How to Make Money in Animation

There are a lot of little, quick, ways to make a couple bucks while you're waiting for Pixar to give you a call.  And if animation isn't exactly your thing, this also could work for graphic designers, and motion graphics artists.

Local Small Businesses
The first thing I would recommend is to get in touch with a local small business that could use an animation for their website. If you have a family member that owns their own business, that's perfect opportunity for your first job. Make something short and simple - something you can get done in a weekend. Then, once the animation is posted, share the link with everyone you know - Facebook is a great place for getting the word out. Go looking for other small business that could use an animation like the one you made, and share the link with them. Before you know it, you'll be making enough to pay your way through college!

Gaming Apps
Another place to look for work is to see if any of your friends are making iPad or iPhone apps. They need animation, and you do animation, so it's a great collaboration. You probably won't get a lot of money for that, but it's GREAT experience for getting your foot in the door at the larger game development companies.

Stock Photography Sites
Another more anonymous way to get a quick buck is to create animated clips for online stock video companies like Pond5. You get paid a commission every time someone downloads your animation.  The company takes a huge bite - but if you have one or two good clips you can count on beer money every month.

For more advice, and to hang with people doing what you want to do, do a quick search for groups on Facebook.  There are tons of people who've gone through what you're trying to do right now - ask to hear their 'glorious failure' and 'sparkling success' stories!

How to Get Hired at an Animation Studio (or anywhere else)

So many artists graduate from college, degree in hand, and then find out that the jobs aren't as easy to get as your favorite teacher lead your ego to believe.  Getting someone from your dream studio to talk to you, much less get an interview is near impossible.  No one's hiring!

You're EXACTLY right. The job world is totally different these days - going 'old school' and waiting for an opening doesn't work anymore. You've got to get in front of the right people, and convince them they need you - whether there's an opening or not!

Now, I don't mean going in there and acting like a jerk - but if you have talent and experience that's over and above the norm, they're just shooting themselves in the foot by not hiring you! Sometimes, just having a warm, charismatic, friendly attitude goes a long way.

But, when it comes down to it - the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you're REALLY serious about working for a specific studio, you've got to get a little unconventional in your approach. Regular, friendly, and consistent contact will wear down even the thickest walls. Keep drawing and creating your own projects and posting them online, sharing the link with your contacts in the studio (don't keep sending things to HR! branch out to the production manager, the creative manager, the animation department head, etc.). Create a blog that explains tips and tricks of animation production, and share those links with the studio members as well. After a few months of regular follow up, start pushing to set up a informal meet and greet - say, 'I'll be there on Thursday at 2:00, would really like to stop by and say hello!' Don't leave it open ended, make them say 'no' or 'yes'. It may take a while to get the meeting, but keep at it. Gently, politely, respectfully. Eventually, you'll get something, either a meeting, or a restraining order! (jk)

The point is to be unconventional - and don't wait for someone to 'allow' you to animate. Just DO it, and let them come to YOU!

Automotive Alphabet Flashcards

Here's an interesting project from artist Mike Yamada. Alphabet flash cards with an animal and automotive theme.  A great way to teach Motor City kids the alphabet AND our heratige.

Check them out.

 

Mayerson on Animation : Kirby Estate Loses Copyright Battle

This article stirs up discussion on the 'fairness' of corporations and copyright.

Blog: Mayerson on Animation
Post: Kirby Estate Loses Copyright Battle
Link: http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.com/2011/07/kirby-estate-loses-copyright-...

Setting up Social Media Connections

Part of an independent animator's life is self promotion.  Thankfully, this day and age provides a myriad of promotional outlets with the potential of global reach - the challenge is to figure out what outlets are best for you and your art.

Here's a few of the steps I go through to create an identity for a new project -

1) A unique gmail or yahoo account - this will be the primary communication 'entity' for creating all your subsequent accounts.  Link this account to push all emails to your normal personal account if you don't want to go back and check it individually.  It helps to name this account the same name as every other social media identity you'll be creating. If not exactly the same, something similar.  That way, your 'fans' will know they're in the right place.

2) Posterous blog - the beautiful thing about Posterous is that it seamlessly auto posts to everything you connect to it - which is almost every other social media site on the interwebs.  Make sure the blog name is the same as or similar to your new email address.

3) Twitter account - even if you don't tweet a lot, park this name so no one can take the social ident you're so carefully crafting.  Once you create the twitter account, go back to Posterous and link the twitter account to the Posterous blog.  Every time you post to your blog, it will auto generate a tweet.  Pretty sweet!

3) YouTube and Vimeo - it may seem redundant, but creating a new account in each of these sites spreads your visibility to a greater audience.  YouTube reaches more eyeballs, Vimeo reaches 'the right' eyeballs for creative types.  Both enable you to embed their players inside your Posterous blog, and send the view count back to your account for accurate stats. IMHO - the Vimeo player is prettier. If you have a couple bucks, and are serious about your animation, sign up for the Vimeo+ service to get more detailed viewer information and other neat services.

4) Facebook Page - you can create an entirely new Facebook persona for your project, or create a 'Page' as part of your own ident.  Either or can be linked through Posterous.  You can even link your YouTube account to post to the Facebook page whenever you do anything in YouTube.

There are many many more services available - feel free to comment with any others you would recommend.  These sites will provide you with a good start to get your project seen by millions all over the world, and to hopefully gain recognition and funding for your next project.

Happy Animating!

7/23/2011

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