Interested in becoming a 2D Animator and working on diverse and creative projects? Learn about the necessary skills, job responsibilities, and career paths of a 2D Animator, from working on animated logos for companies to contributing to film and television projects.

Key Insights:

  • 2D Animators use computer design applications to create two-dimensional animations for various industries, including film, television, and digital advertising.
  • They generally work as freelancers or part of a studio firm, undertaking various design projects based on their clients' needs.
  • Successful 2D Animators require proficiency in graphic and motion design skills, with knowledge in software applications like Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Illustrator.
  • 2D Animators often work in teams on large projects, collaborating to build animated assets according to the client or producers' specifications.
  • The salary for 2D Animators is above the national average, with the potential to earn upwards of $100,000 a year in high-end management roles.
  • Noble Desktop offers comprehensive 2D Animation training, providing students with real-time instruction, small class sizes, and professionalization support options.

2D Animator Job Description

2D Animators are professional creatives who use computer design applications to create the illusion of motion in static images. They work on everything from film and television to digital design and advertising. 2D Animators tend to work on simpler animated projects than their 3D counterparts, but they still do creative, technically demanding work on a diverse range of evocative projects. This overview will explain more about what a 2D Animator does, what they typically earn, and how to learn the skills required to land a job. 

What is a 2D Animator?

2D Animators refers to a subset of Motion Graphics Artists who utilize computer applications and design software to create the illusion of motion in a static 2D image. 2D animation is most commonly associated with traditional, hand-drawn film animation, such as the output of The Walt Disney Animation Studios for the better part of the 20th century. However, 2D Animators work on a fairly wide range of projects because they are brought in for any creative project that requires the addition of an animated asset. Even if it is something as simple as adding an animated logo to a company’s webpage, 2D animation specialists are likely to be involved. Still, the film and television industry employs most non-freelance, full-time 2D Animators.

2D Animators tend to work either as freelancers or as part of a studio firm that larger companies contract out to produce necessary animated assets for any given project or assignment. This means that most 2D Animators will be working on various design projects over the course of their employment, and they are likely to be dropped into an assignment as their studio or their clients' needs arise. This means that a 2D Animator may spend a few days working on an animated logo for a car company and then be tasked with building assets for a commercial for a local restaurant.

Animators working on large projects tend to work in teams, collaborating with one another to build animated assets while still following the specification laid out by the client or producers. While animators will work on individual aspects of an assignment, they will work alongside other animators who are building related assets, animating different parts of the project, or even animating different parts of the same scene using the same baseline assets. This work environment can be empowering for some, particularly those who enjoy collaborative work. Still, it can also increase the pressures put on individual animators as projects need to come together on time.

Job Requirements

Becoming a 2D Animator will require you to demonstrate proficiency in several interconnected graphic and motion design skills. These include knowledge of software applications like Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Illustrator and soft skills such as knowledge of 2D animation techniques and trends. You will need to use your job materials to demonstrate that you have technical skills proficiency and a creative eye capable of building elaborate 2D animated projects. Some jobs will require more specific skills training, such as knowledge of story-boarding practices and techniques for jobs that require this background.

While many 2D Animators will have college degrees, it isn’t strictly necessary for all 2D animation career paths. Other methods of receiving 2D animation training can set you up for future success in the industry, such as career-focused skills training programs. 2D Animators are unlikely to need a professional certification in any skill or design application, but these can help an animator strengthen their resumes. Prospective 2D Animators will need hands-on design experience to demonstrate to potential employers in their job materials.

Read more about the job requirements for a 2D Animator.

Job Responsibilities

Typical job responsibilities for 2D animators include:

Skills

2D Animators rely on many technical skills to bring their designs to life, though the importance of these tools will vary depending on the project you are working on. The most commonly used tools include Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Cinema 4D. They may also use Illustrator and XD to work on animated designs for web applications. 2D Animators will use Photoshop and Illustrator to create basic visual assets that are given motion through the traditional process of creating the illusion of motion using sequential images, and After Effects and Premiere Pro are used to alter film files to include more elaborate animated assets digitally. The amount you need to use each skill will vary depending on the job title and firm you are working for, but most 2D Animators will be expected to learn all of these tools in some capacity.

2D Animators must also demonstrate several soft skills to succeed in their long-term career goals. 2D Animators must have a creative eye that helps guide them through their design process. It doesn’t help to use a tool like Photoshop or After Effects if you aren’t making informed decisions about your design choices. Building off of this, 2D Animators should have a background in animation theory and history. The art form has developed its lexicon and theories over the last 100 years, and while you don’t need to be an expert, knowing broad trends is an important skill. Finally, since most animation work is done by teams of animators working together, it is important to master basic teamwork skills like communication, deadline management, and responsiveness to feedback.

Read more about what skills you need to become a 2D Animator.

Why Do Businesses Need 2D Animators?

Businesses of all stripes need 2D Animators because animated motion graphics are common in advertising and entertainment. Whether it is something as simple as creating an animated logo for a webpage or as complex as greeting animated titles and graphics of a commercial spot, businesses with client-facing products tend to frequently hire studios with animation expertise. Advertising is an important part of any consumer product and 2D animation is one of the primary tools of any advertising agency or campaign.

Beyond this, the industry most commonly associated with 2D animation is the film and television industry, which need 2D Animators because many of the films and series they produce either use 2D animation heavily or are entirely built by 2D Animators. This is a very different working environment, since building an animated logo for a car dealership is far removed from working on an animated cartoon for years on end, but the two jobs are both completed using many of the same tools.

Where Do 2D Animators Usually Work?

2D Animators usually work in one of two industries, assuming they aren’t freelancers. Animators will either work in the advertising industry (or industries closely connected to it, like brand management or web design), or they will work in some aspect of the entertainment industry.

2D Animators working in advertising will tend to work on smaller, shorter projects. 

They are likely to either be self-employed or work at a studio that contracts out work from clients who don’t want to employ full-time animators to build assets for things like webpages or commercials. Working in this industry often means spending a very short amount of time on a single project since the larger firms will have dozens or even hundreds of clients for whom they animated digital assets.

2D Animation is often associated with the entertainment industry, and this makes sense, given that the industry is one of the largest employers of 2D Animators. These animators will often be employed by specific studios and tasked with building and animating assets for whatever project that studio is working on at any given time. Once they are done with the necessary animation work and iit is ready to be handed off to a different team, they will work on a different project. Rarer, but still relevant, are the 2D Animators who work on specific projects for long periods of time, particularly those working at big-name studios that are working on single films, projects, or television series at one time. These animators may spend years of their lives on single projects, intricately animating assets for films, games, or television shows that take tens of thousands of man-hours to produce.

2D Animator Salary and Job Outlook

2D Animators command an average salary of approximately $62,000 a year, which is higher than the national average. 2D Animators starting salaries tend to be slightly lower than this, but they still generally hover in the mid-50,000s depending on the firm you are hired into and where you work. In terms of long-term earning potential, 2D Animators can command salaries of upwards of $100,000 dollars a year for creatives working in high-end management roles. However, in most cases, the highest paying jobs in the field are reserved for animators with a more robust skillset, particularly those with 3D animation training.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of animation and special effects jobs (the broad category of jobs under which 2D Animator falls) is set to expand by about 5% over the next decade. This is in line with the expected job growth across all industries, but is an outlier in terms of art and design jobs, which are only expected to grow by about 2%. If you are interested in a creative career, 2D animation might be a path worth considering, since the job outlook in this field is slightly rosier than the rest of the professional art field. 

Read more about 2D Animator salaries and the job outlook for a 2D Animator.

How Long Does it Take to Become a 2D Animator?

The time it takes to become a 2D animator will vary from person to person, largely because the field is so expansive and covers so many different kinds of creative work. Students looking to become 2D Animators working on animated logos and other advertising work will likely need less time and training than someone who aspires to work on a Disney animated feature. In general, though, aspiring animators with some degree of background in creative design applications can become proficient in After Effects and Premiere Pro in only a few months. If you need to learn tools like Illustrator and Photoshop, this will increase the time it takes to learn, but it is still manageable. After this, the amount of time it takes to become a professional 2D Animator will vary based on the nature of your job search and the amount of time you have to perfect your animation skills (arguably, no animator is ever done practicing and perfecting their craft).

2D Animator vs. 3D Animator

The career most similar to the work of a 2D Animator is, unsurprisingly, that of a 3D Animator. 3D Animators use many of the same tools and techniques as 2D Animators, but they add the illusion of depth and weight to their motion graphics design. This added responsibility means that 3D Animators tend to be hired for different kinds of projects, and they have substantially different responsibilities working on those projects. 3D Animators are often tasked with making realistic or lifelike models of actors, animals, or other objects that will be digitally added to a video or film in post-production, which is less of a concern for 2D Animators. Thus, 3D Animators will be more concerned with issues of depth and weight, ensuring that the assets that they build move more realistically and fluidly than their 2D brethren.

For a few reasons, 3D Animators tend to be in higher demand than 2D Animators. First, even traditional animation studios have begun to phase out 2D work in favor of 3D work, prioritizing the potential new technology offers. Second, 3D animation is integral to designing and implementing computer-generated imagery and special effects. Even live-action films and television shows extensively use 3D animation to add digital assets, effects, and other additions to the completed project. As a result, 3D Animators tend to make more money, earning about $82,000 a year on average.

Learn the Skills to Become a 2D Animator at Noble Desktop

Once you’ve committed to learning the skills necessary to become a 2D Animator, Noble Desktop is available to make that dream a reality through professional skills instruction. Noble offers a wide array of 2D animation classes, available in person or online, and all of these classes are taught by expert instructors with years of on-the-job experience. This structure means that regardless of how your course is delivered, you’ll receive real-time instruction and be able to ask questions and receive personalized feedback on your work. Similarly, no matter whether you take the course in person or online, you’ll benefit from small class sizes and all of the professionalization support options, including one-on-one career mentoring in the career-certificate programs. Finally, every Noble class comes with the option for a free retake within one year, meaning that you’ll have the chance to build your portfolio and get even more hands-on experience in preparation for entering the job market.

Students interested in a career change may consider enrolling in Noble’s Motion Graphics Certificate program. This class aims to teach students how to use tools like Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro to create evocative 2D and 3D animated assets for many practical projects. In this class, students will be guided through the process of using After Effects to animate text, photos, and videos, and they will learn how to modify these animations in subtle but perceptible ways slightly. Students will also learn how to create animated images using layered Photoshop and Illustrator files (this course does not include instruction in either of these tools, they are prerequisites for taking the course). Finally, students will learn how to use Premiere Pro to edit their animated assets into video files. All this work will culminate in a series of professionalization seminars, including a portfolio-building workshop and a one-on-one mentorship session, intended to prepare students for a career as a 2D or 3D Animator.

Students who aren’t ready to make a significant career shift but do want to learn 2D animation skills may want to consider one of Noble’s many motion graphics bootcamps. These classes include the Adobe After Effects Bootcamp, which provides students with guided instruction in the use of After Effects for creating animated digital assets and the Adobe Premiere Pro Bootcamp, which teaches students how to use that program to compile their animated assets into a completed project. These courses are excellent starting points for new animators looking to learn the trade. However, they don’t provide students with any of the professionalization services offered through Noble’s career certificate programs.

Finally, students who aren’t sure that they want to start learning 2D animation but are intrigued by the possibility should consult some of Noble’s free training resources to learn more. Noble’s Learn 2D Animation page, as well as their Learn After Effects and Learn Premiere Pro page compiles a weird range of articles, free seminars and resources that students can use to help them on their 2D Animation career path. Noble also provides prospective 2D Animators with a career information hub to help them decide if a career change is right for them.

Key Takeaways