April 11, 2008 by John Dickinson | 1,565 views | Comments (21)
Since entering this industry around 15 years ago I can honestly say I can’t imagine doing anything else. But motion graphics wasn’t my first career choice. I left high school early and worked at McDonalds. I followed that with a 4 year apprenticeship as a ladies hairdresser, and then a number of years as a bar attendant. What about you?Did you get into “mograph” directly from school or planning to enter the industry after school? Did you also have an unusual career path? Now’s the time to “fess up”
21 Responses to this post
April 11, 2008 at 11:03 am |
Well I’m old (46) and I’m just now hitting the ground running in MOGRAPH after I could no longer swing a hammer for a living But, If they had the training back when I was in College I would have chosen it I’m sure, I was a Set Carpenter for the studios for about 22 years and I always wanted to learn the effects end of this Great Industry and now I’m trying to teach myself thanks to you JD and many others like you who share your knowledge with us.
Thank You
-Greg
April 11, 2008 at 3:51 pm |
well,JD,im coming to “fess up”.lol.it seems we have a lot in common.i was a bar attendant 5 years ago,then i jump into a club as a network administrator.after a year later,i went to another club working as an Audio engineer.but the club burst-up.so i began to start working on the “mograph” haha~!
April 11, 2008 at 7:22 pm |
I went to University and got a bachelor of commerce, majoring in marketing. I spent three months in a marketing job and hated every minute of it.. there was no creative outlet for me! Now i see motion graphics as my much more fun/creative form of marketing . Love it!
April 11, 2008 at 7:25 pm |
I worked in (meat, cleaning, electronics) factories for about 2 years and studying film school at the same time.
I couldn’t effort school anymore(and other problems), i had to quit it.
I moved back with my folks and did that year nothing(said my parents), but i was self studying After Effects & Photoshop trough some books and the net. This is why i love sites like yours!
School isn’t necessary anymore, although its good to have some artistic background.
Well, everything worked out pretty good know. I’m running my little company and working freelance.
Everything is possible.
April 11, 2008 at 7:27 pm |
Well, I have one month left before I graduate from college, and then I’ll HOPEFULLY get work in the motion graphics industry. I already have two prospective jobs for this summer. I’ll be working on my professor’s movie and then my TA’s music video. I’m just hoping I can eventually make a career out of it and continue to get work or a steady job.
But I can say that when I first started college I went into the Aerospace Engineering field, just because I got into the school. Never really had a whole bunch of interest in it or was ever really awesome at physics. I was just good enough to get in and get by. I finally decided it wasn’t what I wanted to do and switched my major to RTF. From there I focused on post-production audio. Then I took a motion graphics class and my mind was made up. THIS is what I wanted to do.
April 11, 2008 at 9:04 pm |
John , you are the best EVER ~!!
April 12, 2008 at 12:21 am |
I was a music major. I worked in audio for a bit, then became a video editor and then stumbled into graphics and design, and then fell face-first into motion graphics about 7 years ago.
April 12, 2008 at 3:59 am |
I earned a few bucks as baskettballplayer in a minor league. After i messed up my knee, i still “hung” at the Games of my Team and started filming them and editing the shots (of my Teammates and the camera
)
Today I work in a small advertising agency, doing motiongraphics and sometimes shooting some video we need…
April 12, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
drywaller>grocery store bag boy>guitar & keyboard salesman>broadcast radio student>cable intern>freelance production assistant>freelance cameraman>linear tape editor>nonlinear editor>motion graphics & vfx>???
and wouldn’t trade it for the world.
April 13, 2008 at 2:04 am |
Full disclosure.
I’m a TV news anchor; currently working for a New York Times-owned station in Sarasota-Tampa.
I got hooked on motion graphics a couple of years ago, when I stumbled unto JD’s site.
Right now, it’s a part-time hobby working with AE and C4D.
But it’s fun!
April 13, 2008 at 8:14 am |
I came out of high school selling tires for Goodyear for 6 years, and moved on to racing tire technology for 4 years. I then went on to sell equipment for John Deere for a couple years. Then moved on to the professional audio and video industry where I consulted and engineered systems for 8 years, all the while taking some engineering and audio classes at night, weekends etc. Now, I own a very small post production company, and love the business. Man, how many more job titles could I have?
April 13, 2008 at 3:43 pm |
That made me laugh John. I also worked at Maccas back in the early 80s. Became a barman, then went on to a career in Hotel Management. Climbed to the top and had a look around and thought… I hate this…. so… I started by joining The Pixelcorps in 2004 and learned as much as I could about Motion Graphics and Production ect. Love it, live it wannabe it… err.. working in it that is. Thanks for the inspiration. Damo. http://www.damographics.com
April 14, 2008 at 1:49 pm |
I got interested in motion graphics about 6 years ago when getting my teaching certificate in college. I’m still teaching but hope someday to use all my after effects, 3D and flash skills in a new career. JD’s site is excellent.
April 14, 2008 at 2:23 pm |
I was a librarian after college in Kenya, Africa for 7 years. Then I relocated to the US 14 years ago. My mind was set on Video editing/audio recording. I took some informal classes while I was doing odd jobs, and managed to save some money to buy equipment. I worked for a (major) delivery company for 10 years as an accounting clerk and I hated every OTHER minute of those 10yrs!!!(the other minutes I was dreaming about video/audio editing). I also volunteered as an audio engineer at church. Then in 2003 I started doing wedding videography part-time. I quit my full time job a year ago to focus on my business. Then I bumped into mograph. Where were you 15 years ago JD? You could have saved me a ton of stress!! Now I can’t get enough of motion graphics and animation!!! That’s what I was born to do, but I didn’t know until late last year, at 40!!!! Thank you JD.
April 14, 2008 at 11:21 pm |
Hi, very nice topic, i was studying history and geography about 4 years ago now, had absolutely no knowledge of motion graphics and such.
It all started when my brother showed me a VJ’ing tool named Arkaos for VJ’ing, i started using it and a few months later i was performing in parties and such, after a few years i wanted to start doing my own videos, so i started searching the web for tutorials etc…
I learned afx, and at the same time i was learning it, i was also working on a company that needed videos at the time, so i jumped right to the spot, because i had some skills.
Now I work on a digital signage company as a motion designer.
Gogo destiny!
April 17, 2008 at 2:21 am |
Well technically im still not “in” the business, just learning as much as I can as fast as I can trying to make up for lost time.I was always into video since my days as a young skateboarder making little skate-vids. Started filming professional skateboarders and got paid a little but somehow that went nowhere. Bacame a bussboy at a restaraunt and got “stuck” in the food industry for 10 years. In a desperate attempt to get out I took a job on a mary jane farm south of Humbolt, CA. Needless to say that was a mistake. After being raided and robbed by a bunch of thugs I got a job as an Audio/Visual technician at a local hotel. I got a chance to do some animations for a church for their conference and have steadily been learning mograph for the past two years.
April 19, 2008 at 1:50 am |
McDonalds -> High school -> Waiter -> Film Production BFA, University -> Usher at a theatre -> Courier -> Publishing creative -> Hung out shingle as pro photographer -> Corporate video production for an explosives company -> Staff motion graphics position for a gaming company -> Freelance -> McDonalds. Heh he! Kidding! I hope.
April 22, 2008 at 4:24 pm |
I’ve enjoyed reading these so I thought id throw my two cents in…
After taking a few courses, Design Fundementals/ Graphics Design i decided to make the switch to university, in uni i got into motion as my print skills were at a bit of a stall, and motion seemed like a much richer and more rewarding way of spending my time. Whilst studying I had alot of jobs mostly labour and office assistant positions, but I also worked as a product photographer – It was this boredom doing the same thing day in day out that made me realise that still media wasn’t for me, and that i needed to go beyond photoshop and stuff. Now i do motion for major DVD releases and some broadcasting jobs, enjoying it alot.
May 3, 2008 at 1:12 am |
It’s great to hear all of these stories. I myself spent the better part of 10 years in radio as a disc jockey and producer. After 6 solid years just producing radio commercials , I felt trapped by the ‘one-dimensional’ aspect of only producing audio. I got a tech degree in web development while I was in the biz and left it finally about 8 years ago to pursue graphics. From there I gravitated to video/motion graphics and feel like I’ve found my calling.
However, it’s mind twisting the type of work I see others doing. I’ve got 3 years of after effects under my belt and feel like there’s still years of techniques to learn.
May 6, 2008 at 1:00 pm |
Well, I started on Journalism Industry..as a Producer, Camera Assistant..a little time ago, the destiny took me to the video editing function…few months ago, learn about AE and Mograph came naturaly..3 years ago, but I’m still a newbie motiodesigner..if you’re interested, check out my reel on http://www.videolog.tv/halexsieber
Sorry for the english..
May 30, 2008 at 3:13 am |
And i thought i was the only one….
i finished my bachelor degree in computer science. what a waist of time it was (for me of course). than i had a small business of a few kiosk in the malls. 2 years ago i discovered motion Graphics. i can split my life to 2. the one before and the one after i discovered it.
Today i know what i would like to do for the rest of my life.
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