storyboards, character designs, modeled, rigged, textured and animated 3D characters and elements for an online competition.

9. Storyboards

Here's how character animators use storyboards:
  • Work includes creating storyboards to map out the story and animating the characters with a New Orleans feel.
  • Created character and asset designs with materials and storyboards from client alongside a production team.

10. CG

CG stands for computer graphics. Computer graphics deals with creating images with the assistance of computers. Computer graphics is an essential technology in digital photography, films, video games, cell phone and computer display, and many exclusive applications.

Here's how character animators use cg:
  • Character animator for CG Short film One Per Person
  • Collaborate with 3d artists, producers and client to visually develop a CG commercial for the 2013 Ford Mustang

11. Adobe Photoshop

Here's how character animators use adobe photoshop:
  • Animate characters and backgrounds using both Adobe PhotoShop and Flash.
  • Use of 3ds Max, Adobe Photoshop, and AutoCAD to create high quality images.

12. Rig

Rigging includes designing, preparing, or setting up equipment for drilling operations. This skill is one of the main and most important activities in the oil and gas industry, whether it's for onboard operations or port operations. Rigging systems should have parts like master links, shackles, slings, and lifting bags for underwater lifting. Professionals working with rigging systems are responsible for tasks like operating platform lifts, forklifts, and overhead cranes.

Here's how character animators use rig:
  • Tested and configured various rig systems for final version of production.
  • Animated the company mascot rig for multiple Logo Sequences.

13. Feature Film

A feature film is a film with a playing time long enough to be deemed the main or the soul movie to fill a program. The term feature film was first used for the main, full-length film in a cinema program that included a short film and sometimes a newsreel. The notion of how long a feature film should be varies according to time and place but most feature films are between 75 and 210 minutes long.

Here's how character animators use feature film:
  • Worked on feature film The Cool Beans - We Need a Hit and several smaller client projects.
  • Animated characters for DNA / Nickelodeon's feature film and television series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron

14. Video Games

Video Games are a form of entertainment where the player interacts with a virtual space. The subject and strategies for video games vary depending on the kind of game. For example, some video games require the player to solve a puzzle in addition to exploring the virtual world, while others encourage combat strategies.

Here's how character animators use video games:
  • Design 3D characters for use in educational video game for middle school science and math students.
  • Worked on an independent video game.

15. PC

Here's how character animators use pc:
  • Character Animator for PC adventure video game, A Vampyre Story Assisted in lighting, rendering, and layout design.
  • Produced golf course models for Microsoft Golf 99, Microsoft Golf 98, Greg Norman Ultimate Golf Challenge PC golf games.
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List of character animator skills to add to your resume

Character animator skills

The most important skills for a character animator resume and required skills for a character animator to have include:

  • Animation
  • Maya
  • Character Animation
  • Motion Capture
  • AAA
  • Demo Reel
  • VFX
  • Character Design
  • Storyboards
  • CG
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Rig
  • Feature Film
  • Video Games
  • PC
  • Facial Expressions
  • Motion Graphics
  • Texture
  • Game Engine
  • Adobe Flash
  • DVD
  • Facial Animation
  • Concept Art
  • Cinema
  • UV
  • User Interface
  • Animation Pipeline
  • VR
  • Dragon
  • SIMS
  • TV Show
  • Toon Boom

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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