What he would be noticing is timing: timing of their reactions, timing of their changes in mood, their facial expressions, their hesitations.

He would want to spot the pace of their thinking and how they set out their personality to be attractive, attentive, commanding or even submissive. Timing is one of the keys to a good animator's success.

Full of surprises
Surprise is the biggest single contributor to entertainment and successful animation.

Mostly, we see a plot unfolding, we observe characters being set up to play specific roles in the story, and we anticipate the inevitable climax at the end.

What makes for great creative work is the unexpected, the contradictory characters who suddenly behave in a way they have not exhibited before.

The timid become ferocious, the slow-witted solve intractable problems, the clever slip on the proverbial banana skin. Good animation starts with good stories, expertly interpreted.

Creative, not geeky
This ability to communicate is often at odds with the personalities of highly technical people who are sometimes loners, absorbed in their technological world, oblivious of what is going on around them.

That doesn't make them uncreative but it does deny them the greatest source of inspiration - ordinary people doing ordinary things.

So the best animators are often not highly technical at all. They will, however, be totally absorbed in their work, willing to keep their heads down for a long time.

Female animators should have been called Patience, and men, Perseverance.

Creativity is not, of course, confined to one educational level. Some of the most creative people in the world have been illiterate.

But it does help to have had a good education - post-secondary qualifications will usually make a good animator even better.

Like all work in this world, the best is done by the most passionate. If you are passionate about animation, you will probably be very good at it. What's more, you will have tremendous, rewarding fun. That's a big plus.

Article by John Bittleston, chairman, Intense Animation Studio. He also mentors people in their careers, businesses and personal lives. For more information, visit www.TerrificMentors.com

Please feel free to share the URL of this article with your friends and colleagues.