How To Become A Video Game Animator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a video game animator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Video game animators are creative professionals specialized in creating visuals for video games. They design characters and settings, animate the games, and create special effects. They work in the entertainment industry, combining technology and art to achieve engaging and visually attractive video games.

You will most probably work as a member of a video production team. It will be your job to research design trends in the gaming industry. You will consult the client and collaborate with the art department team in order to ensure the quality of your work is coherent with other potential branches of the project and meets the client's expectations.

A bachelor's degree in computer art or animation is typically required of candidates for this role. If you are lacking the paper but have the skills and self-taught experience, you may still be a strong contender, though. If you have a strong portfolio of projects you have completed and a solid understanding of the work that goes into creating the artwork for a video game, no employer will turn you down. People working in this position make $74,795 on average per year, which is $35.96 per hour if you break it down.

ScoreVideo Game AnimatorUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $81,133

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.63%

Asian 7.73%

Black or African American 4.35%

Hispanic or Latino 14.35%

Unknown 5.56%

White 67.38%

Gender

female 18.64%

male 81.36%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.2

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a video game animator

Explore video game animator education requirements

Most common video game animator degrees

Bachelor's

80.4 %

Master's

13.7 %

Associate

5.9 %

Start to develop specific video game animator skills

Skills	Percentages
Animation	36.02%
Motion Capture	25.60%
Maya	22.70%
Unity	4.98%
Character Animation	4.28%

Complete relevant video game animator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New video game animators learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a video game animator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real video game animator resumes.

Research video game animator duties and responsibilities

Lead a team of artists to create the art and animation for motion comics aspects of the show.
Provide technical support in Autodesk Maya.
Work with engineers to develop process, using Maya.
Lay out and optimize UV's for realtime rendering.

Prepare your video game animator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your video game animator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a video game animator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable video game animator resume templates

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