Editing Animator (section)

{{Short description|Person who makes animation sequences out of still images}}
{{Other uses}}
{{For|people who draw individual images and comics|Cartoonist}}
{{Sources|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox Occupation
| image = [[File:Norman McLaren drawing on film - 1944.jpg|300px]]
| caption = Scottish Canadian animator [[Norman McLaren]] drawing on film, 1944
| type = Art
| activity_sector = Film, television, internet, mass media, video games
| competencies = Drawing, fine arts, acting, computer software
| formation = 
| employment_field = Animation
| related_occupationb= 
| average_salary = 
}}

An '''animator''' is an artist who creates  images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called [[animation]] when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animation is closely related to [[filmmaking]] and like filmmaking is extremely labor-intensive, which means that most significant works require the collaboration of several animators. The methods of creating the images or frames for an animation piece depend on the animators' artistic styles and their field.

Other artists who contribute to [[animated cartoon]]s, but who are not animators, include [[Page layout|layout]] artists (who design the backgrounds, lighting, and camera angles), [[storyboard artist]]s (who draw panels of the action from the script), and [[background artist]]s (who paint the "scenery").  Animated films share some [[film crew]] positions with regular live action films, such as director, producer, sound engineer, and editor, but differ radically in that for most of the history of animation, they did not need most of the crew positions seen on a physical set.

In hand-drawn Japanese animation productions, such as in [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s films, the key animator handles both layout and key animation. Some animators in Japan such as [[Mitsuo Iso]] take full responsibility for their scenes, making them become more than just the key animator.