许多专业的动画师在早年受到电子游戏和电影的启发后决定追求自己的职业生涯. For Computer Animation 毕业生安德鲁·阿特伯里，火花来自纹身.

他说:“我真的很喜欢你通过艺术品建立的移情联系。. “当你将艺术作品与故事联系起来并赋予其意义时，我便能够抓住它.”

Over the course of a few years, Andrew found himself going from tattooing, to comic books and sequential artwork, which led to dabbling in animation. “I saw The Incredibles, and that had a huge impact on me. I thought wow, that’s really cool; I wish I could do something like that. 然后我恍然大悟，我想，哦，人们就是靠这个谋生的!” Shortly thereafter, he enrolled at Full Sail.

“我一直想用我的艺术才能来养活自己和家人, and so far for 10 years I’ve been able to do that. 即使我最后回到一个小工作室做汽车广告, 只要我还能付得起账单，我的梦想就还在. 拥有这样一个简单的梦想是奢侈的，除此之外发生的一切都只是锦上添花,” he says.

2005年毕业后，他受雇于磁梦公司, a smaller studio located in his hometown of Nashville. 安德鲁将他在那里的时光描述为一次伟大的学习经历, 因为这让他有机会身兼数职. 他花时间指导，建模，纹理和索具.

“在小工作室工作的另一个好处是，你可以犯错误，不必担心自己的工作. A lot of the big studios don’t offer that. I highly encourage everyone to shoot for the moon, 但如果你有机会在一家小工作室工作，你就应该这么做."

安德鲁从《OG官网》中获得的最大收获是他在《og体育》中的表现. He worked on a project called “Elmo the Musical,” and was on a team that created the character “Velvet,” a curtain who played off of Elmo.

在扩展了他的技能之后，安德鲁开始创建一个 short film with the help of his friends. “我在创作这部电影的同时，还有一份全职工作，有一个妻子和两个孩子. 如果没有从《OG官网》中学到的知识，我不可能做到这一点.”

As Andrew’s portfolio grew, he looked to pursue new opportunities; one of which was Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Talent Development Program. 在六个月的时间里，他在资深动画师的指导下学习如何制作迪士尼风格的动画.

“事实证明，这是一件很难弄清楚的事情. It’s not cartoon-y and it’s not realistic; it’s this beautiful thing in between,” he says. “当时还有不少2D开发者, like Mark Henn and Ruben Aquino, 当我在训练的时候，我有机会和他们在一起, even have them look at my work and give me critiques. 他们中的一个人第一次看着我说:‘你会成为一名优秀的动画师!’这是一种非常肯定的感觉，直到今天，这都是我职业生涯的亮点.”

After his training period ended, 安德鲁加入了《OG官网》的制作团队，能够为电影中的每个角色配音. 他最大的项目是与巨魔的人群镜头, and a scene where one of the characters, Kristoff, falls off of a cliff.

“我记得我们第一次看到《og体育》的动画，听到那首歌的时候. I got the chills; I knew at that point it was going to be really, really special."

After Andrew’s work on Frozen ended, 迪士尼工作室面临着制作的停滞，裁员就是结果.

“My number was called,” Andrew says. “Losing your dream job hurts. I went home, I watched Rocky, 第二天我带着良好的态度去上班，在我最后的两个月里尽我所能做到最好. I didn’t let my emotions get the best of me, and it allowed me to establish myself as somebody who can deal with high pressure situations and not fall apart; attitude is everything.”

安德鲁对自己目前的职业道路既持哲学态度又持乐观态度, 正如他所指出的，动画产业最重要的一点就是它总是在不断变化, and it’s important to always be prepared for change. “Update your reels constantly with new material, 定期联系朋友和同事,” he advises, 注意到他已经为他的下一个职业角色奠定了基础. “你总是要确保自己有保障.”