Start: James Lane

Studio: We Are Royal

College: Penn State (Film); Full Sail (Computer Animation); Animation Mentor (Animation)

I was one of those kids, probably like a lot of you, that had little flip books drawn on the corners of the pages of my text books in school. A hobby that found its way onto stick-its note pads on my desk and the margins of my notebooks. I loved to draw but it never even crossed my mind that it could be a career, it was too fun! So I went to college looking for that "real" job.

After graduating from Penn State, I was able to turn my "necessary to graduate" internship into a job working for the local CBS affiliate news station in the area. I was responsible for filming/editing stories, interviewing, and occasionally technical directing live shoots. 

I worked for the news for just under 2 years, but quickly realized that this couldn't be it for me. I felt like I was going no where and knew I needed a change. 

Out of pure coincidence, my brother (now a pilot in the Air Force) was looking at Embry Riddle University in Florida for aviation. Due to him looking for colleges in the area, he must have been placed on some mailing list because a school by the name of Full Sail sent him a brochure. 

My parents contacted me the next day telling me about the brochure and it may be something that I should look into. I remember that phone call because it was the moment that animation became real to me, not just a hobby anymore. 

It was pretty exciting and a fairly quick decision. I put in my two weeks notice at the TV station and moved to Florida to begin classes. 

It wasn't until after I'd been working for a while that I attended Animation Mentor to further develop my skills and meet some great new people like the generous man providing this blog.

One piece of advice:

The best advice I think I could relay about starting out in animation is to not get discouraged.  It isn't easy.  If it was, everyone would be doing it.  That first job probably won't fall right into your lap.  Keep working at it, and keep doing exercises like the 11 Second CLub.  Being a good animator takes practice, and you are always learning no matter how long you've been at it.