Tips for making an animation reel over summer?

MereZy

Hello fellas!
 
So I have been animating off an on for a while now and have decided to start animate for an animation showreel now that it's summer! With my goal of having it done by the end of the summer. (After almost 3 months). I'm motivated, and really enjoy animating. So I'm here to ask for tips on the way I want to approach this goal. 

To specify - I want to animate for games, personally prefer gameplay animation over cinematic. I have loads of time atm, but want to use it efficiently.

Questions - Length of reel, what to animate.(I've seen loads of showreels, yet can't quite decide what to animate/start with).

"Realism" - Chances of landing a job?  Experience so far - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUOSOj6pK8TcHjmXGzMAgiA/videos

Thanks in advance! 

LloydHallam

Hey there. Your reel should be around 1 - 2 minutes in length, no longer. It should consist of your absolute best animation work.

Your chances of landing a job depends on the studio's you're applying for. Your chances increase significantly if you send your reel to a lot of different studios. Send them to places where you think you don't even have a chance, you never know.

Game studios want to see that you can animate a number of things well. Run cycles, walk cycles, a combat scenario, a character lifting something heavy (sell the weight) these are a must-have. After that, people like to see some unique and individual flair, animate things that you think are cool, interesting or challenging. Have fun with these shots, when you have fun animating cool things, it really comes across. Being able to animate dialogue and lip sync are also very important, be sure to include this in your reel too, a great place to get dialogue for animation is the 11SecondClub so be sure to check them out.

You say you prefer gameplay to cinematic, but don't opt it out. Being able to animate both styles will put you in a good place when you start applying.

You can always ask for feedback on your reel if you're feeling unsure.

Good luck and have fun!

AnthonyAnimation

This is going to be all personal preference, but here's the advice I offer:

Reel- 1 minute at most. It's hard to keep my attention longer even if it's an amazing reel.

Quality over quantity- I'd rather see a 20 second reel with three shots that are great over a 2 minute reel with 10 shots that are mediocre.

As for what to put on your reel- look at industry professionals. It depends on the studio (and nothing against what @LloydHallam said), but there are so many beginner reels with the same type of thing. Walk cycle, parkour,  idle, etc. Put yourself in the recruiters shoes, they see this stuff hundreds of times a week. It's good to do these things to learn fundamentals, but put your own twist on it.

MereZy

Thanks alot both you!

Expect to hear back from me.