2D Animators work in a relatively expansive field, and they frequently are working a diverse range of different projects. This means that the tools and skills used by individual 2D Animators will vary from project to project. Still, there are a few commonly used tools and important soft skills that most 2D Animators will need to master to succeed in 2D animation. These include hard skills like knowing how to use tools like Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, alongside soft skills such as deadline management, responsiveness to feedback, and understanding animation theory.

Having a resume line indicating that you have been trained in these tools isn't enough. You’ll need to demonstrate, either through a demo reel or in a job interview, that you have expertise in many of these skills before you get hired.

What is a 2D Animator?

2D Animators are creative professionals who plan, design, and build two-dimensional animated assets in everything from traditional animation and video games to digital advertising and user interfaces. As long as a digital asset is made to move, it is likely that a 2D Animator was involved in the process. 2D Animators may also be involved in the development, design, planning, or storyboarding phases of a given project, depending on their level of expertise and the kind of project in question. On the whole, 2D animation is a versatile skill used in various industries and fields, making it an ideal career path for anyone interested in a creative career.

In today’s world, unless a project consciously uses the unique affordances of hand-drawn animation, almost all 2D animation work is computer-assisted. This shift means most animators have begun using computer design applications such as Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro to add the illusion of motion to a set of static images. 2D Animators may also use tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to construct certain kinds of specific animated assets, such as moving digital logos or online GIFs. This emphasis on digitally aided animation tools means that your training as a 2D Animator will cover a lot of technical training.

Read more about what a 2D Animator does. 

Hard Skills

Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is one of the most commonly used software applications for digital animation projects. The program allows users to animate text, titles, images, and photographs, making it a versatile animation tool. More advanced uses of the program include importing files from other Adobe Creative Cloud applications to be animated and adding audio elements and unique visual effects to animation. After Effects is also an essential part of the 3D animation process, meaning that learning After Effects can help set you up for success on more advanced career paths.

To learn important After Effects skills, you may consider enrolling in one of Noble’s many After Effects training programs, including both targeted bootcamps and career-certificate programs.

Adobe Premiere Pro

The other major animation tool used by 2D Animators is Adobe Premiere Pro. Though it is most commonly associated with traditional video editing projects, these tools also serve important functions in completing animated design projects. First, fully animated design projects still need to be edited. Premiere Pro is often used to handle the technical aspects of this process, such as compiling scenes, adding audio, and changing the pace at which a scene flows. On top of this, Premiere Pro is essential for anyone looking to add animated elements to a live-action video file, such as the inclusion of logos in commercials or digital effects in a film.

You can receive comprehensive Premiere Pro training in any of Noble’s motion graphics and video editing courses.

Adobe Photoshop

Less commonly used than Premiere Pro or After Effects, Photoshop is a significantly more niche animation tool, but it is still helpful for 2D Animators to learn. There are two major uses for Photoshop in an animation context. First, Photoshop is commonly used to create important base elements imported into a program like After Effects and edited to become animated. This process is less reliant on Photoshop (some projects, for instance, may use Illustrator instead), but knowing how to create the static images that become animated is an integral part of the process. The other common use of Photoshop is to create animated GIFs using more traditional animation techniques (designing hundreds or even thousands of very similar images that, when viewed in rapid succession, create the illusion of motion). Since the death of Flash, Photoshop has become one of the most commonly used GIF-making tools, since it runs more effectively on mobile devices.

Noble offers a wide variety of Photoshop training programs, including a dedicated Photoshop Animated Gif course.

Adobe Cinema 4D

Cinema 4D is a smaller application, built into Adobe After Effects and used for 3D modeling and animation purposes. 2D Animators are unlikely to regularly use Cinema 4D since it is predominantly a 3D animation tool, but it is a useful tool to learn, both for applying its functions, such as minor 3D modeling to your 2D animated designs, and for learning how to start working with 3D animated models since many 2D Animators eventually start to work on 3D animated projects as well. Learning Cinema 4D isn’t strictly required, but it is a very useful skill to add to your repertoire for when you head onto the job market.

Noble offers a Cinema 4D in After Effects Bootcamp for students looking to learn this tool. 

Soft Skills

Deadline Management

As a creative professional field, 2D animation is very deadline-oriented since projects need to be working on a relatively consistent and stable schedule to avoid unnecessary delays. This is true for major Hollywood releases down to small television advertisements. To succeed as a 2D Animator, you will need to be comfortable working under fairly strict deadlines and knowing that you may need to make significant last-minute changes without pushing those deadlines too far back (if at all).

Enrolling in a career-focused training course is an excellent way to train yourself to work under deadlines since work will need to be turned around fairly quickly when working on practical exercises. Live training is a good way to ensure that you stay on schedule.

Responsiveness to Feedback

As an entry-level 2D Animator, you are likely to spend most of your time working on delegated projects that are only one aspect of a given animation project. This means that you will have to be responsive to feedback on your work since all of the different animators working on a project need to be in sync concerning how a given asset or set of assets looks. Even if you are working on a project individually, you will still need to respond to feedback from managers or clients who want to ensure that the finished product looks the way they desire it to look. Learning how to listen to and respond to feedback constructively is an essential skill for new 2D Animators to learn since it will be a crucial part of their workflow.

The only way to learn how to respond to feedback is to receive feedback on your work. Live training courses are an excellent place to receive this kind of feedback since professional instructors are there to critique your projects.

Knowledge of Animation Theory and History

Modern animation, as an art form, has been around for over a hundred years (and older forms of animation have been around much longer), meaning that the medium has had a great deal of time to develop its own theories and lexicon of terms. Suppose you want to go far as a 2D Animator. In that case, it will help greatly to understand that animation is a complex and vibrant art form and isn’t just children’s cartoons and animated GIFs in commercials (though these are critical parts of its history). Spending some time learning about animation and its history is a great way to help you make more informed decisions when you work, and it gives you a better opportunity to find your own voice as an animator.

You won’t need to be a historian of animation or an expert on all the different animation styles. However, it pays dividends just to watch and consume content that will help you distinguish the choices that animators make in different styles and contexts to help better inform your own decision-making process.

What Other Jobs Require These Skills?

One of the advantages to learning 2D animation is that the fundamental skills involved in creating 2D animated assets translate well into other career paths. Depending on the kinds of training you receive and the kinds of projects you enjoy working on, there are a lot of different routes you can take to expand your career options as a 2D Animator.

Some 2D Animators specialize in designing animated assets for specific platforms or media. These career paths include Visual Designers, Game Designers, and Key Animators. Each of these career paths takes your existing 2D animation skills and applies them to a platform, so Visual Designers will create animations for user interfaces or digital applications. In contrast, Game Designers will create 2D animated assets for video games or mobile games.

Other 2D Animators will learn complementary skills that utilize and build upon their 2D animation training. The most common career paths associated with this additional training regiment are 3D Animators, Visual Artists, and Video Editors. 3D Animators, as the name suggests, work with three-dimensional digitally animated assets, and they, like 2D Animators, can work on a wide variety of projects. Visual Effects Artists work on film, television, and online video production to build the elaborate animated effects that we associated with SFX and other on-screen animation, like MoCap and ChromaKey animation. Video Editors do the more technical work of adding those visual effects to a completed video project and are tasked with other responsibilities, such as ensuring sound quality, maintaining continuity, and controlling the pace and structure of an edit.

Finally, many 2D Animators remain in the field but learn the project management skills necessary to work in a managerial capacity. These professionals will learn generalized project management skills, such as time and resource management and human resource skills, and they may learn specialized skills that complement their animation background. For example, these animators may learn how to draw and design storyboards to map out a project before it is handed off to animators, and they may learn basic screenwriting and editing techniques so that they can work more closely with creatives in other departments who are also working on specialized aspects of the project.

Read more about other career paths related to 2D Animator careers.

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

• 2D animation is a diverse field, and because of this, 2D Animators will work on a wide array of different projects. However, there are a few tools and skills that almost all 2D Animators will need to learn.
• Key tools for 2D Animators include Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Photoshop. Knowledge of Cinema 4D is useful but optional.
• 2D Animators will also need to hone critical soft skills such as deadline management and the ability to respond to feedback. Knowledge of the history of animation can pay long-term dividends, but it isn’t something you will be directly tested on.
• To learn these skills, consider enrolling in one of the many comprehensive in-person or live online training courses and bootcamps offered by Noble Desktop.

What Software Do 2D Animators Use?

Aspiring 2D Animators probably know that most modern animation is heavily, if not entirely, built with computer design software. Gone are the days of pencil outlines, painting on cels, and bringing thousands of physical drawings together to create an animated project. Aspiring 2D Animators might not know exactly what kinds of animation and design software they will be expected to learn and use in their regular employment. This article will help answer that question and help you map out the training path that best suits your desire to learn 2D animation software.

What is a 2D Animator?

2D Animators are creative professionals who plan, design, and build two-dimensional animated assets in everything from traditional animation and video games to digital advertising and user interfaces. As long as a digital asset is made to move, it is likely that a 2D Animator was involved in the process. 2D Animators may also be involved in the development, design, planning, or storyboarding phases of a given project, depending on their level of expertise and the kind of project in question. On the whole, 2D animation is a versatile skill used in various industries and fields, making it an ideal career path for anyone interested in a creative career.

In today’s world, unless a project consciously uses the unique affordances of hand-drawn animation, almost all 2D animation work is computer-assisted. This shift means most animators have begun using computer design applications such as Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro to add the illusion of motion to a set of static images. 2D Animators may also use tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to construct certain kinds of specific animated assets, such as moving digital logos or online GIFs. This emphasis on digitally aided animation tools means that your training as a 2D Animator will cover a lot of technical training.

Read more about what a 2D Animator does.