Specialisation Ramble

I've been thinking about what it is I want to do properly for this and trying to figure out the sorts of people I should try to get in contact with and what questions I want to ask. This is tricky because I still feel unsure. I like animation but don't necessarily want to just do that as I like variety, but wouldn't that be what my spare time would solve? There's two questions for a start...

1. How do you keep your job interesting?
2. Do you have time for personal projects and if so what do you like to do for them? (i.e. Are they animation based or are they more varied?)

Still doesn't solve what I want to focus on though. I guess I like animation more than most of the things I do apart from sketching and doodling but usually I do that to help improve my poses and expression for animation so it links in. Who am I kidding. I'm clearly more of an animator than anything but with a curiosity about other parts of the pipeline like the technical side (rigging and scripting) and also the design side but more so I understand the essence of the character better. I think more in 3D, mainly with movement more than anything else, but still have a small fascination with 2D despite my lack of experience with it. It's probably healthy to take interest in other parts of the pipeline as it will help keep me informed of what's required from me but I definitely need to use this module to focus on producing a portfolio of work worthy of a professional. Which leads me to more questions...

3. What would you say are the most important things to demonstrate in a games showreel?

4. How useful is it to know other parts of the pipeline such as rigging and modelling?
5. What's your role within the company and what are your duties day to day?
6. What's the toughest problem you've had to overcome work wise?

7. Is it ridiculous to feel terrified that you're not good enough...

For other useful questions I've gone to the internet for help. I found a few interesting ones on a forum talking about "questions to ask a professional animator" which is someone similar to myself preparing to email a professional. 

Link: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/art-discussion/questions-to-ask-a-professional-animator-tipposts/t.73479891/
Questions from there:

1. what the working environment is like?
2. What are they looking for in an animator?
3. How do you find jobs?
4. How do you get your name out there?
5. What kind of training is needed?
6. Where can you go to network?

There's also a blog I've come across called Ask A Gaming Recruiter which has a little section on Animators which I'll paste here:

link: http://askagamingrecruiter.blogspot.co.uk/

HOW DO I BECOME AN ANIMATOR?

Animators love to bring characters to life. And that’s exactly what we want to see in your animation reel: life! Good animation is very difficult to achieve and takes a lot of hard work and passion. The best animators absolutely love what they do and are willing to put in the extra time and effort to create beautiful, polished work that sells the character. As one of our Lead Animators says, “An animator can and should always bring their best work to any animation, from an exciting and complicated full cinematic scene to a simple leaf blowing in the wind.” Remember that once on the job, you’ll be working on more than just the animations that excite you the most. Even if you’re working on something simple, you’ll be expected to bring your A game every time.

Similarly to art, there are many great schools out there that teach animation, but you’ll get the best results if you combine your studies with research and hard work on your own time. Employers will want to see work beyond your basic school assignments.

What do employers want to see? Employers may want to see animation that is stylized, realistic, or both. At Respawn Entertainment we like to see realistic animation as opposed to cartoony, since realistic animation showcases weight, physics, and subtle movements that are very challenging and can really display an animator’s skills. Common mistakes in animation reels include choppiness, “pose to pose” rather than fluid animation, floatiness, and a lack of acting.

Employers also generally want to see good walk and run cycles, scenes that contain lots of action (as opposed to just dialogue or slow movements), great acting, and a strong display of good physics, weight, and polish.

Remove your weakest work. 

Tailor your reel. 

Keep it tasteful. 

I'll Ramble more another time I'm sure.