For schools, colleges & young people

Careers fair in a box.

Everything you’d find at our stand at a careers fair, open whenever you are. Find out what an animation studio actually does, the jobs behind the screen, and how to get started in animation, visual effects, games and visual communication. Starting today, with whatever you’ve got.

Start the tour ↓ Which role suits you?
Your fair passport 0 of 8 stands visited
  1. Studio
  2. Careers
  3. Quiz
  4. Make
  5. Explore
  6. Skills
  7. Stories
  8. Future
iMe, our mascot, welcoming visitors to the stand No permission neededjust make stuff

Stand 1 · Welcome to the studio

We turn complicated things into clear stories.

Carse & Waterman is an animation and visual communication studio in Stoke-on-Trent. Factories, hospitals, universities, museums and community groups come to us when they need something explained, remembered or felt. We use animation, 3D, game engines and design to make that happen.

Health & safety trainingHospitals & healthcareFactories & engineeringUniversities & researchMuseums & heritageConstructionCommunity projectsStaff training

How one of our projects comes together

  1. ListenWe meet the client and find out what they need people to understand, feel or do.
  2. ResearchWe visit sites, read up, take photos and ask a lot of questions until we understand it ourselves.
  3. ScriptWe write the story in plain words. If it doesn’t work on paper, it won’t work on screen.
  4. Storyboard & designQuick sketches of every shot, then the characters, colours and style.
  5. MakeAnimation, 3D, sound, music, editing. Lots of drafts, lots of feedback, lots of changes.
  6. ShareThe finished piece goes out into the world: online, in training rooms, at events, on big screens.

Notice that only one of those six steps is “animate”. Most of the job is thinking, talking, researching and listening.

Stand 2 · The jobs behind the screen

Four worlds, hundreds of jobs.

Pick a world to see the roles, the tools people use, and something you can try tonight. Lots of the tools are free.

Animation

Making drawings, models or objects look alive. It can be 2D (drawn), 3D (built in a computer) or stop motion (real objects moved a tiny bit at a time). It’s used in films and TV, but also in adverts, training, healthcare, museums and apps.

Roles

AnimatorStoryboard artistCharacter designer3D modellerRiggerTexture artistLighting artistDirectorProducer

Tools

Pencil & paperKrita (free)Blender (free)A stop motion app on a phoneToon BoomMaya

Not an artist? You still belong here. Studios also need producers who keep projects on track, writers, researchers, people who look after clients, editors, sound designers and people who run the business. Our director’s own story started exactly there.

Read Daniel’s story →

Stand 3 · Quick quiz

Which role might suit you?

Five quick questions. It’s not a test, and there are no wrong answers. It’s just a place to start looking.

Question 1 of 5

Stand 4 · The most important stand

Don’t wait for permission. Just make stuff.

Don’t wait for someone to give you permission, and don’t wait for someone to teach you the skills. Learn by doing. Make stuff with whatever you’ve got, right now. Every person in our studio learned that way, and we still do.

Stop motion

Plasticine, LEGO, paper cut-outs, the fruit bowl. A phone and a free stop motion app is a full studio.

2D drawing

A pencil and a sticky-note pad, or Krita for free. Draw every day, even badly. Especially badly.

Your phone camera

Film something, edit it, add sound. Learn framing and timing for free. Big films use the same rules.

Writing & scripts

Every film starts as words. Write short stories, scripts and comic ideas. Storytellers are always needed.

3D

Blender is free and used by professionals. Start with a doughnut tutorial, then build your bedroom.

Games

Twine for choose-your-path stories, then Godot or Unreal when you want to build a world to explore.

Make-it-now challenge

Press the button for a challenge you can do today with things around you.

Then put it where people can see it.

Show your work online. A free Wix website, an Instagram account just for your art, DeviantArt, ArtStation, YouTube. Post the messy middle as well as the finished piece. Sketches, wireframes and failed attempts show how you think, and studios love seeing that.

Most sites have a minimum age (usually 13). If you’re under 18, set it up with a parent, carer or teacher, keep personal details off it, and let the work do the talking.

  • Instagraman account just for your art
  • Wixa free portfolio website
  • DeviantArt& ArtStation for artwork
  • YouTubefor animation and reels

Stand 5 · Explore

Get out there and look at the world.

Research is a creative skill. Our projects have asked us to recreate weather systems, real buildings and the way people move and behave. You can only make it believable if you’ve looked closely at the real thing.

So get outside. Notice things. Take photos of textures. Watch how people walk when they’re in a hurry. Read about things you know nothing about. It all ends up in your work.

See a heritage project we researched →

Observation bingo

Tick off what you spot this week. Sketch or photograph each one.

Stand 6 · The skills that get you hired

Software can be learned. These matter just as much.

Tap a card to see how to practise it now, at school or at home.

Real studio moment

You’ve spent a week on a character. The client says, “It looks a bit too cartoony for our audience.” What do you do?

Stand 7 · One story, many ways

Tools are just different ways to tell stories.

Stop motion, 2D, 3D and games each suit different stories. If you only ever learn one, you’re limiting the stories you can tell. Try telling the same story a different way and see what changes.

The story: a little dog gets lost in the city and has to find its way home.

Stand 8 · The big question

“Is AI going to take the creative jobs?”

It’s the question we get asked most at careers fairs. Here’s our honest answer.

  1. 1Stop motionWhere we started
  2. 23DNew tools, new stories
  3. 3Game enginesWorlds you can explore
  4. 4AIThe next tool in the box

AI is a powerful tool, and it’s going to be a crucial part of our industry’s future. But it isn’t a threat to people who evolve.

Our studio has evolved the whole way through. We started with stop motion, moved into 3D, then into game engines, and now AI. Each time, the people who were curious and willing to learn were the ones who did best.

AI is only a threat to those who want to sit still.

Here’s the thing, though. There’s a battle going on for people’s eyeballs. Everyone is fighting for attention. What makes people stop and actually care is the human touch: creativity, ingenuity and life experience. That’s what makes content relatable and emotional. We have faith that people can tell the difference.

We’ll always need people who can use AI and bring their own humanity to it. That could be you.

What that means for you

  • Learn the tools.Try AI tools with curiosity, the same way you’d try a new brush or new software.
  • Invest in what’s yours.Your experiences, your sense of humour, the things you’ve noticed. No tool has lived your life.
  • Keep learning the basics.Drawing, timing, storytelling and research help you judge what’s good, whatever made it.
  • Be honest.Show how you made your work, and what was you. Studios will ask.

Before you leave the fair

Take a leaflet. Well, a link.

Daniel’s story

Love animation? Let’s talk about your future.

Our director wasn’t a great animator. Here’s how he still built a career in animation, and why you can too.

Read it → Getting hired

Why didn’t they reply?

How to contact a studio, build a showreel that works, and avoid the mistakes that get applications ignored.

Read the guide → Free tools

The Animation Toolkit

First steps in Blender, Krita, DaVinci Resolve and Unreal Engine. All free, all used by professionals.

Start learning →

Carse & Waterman · Careers fair in a box

Certificate of visiting

Your name here

visited 0 of 8 stands and is ready to stop waiting and start making.

Daniel Waterman, Co-founder & Director

Your name stays on your screen. We don’t save or send it anywhere.

Teachers & careers leads

Bring the fair into your classroom.

This page works on a big screen with the whole class, or on pupils’ own devices. It can sit alongside your employer encounters, but nothing beats meeting real people, so if you’re near Stoke-on-Trent, get in touch about a talk, a workshop or a studio visit.

Ask about a visit → Work experience info

A one-hour lesson plan

  1. 5 minWelcome to the studioRead Stand 1 together. Ask: which step surprised you?
  2. 10 minExplore the jobsGroups each take one world from Stand 2 and report back three roles.
  3. 5 minQuizEveryone takes the role quiz on their own.
  4. 25 minMake it nowHit “Give me a challenge” and make it in pairs with phones, paper or plasticine.
  5. 10 minFeedback circleShare the work and practise kind, useful feedback. Then talk about Stand 8: AI.
  6. 5 minCertificatesPrint or screenshot, and share the links to take home.

Good questions

Careers in animation questions, answered.

How do I get into animation?
Start making things now and share them online. There are lots of routes in: college courses, T-levels, apprenticeships, university and teaching yourself. Whichever you choose, your portfolio of work matters most. Our getting noticed guide explains what studios look for.
Do I need a degree to work in animation?
Not always. A degree gives you time, kit and people to learn with, which helps a lot. But studios hire on the work you can show and how you work with others, not just on qualifications.
What subjects help with a creative career?
Art and design, media, computing and English are all useful, and so are maths and science for 3D, VFX and games. Most of all, keep making work outside your lessons.
Will AI take animation jobs?
AI will change the work, as 3D and game engines did before it. People who keep learning and bring their own creativity and life experience will still be needed. Read our full answer in Stand 8.
Can our school book a visit or talk?
Yes. We work with schools, colleges and universities around Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll see what we can do.
Do you offer work experience?
Yes, in small numbers, and places go early. Book well ahead and bring work to show us. Our guide has the details.

Made something? We’d love to see it.

Teachers, careers leads and young creators: say hello. And whatever you do next, keep making.

Let’s talk →