VOICE OVER ARTIST FOR ANIMATION
WORKING AS AN ANIMATION VOICE TALENT
My profession is that of a voice actor. Or a voiceover artist. Or, if you prefer, a voice over artist. In other words, I get paid to spend most of my time in a box. Occasionally we get to do some work outside the box, too.
I do a lot of voice over animation. I’ve been doing these for many years, and it’s always been a lot of fun. There’s never been a time when I did a cartoon but didn’t have fun.
Rule #1 in the world of animation: Never, never, ever, ever grow up.
I remember being hired for a new cartoon series and walking into a session with the director. I was tired or distracted or something, and I had my “serious” face on. The atmosphere was very cartoony.
To tell you the truth, at the beginning I didn’t know what to think about you. You came in looking so serious, while everybody else was laughing. And then you opened your mouth, and I started to relax.”
In cartoons it’s very important to be relaxed.
Let’s say your agent calls with the good news: They want you to be on this animation show. You’re given the breakdown. Some o those characters might be right up your alley. It’s not at all uncommon to be asked to read more than one character. Your job is to try and nail at least two different characters, if not three.
Here’s something that will make voice over agents love you:
If you can do more than one voice they’re more apt to hire you, because it’s going to save them more money on the show. The more range you have, the more they can use you for other incidental characters that come up in cartoon shows.
So it’s really important to be as versatile as humanly possible, and that only comes with practice, with doing it.You need to be able to sound serious or silly or young or very young.
Or you have to sound old, or very old. Or very, very old.
Is he old and rich, or is he old and poor?
You have to have a real good picture in your head of what this character’s like.
I’ve been involved in the Transformers franchise for years. I get the opportunity perform both as the good guy and the bad guy.
In cartoons, the villains are always the most fun to portray.
The good guys are the toughest because it’s always basically, “Quick! We must rush to the rescue!Often the other actors roll their eyes during the hero’s dialogue because…Well, sometimes it’s boring.
The bad guys are always thinking about different ways to create havoc. Like characters out of Shakespeare.
When you get a piece of script it’s important to play with it so you can take a pause or sit back or start again or go quickly. This is different from other voiceover forms where you have 30 or 60 seconds.
A full paragraph of dialogue gives you more time. Not too much time, but you can play with the character.
It is important to have a bit of an acting background. But even if you have no background in acting, developing these characters is important…and should be fun. When reading for animation or cartoons, it’s important to have fun and to relax at the same time.
And sound like you’re saying it, not like you’re reading it. That’s a no-no.
In the world of animation, if you’re casting for cartoons or series it’s always good to find someone who has a broad range. They’ll save you money. And you’ll probably end up working with fun people.
And the people are usually kind of wacky. It’s fun to spend your day with wacky people.
Doing voice overs for animation is a ton of fun, thanks to the nutty people you share the microphone with.
You need to be able to act. You’ve got to get it off the page.
You have to have fun.
Develop a range of characters. Explore your voice’s capabilities. Discover how far your range extends.
You’ve got to be able to change directions without warning.
So, summing up: Develop a broad character base, have fun, be able to change gears, and never grow up.
There’s nothing like voice acting for animation. If that’s your dream, I wish you luck.