Hi,
I am Mattias and I work as a character animator in the games industry in the south of Sweden. In my spare time I have started to make som 2d animation. My colleagues told me I should plopp them up on a YouTube channel. So I did. I hope you guys like my little animation doodles. And that you subscribe for more stuff like the things you see on the channel. And thumbs up and all that jazz, so the algorithm doesn't hate me.
https://youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Cheers.
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My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
I love your animations! Consider me a fan aha
Yaay! Thank you so much <3
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Its crazy good, the animation is so smooth and the physics are super believeable. Good job!! Have you had prior experience with animation before?
Thank you :)
Well, I work as a senior animator in the games industry, but that is ofc in 3d. Have never worked with 2d before. But I guess timing and such is the same no matter how many dimensions you have in your animation. I am glad you like it. I am hyped for my next one. But some parts of it might have put me in deep water. The animation is starting to be a bit complex
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Oh wow that is really cool! I'm still in school for engineering, just doing animation on the side for almost a year now. Yeah I am also hyped, I showed your stuff to a friend of mine and he really liked it too! You've definitely got some major skills.
Hey, at the end of the day, you'll be able to get better over time. Literally every one of my animations I've tried to make has pushed me way into deep water - but I think its the best way to learn and get better!
Anyways I'm excited to see it!
Nice that you can do animation on the side.
Lol, you never know, I whent to chef school and worked as a chef, and then I had several jobs after that, like icecream truck driver, I worked at a dump at one time, and worked at hotells and for a delivery services and more. But now I am an animator, and have been for the last 8 years ^^ Whatever you do for a living , just keep doing the the things that inspire you. I never regretted that I went to chef school, I still love making food and create stuff in the kitchen.
I noticed your new youtube channel, that short of yours is dope!
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
I mean, I was expecting to finish the current one by Feb 1st, but its been so hard to focus on schoolwork so its slowing me down alot. Haven't been able to put as much time as usual into it unfortunately :/
Woah you've really had all kinds of jobs eh that is so cool! Ice cream truck driver and chef school sounds like a lot of fun aha! How are you finding working for the game industry? Is it really stressful or more relaxed than expected?
Also thanks! I just started though so I've got nothing on skills like yours (yet). I'm also finding telling a good story is so much harder than it looks, but I think I'm slowly learning.
Naah it is not that stressfull. I guess it depends on what you compare it with. I worked a while for acompany that made animation for commersials. Like packshots etc. That was way more stressfull. Those projects could have a time span over one or two weeks. With annoing feedback from the costumers. It was like if someone walked into a pizza bacery and asked for "I want a pizza, I dont know what flavour, but it has to be something amazing. And it should be something that no one else have seen before. Please also invent a new color and have that as a overall feeling for it please. Oh yeah, if we are not happy with the pizza, we will not pay for it, okey? I will come back and feedback on it when you are almost done. Bye!"
There is a problem with that costumers own the projects, and they dont knwo what they are talking about a lot of the time. They just have money and wanna play creative directors.
Hahaha, I am glad I dont work with that no more xD
In the game industry the production loop is way longer. So it is not as stressfull. And also, atleast where I work people know what they whant and we have a clear goal where to go with our work. People are more prfesional and know what they are talking about.
It can be a bit stressful at the end of a production cykle. But after that it is like a year of taking it chill instead. So thats all good. And I also think that, depending on company, there is a will of taking a step away from the crunch culture. The big problem is that people who love doing what they do, and they are pationate about their work, it is hard to keep them contained and its important that their companys have their eyes on them so they dont work too much. It's important to have a good balance in your life.
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Mmmm yeah, thats what I've heard from lots of animators in the industry. It seems pretty stressful when I hear about all the crazy deadlines to reach - especially for multimillion dollar movies and big budget stuff like that.
I know someone that used to do sound editing and work on commercials and websites, sounds kind of similar to what you do. They loved working there but said it got so stressful sometimes with almost 24 hour work days right before deadline to get exactly what the customer wanted. I guess thats just the way it goes.
I'm personally not looking to actually make it in the animation industry, because I'd rather be able to work on my own projects without deadlines, and I also don't think I have the skills anyways (at least for now). I'm about to graduate University soon, and I am really looking for some good work life balance. Its always a struggle to find the right amount of work time and the right amount of time to pursue the dream!!
Your current gig sounds like a bit of a dream though! Here in Canada, people always talk about how great the Nordic countries are and that you guys apparently have lots of really good career paths with great balance - its true?
Either way its always really cool to see 3D animators take a shot at 2D animations and vice-versa. Each time it happens it always brings a very unique style. I'm considering maybe learning Blender or something in the future just to spice up my animation backgrounds or something like that. What kind of program do you guys use?
We have 6 weeks payed vacation (with 12% extra in salary those weeks), and we can come and go to the office however we like, as long as we are there at the block hours (between 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.) the block hours are there so there is a time period where it is easy to set up meetings. As long as you dont over balance your flex hours too much you can use the flex as you wish. We have a lot of parental leave for when that day come, and if you wish, you are entitled to one (or two, not sure) years of time off the employment for studies without loosing your contract.
And then the Swedish year is sprinkled with roughly 15 bank holydays (most of them happen in spring and christmas/new years). And if you are lucky, those days can happen on a Thursday, wich makes the Friday a "klämdag" (a squeeze day). And most places let the emplyees be off that day too creating a long weekend. (You are always payed salary these days)
Every emplyee also get 3000 sek (360 usd) every year to spend on health equipments or like gym membership or massages or watever to take care of your health.
At our office you also get to log 30 minutes per day for execise. so if you walk 30 min to work, you can always leave 30 min early to walk home.
Once per year you are sent to a health checkup to look at stress levels, blood values, your conditon and stamina etc. And you get to talk to someone to set up a goal for a healthier life til next year.
We also get Friday breakfast buffe at work every Friday, and once per month the office orders some nice food for us all to eat up. And there is usually a lot of "fika" (coffee breaks) going on.
In Swedish law it says that within 5 hours of work, you have right to 30-45 min breake.
Ha, now when I list all the perks it looks pretty neat. Feels like a weird flex. But yeah, I guess I do a very rare Swedish flex here ^^
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Wowow that sounds amazing!
I haven't help a ful time job for more than a coupe months cause Im still in school, but my parents seem to have about 4-5 weeks off every year I think. The standard for Canada is 2 weeks payed vacation a year, with 3 weeks after 5 years, and 4 weeks after 10 years, plus you get like 10 or 15 maybe days off for holidays.
Most of the places I've worked at have unpaid 30 minute lunches, and no subsidizing for commuting which is unfortunate :( I usually bike to all the jobs I've had because I think cars are such a pain to use (and so expensive). But people biking to work here seems to be really rare which is sad. I see alot of older people get really out of shape when they drive to work and dont have time for exercise.
Some places allow (usually unpaid) breaks, but I usually just take breaks when I feel like like it and dont have much to do, cause I was an intern so they dont really care what I do it seems aha
My parents have lots of extra benefits through work, sometimes its free shoes or free massages, it really depends on where you work. It seems that Canada joblife is at a halfway point between you guys in Europe and people in United States. We definitely get way more benefits than the states, especially with paid maternity leave and stuff like that, but clearly not as much as Europe is seems.
The benefits you stated, are those for most jobs or typically for fulltime jobs that you stay at for many years?
As soon as you unlock the fulltime job contract, then you get all the perks. Most of them are the same though out different work places. I mean not only game dev, you most likely get them at any workplaces in Sweden. Most of them are there by Swedish law.
My animations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSKJT_rvYM6i1E0g3AqqtOA
Wow very lucky, maybe I canoe over to Sweden someday and sneak in aha!!
I like your work. I can clearly notice the level of your creativity. It's really cool.