The artists and technicians who make cartoons, animated movies, and digital characters move, from hand-drawn 2D to Pixar-style 3D and stop-motion puppets.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Character Rigger (Character TD): Builds the digital skeleton and controls inside a 3D character so animators can move it. Typical pay $115k.
Animation Director: Leads the creative direction of an animated film or series, guiding story, acting, and look. Typical pay $150k.
Pipeline Technical Director: Writes the software and tools that move files and assets through an animation or VFX studio. Typical pay $130k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
3D Animator: Brings digital characters to life by creating their movements, acting, and expressions frame by frame. Typical pay $99k.
2D Animator: Draws characters in motion by hand or with digital tools like Toon Boom Harmony. Typical pay $85k.
Storyboard Artist: Draws the script as comic-strip panels, planning every shot, gag, and camera angle before animation or filming. Typical pay $100k.
Character Designer: Invents how animated or game characters look, from silhouette and costume to expressions. Typical pay $90k.
3D Modeler: Sculpts characters, props, and environments in 3D software. Typical pay $85k.
Texture & Surfacing Artist: Paints the colors, skin, rust, fabric, and shine onto 3D models. Typical pay $85k.
Layout Artist: Sets the camera angles, staging, and character positions for each shot in an animated scene. Typical pay $85k.
Stop-Motion Animator: Moves physical puppets a tiny bit at a time, taking a photo after each move, to create animation. Typical pay $70k.
Motion Graphics Designer: Animates text, logos, and graphics for title sequences, ads, explainers, and social videos. Typical pay $75k.
Animation Timing Director: Plans the exact timing of every pose, mouth shape, and pause in a TV cartoon on exposure sheets before the animation studio draws it. Typical pay $90k.
Animatic Editor: Cuts storyboard drawings together with temporary voices and music into a rough 'moving storyboard' so directors can test the story before animating. Typical pay $85k.
Color Key Artist: Chooses the colors for characters, backgrounds, and lighting in each scene of an animated show or film to set the mood. Typical pay $90k.
Prop Designer (Animation): Designs every object characters touch in an animated show, from swords and phones to sandwiches, so it fits the show's style. Typical pay $80k.
Starter: fastest way in
Stop-Motion Puppet Fabricator: Builds the tiny puppets, metal skeletons, costumes, and sets used in stop-motion films. Typical pay $52k.
Clean-Up / In-Between Artist: Draws the frames between key poses and turns rough sketches into clean final lines. Typical pay $52k.
Motion Capture Technician: Runs the cameras and suits that record actors' movements to drive digital characters. Typical pay $54k.
Animation Production Assistant: Tracks drawings, scenes, and schedules on an animated show, keeping artists on deadline. Typical pay $50k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.