Saturday, March 16, 2013

Animation Studio Maps

Well, here it is. A "little" project I've been working on for a "little" while. A comprehensive list of animation studios (and companies that hire animators) that exist solely in the United States, but in the form of maps dedicated to each state. Over a thousand studios in (almost) all of the fifty states.

"Why maps? Why not just make one long list that has all the studios as entries that can be easily accessed by anyone?" 

Well, that was kind of the point. I didn't want it to be easy. I wanted whoever was doing this kind of research to work a little for it. Also, I'm still sending out applications to these places myself. I don't want my colleagues to poach any of my possible job leads. However, a comprehensive spreadsheet will be made and released as soon as possible.
"Hey, you left out all the game development studios! What gives?"

My original plan was to list the game studios alongside the animation companies. But as it turns out, there are just as many, if not more, game developers in this country than there are animation studios. By excluding the game dev's, I was able to trim the overall list down by half, which of course saved me time. Also, there already exists an excellent mapping system for game studios in this country as well as around the world, at GameDevMap. It lists virtually every single developer and publisher for video games on the planet, and includes makers of CG games as well as Flash games. I would hope that my maps serve as a complement in some way.

"Are these maps only for 2D or 3D studios?"

Both! I had originally planned to just list traditional and Flash studios, which would serve to help me and my colleagues who also trained in "tradigital" animation. Of course, I was only able to find so many companies by being that exclusive, so I caved and added the 3D studios. I was able to do so successfully thanks to the CG Studios Map, which lists any 3D modeling companies that produce animation and/or video games all across the globe.

"But, not all of these are animation studios. Some of them are marketing firms."

I included motion media, video production, and advertising companies to the overall list, as these places also hire animators from time to time. Many students and graduates may gloss over and ignore advertising, turning instead to the few big animation companies in this country, hoping in vain that they are hired over the thousands of applicants that are reviewed every year. Meanwhile, there are advertisers out there, not just in L.A. and New York, that are looking for their talent and are willing to pay them for their work. They just wouldn't be working on animated series, which is the dream for most entry-level artists.

"I only care about Los Angeles. That's where all the work is anyway. Why should I care about all of these other cities?"

You don't have to! These maps were made for the convenience of anyone who is at a geographical disadvantage or financially disabled from living closer to the entertainment capitals of the world. I wanted to give hope to young animators who believe that there's no work in the state they live in, and show them just how close they are to a studio that's hiring. And possibly, in a place with far cheaper cost-of-living than California or New York. Some of best alternatives include San Francisco, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, Philadelphia, Austin, Seattle, and much more. However, the only states that were left off entirely were Wyoming and West Virginia. Yeah, you're better off living somewhere that's not either of those two places.

Without further ado, here is the list of links to the maps. Simply click on the markers to open up the info card for the studio, and it will include name, address, and link to the company website. Or, you can navigate the map yourself by using the tools on the left side, double-clicking to zoom in, and click-dragging to move the map around. In the waypoints list on the right side, you can scroll through and see the names themselves, and hover over them with your cursor to reveal their location on the map. The entries below have numbers which signify how many studios are listed on the map.


Thanks to these websites for helping me compile the information used in these maps:

Animation Industry DataBase

LinkedIn

ProductionHUB

Animation Career Review

 CG Studios Map
Posted by at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)