Film and game companies may look for the following skills in 2D animators:
- Training in 2D animation, both cel & computer graphics
- Ability to visualize abstract concepts
- Experience with storyboarding, clean ups & layout design
- Drawing ability, artistic mindset
- Visual storytelling
- Ability to draw in a variety of styles & genres
- Familiarity with a range of animation software & techniques
Role & responsibilities of a 2D animator
- Developing storyboards based on the script
- Preparing presentations of rough sketches for clients
- Creating models, drawings, and illustrations
- Designing frames and characters
- Choosing color palettes, style, and general look of the animation
- Establishing artwork for the backgrounds and layouts
- Setting up exposure sheets, divided into actions and timing, dialogues and music, animation layers, backgrounds, view perspective
- Drawing rough sketches and animate
- Illustrating keyframes and producing inbetweening
- Inking, coloring, and clean ups
- Integrating images, characters, etc into background graphics
- Syncing visuals with audio and voiceover tracks
- Preparing all animation elements for compositing, including delivering in set formats
- Enhancing animation with special effects at the post-production stage