The Animation Coach!

Winter 2010,

I flew back home to the UK, after spending three years working away in Singapore on the high profile project Star Wars,‘The Clone Wars’animated TV series.

The experience had taken me to another level, boosting my skills, knowledge and confidence as an Animator.

It was time for me to level up!

New destination, Capital city, the bright lights of London were calling me.

At the time there was a big hiring process underway for a major ‘Disney’ project called ‘John Carter of Mars’.

This would be a fantasy movie blending CG Animation with live action.

With ten years of animation experience in videogames and TV under my belt, I was ready and able!

Timing was perfect.

Having graduated from ’Animation Mentor’, the #1 online animation school where I was taught by some of the top leading professional Animators in the Animation industry, as well as just wrapping up three years of animating on the award winning CG Animated TV series ‘Star Wars, the Clone Wars’.

I had the skills to do this, I was ready to work in the world of film.

I was sure to be hired.

Well, at least that’s what I thought.

The hiring team reviewed my work and responded;

‘Unfortunately, your skills are not suitable’.

Throughout the years I've received many rejection letters and emails, so this should have simply been chalked up as just another rejection, but for some reason this rejection hit harder than any other.

It hit like a punch to the stomach. Deep down I honestly believed that my skills were at a higher level than ever before, yet for some reason the hiring team believed I wasn’t the right fit?

As the weeks turned to month’s I would hear of many animators of all levels getting hired.

I sat there feeling sorry for myself asking;

‘Why not me?’

It felt personal, I didn’t know anyone in London and nobody knew me.

Five months went by unable to get work, even videogame studios would get back to me saying my work was not in line with what they were doing.’

What was happening?

I started out building my craft in videogames and now I was being told my skills are no longer applicable?

I couldn’t understand, with all my experience why was I finding it so difficult to obtain work?

Was my animation that bad?

I started to doubt my abilities as an Animator.

As my career was going through an all-time low so was my personal life. My long-term relationship with my partner was going through heartbreak. I was falling into a slump feeling down, depressed and dejected.

Everything was falling apart.

Ready to give up on this animation thing and try something new, yet no matter how low things got Animation kept calling me.

During the Spring of 2011 I visited my old University in Birmingham to share my Animation experience and give insight to the students on how I got my first Industry role as an Animator.

While speaking a strange thing happened, as I reflected on how far I had come and the many obstacles that I had got through, an internal battle had started to take place. Something in the back of my mind kept saying I was a fraud, a failure. I had come back home to the UK and with all the many things that I have done over the years, I still struggle to find work as an Animator?

How could I be on stage speaking of a successful journey when I was finding it difficult to get hired?

Was this the end of my journey?

Had my animation career expired?

Looking at the students I saw future artists that would one day venture out and encounter a similar situation.

Could I honestly show them a way to navigate and best prepare for what lay ahead after they graduated?

Yet, how could I advise others when I myself was struggling in this animation game?

Was my career as an Animator a short lived one?

Enjoy a few years then you’re out to pasture, no longer relevant?

Had I hit the invisible glass ceiling?

So many questions.

For my own sanity I needed to try and make sense of why things were so hard, I was at a loss. I owed it to myself and the students around me to look at the ‘What, Why and How one could become a Future proof Artist!

Arrogant?

Ignorant?

Delusional?

Naive?

Call it what you may.

In my search for understanding ‘The Animation Coach’ was born…

August 2020,

Almost Ten years have gone by since I awoke to the calling of 'The Animation Coach.'

Truly enjoying the life of an Animator and so much more. I see things in a different light, a light that shines so bright. Even in the darkest days the light shows me the way.

No longer crying out ‘Why not me?’, I am in a place where I can live with a strong understanding that the answers to my many questions lay within.

I used to set limitations to my world, trying to control the outcome. Constantly thinking I was missing out. Now I see control is an illusion and when I get out of my own way then I am able to see opportunities are all around me.

Having worked on many amazing animated projects around the world and helped many Artists over the years in their journey as an Animator I share these words with you.

Know that your situation can be changed when you see that you are not the situation. The time has come to rewrite your story.

Come with me and let’s explore the world of the Animation Coach!

-Michael Morgan

This is an excerpt taken from my upcoming book 'The AnimationCoach.'

Thank you to everyone that has supported me on my Animation Journey.

One Love

Morgan