Final Layout Artist

Making a movie takes a lot more than an Actor and Director. It takes a Camera Operator, for instance, to film the movie, a Costume Designer to clothe the characters, a Set Designer to create scenery, and a Lighting Technician to set the on-screen mood. And that’s just for starters.

Because it’s created on a computer screen rather than a crowded film set, an animated film might sound like an easier endeavor. In reality, however, it’s just as complicated. Oftentimes more so, as animated films need everything their live-action counterparts need — including costumes, lighting, cameras, and sets — but in a digital rather than physical format.

As a Final Layout Artist, you’re responsible for many of those digital equivalents, which makes you the animated-movie version of a film crew.

Like other Layout Artists in the film industry — not to be confused with the Graphic Artists of the same name who work in desktop publishing — it’s your job as a Final Layout Artist to “set the stage” for the scenes in animated movies, which involves turning two-dimensional storyboards into three-dimensional shots using a combination of illustrations and computer software. Although Animators animate the characters, Layout Artists like you create the scenery and props, block in the position of characters, and plot camera angles and moves.

Specifically, as the Final Layout Artist, you’re responsible for making finishing touches in the final phase of production: When Animators are done animating, you place animated characters into scenes, add set dressings to scenery, adjust camera moves, animate background props, and ensure continuity from scene to scene. Simply put, then: You’re the computer-animation equivalent of “lights, camera, action”!