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How to Succeed in Digital Animation

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Gary Ferguson

This document provides advice for digital animators on how to succeed financially in the industry. It discusses questions to consider regarding one's purpose and employment preferences. The artist's dilemma of low pay, high competition, and repetitive work is described. The document recommends finding fulfillment through creating one's own vision rather than just working for clients. Various job types - full-time, freelance, and owning a business - are reviewed along with their pros and cons. Top money-making strategies suggested include selling tools/plugins, materials, online courses, 3D printing products, and rendering services for stock sites. The conclusion encourages cutting out middlemen to have creative freedom and sell one's own passionate work directly.

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How to Succeed in Digital Animation Instructor: Gary Ferguson
Questions you need to ask yourself ★ What fulfills you and gives you purpose in life? ★ Do you want to be employed by someone or self-employed? ★ Do you adjust to the industry, look for jobs and create whatever a client wishes and wants to spend money for? Or ★ Do you create what you are passionate about and the right customers will come to you?
The artist’s dilemma ★ The industry pays less and less, global competition increasing ★ Customers settle for good-enough, no fulfillment in this environment ★ Should you take on multiple jobs? Learn more skills? ★ Burn out due to repetitive low-quality work and salary? ★ Give up and take up another line of work altogether?
Why do you do this? ★ Create art, make ideas come to life ★ Let your imagination run free and see the results and be adored for it ★ Fulfillment in what you are doing and find purpose in it ★ Market your own vision, not others ★ Be valued for what you do ★ If you made millions for a job would you stop working and retire? ★ Is money more important or your evolution as an artist?
State of the industry ★ Globalization and Technology are making rapid transformations ★ Work can be done for less and less by artists in low income countries ★ Technology automates tasks making it cheaper to produce ★ Bidding wars on freelance work are at ridiculous levels ★ Suggestions on how to compete includes forming a qualified team instead of doing it yourself
Job types in the industry ★ Full time employment ★ Part time employment ★ Freelance ★ Business owner / Solopreneur
Job types in the industry Full / Part time - Pros: Work at your own pace, choose your clients, can be financially rewarding Cons: Travel a lot, competition, bidding wars, stressful if doing all the work ★ Can be rewarding if in areas where lots of companies need services ★ Specialists are in high demand, recommendations boost reputation ★ Having good relationships with clients ensure steady work
Job types in the industry Freelance - Pros: Steady income, benefits, pension plan, etc. Cons: Overtime, low pay, no guarantee on job security ★ You don’t have to worry about finding clients and projects, you will be assigned tasks, be managed by superiors ★ Small studios prefer generalists while larger prefer specialists
Job types in the industry Business owner / Solopreneur - ★ Can be more than just freelancing, running your own studio ★ Hiring of staff, office location, lease/rent, overhead costs, paying the bills You will have to be business savvy as well as wearing many hats - Director, Producer, Editor, Sound Designer as well as Accountant, Sales, HR, YOU ARE THE BOSS!
Top ways to making money Sell tools and plugins for software, write scripts, code in Javascript, MEL, python that can optimize workflows, enhance the software, speed up repetitive tasks. Coding skills make you more valuable and earns more money. Places where you can sell your stuff: ★ AEscripts ★ Blendermarket ★ Unity Asset Store
Top ways to making money Material / Texture Packs: Artists need materials and textures to drop on objects, speeds up workflow. Render engines being developed for Maya, Cinema 4D, Blender, etc. Go convert and create materials for these! Sell courses: Selling Tutorials and Courses on popular learning-platforms can be extremely lucrative. An online course can have thousands of enrollments paying $10 per person, that can be quite a sum. Udemy, Skillshare, Khan Academy are just some examples where you can become a content creator. Use a microphone and screen recording software and you are set!
Top ways to making money 3D Printing: Create products that can solve problems, or craft items, novelty goods, promotional merchandise, you name it! Digital Prints / Posters: Sell online, fan art, use your work, a great way to make money on the side! Sell 3D Models: Artists cut time using models instead of creating them, add materials/textures for specific render engines, kit-bashing is also popular for game artists to create characters, props, environments etc.
Top ways to making money Start a 3D Blog and Website: Give back to the community. Share your knowledge and insight with the world and the favor will be returned sooner or later, take anything you have created in 3D, Materials, 3D Models or Plugins and make them available on your site, give away some for free and make people want to come back for more. You can also make money through affiliate marketing and ads. Create a Children’s Series for YouTube: Billions of views can be lucrative if your production is engaging, entertaining, educational with good storytelling.
Top ways to making money Sell 3D Renderings on Stock-Image and Stock-Video Sites: Setting up an account and uploading your renderings and animations to Stock-Image or Stock-Video sites is something you can do in less than an hour. Some market research and reading of the news to create great image combinations that are high in demand, will of course go a long way in increasing your income from these kinds of sites.
Other ways to making money ★ Sell t-shirt prints with your artwork ★ Make a short film, get festival exposure or even Awards ★ Research and make a viral hit ★ Pitch a project on Kickstarter and get funding ★ Make awesome Art and get funded on Patreon ★ Get funded by the government ★ Make an App/Game ★ Render Product Pack Shots for Startups ★ Make 3D Clan-Logos and advertise in the gaming-Industry to get customers
A thought on Risk-Taking Start small and fail often and as early as possible, work on projects that scale and get market feedback as early and often as possible. Adapt to market needs based on research to market your product and/or skills. Use blogs to get feedback, build on it to make decisions on projects you are working on, make adjustments or start a different one altogether.
Conclusion The ultimate goal should be to cut out the middleman, distribution channels and sell yourself. You want creative freedom, you want to manage your own time, be able to work from wherever you are and create whatever your passion seeks. The most fulfilling way to making money is to create something that you are passionate about and build a fanbase that likes what you are passionate about.
Now go create and share!
Thank You

More Related Content

How to Succeed in Digital Animation

  • 1. How to Succeed in Digital Animation Instructor: Gary Ferguson
  • 2. Questions you need to ask yourself ★ What fulfills you and gives you purpose in life? ★ Do you want to be employed by someone or self-employed? ★ Do you adjust to the industry, look for jobs and create whatever a client wishes and wants to spend money for? Or ★ Do you create what you are passionate about and the right customers will come to you?
  • 3. The artist’s dilemma ★ The industry pays less and less, global competition increasing ★ Customers settle for good-enough, no fulfillment in this environment ★ Should you take on multiple jobs? Learn more skills? ★ Burn out due to repetitive low-quality work and salary? ★ Give up and take up another line of work altogether?
  • 4. Why do you do this? ★ Create art, make ideas come to life ★ Let your imagination run free and see the results and be adored for it ★ Fulfillment in what you are doing and find purpose in it ★ Market your own vision, not others ★ Be valued for what you do ★ If you made millions for a job would you stop working and retire? ★ Is money more important or your evolution as an artist?
  • 5. State of the industry ★ Globalization and Technology are making rapid transformations ★ Work can be done for less and less by artists in low income countries ★ Technology automates tasks making it cheaper to produce ★ Bidding wars on freelance work are at ridiculous levels ★ Suggestions on how to compete includes forming a qualified team instead of doing it yourself
  • 6. Job types in the industry ★ Full time employment ★ Part time employment ★ Freelance ★ Business owner / Solopreneur
  • 7. Job types in the industry Full / Part time - Pros: Work at your own pace, choose your clients, can be financially rewarding Cons: Travel a lot, competition, bidding wars, stressful if doing all the work ★ Can be rewarding if in areas where lots of companies need services ★ Specialists are in high demand, recommendations boost reputation ★ Having good relationships with clients ensure steady work
  • 8. Job types in the industry Freelance - Pros: Steady income, benefits, pension plan, etc. Cons: Overtime, low pay, no guarantee on job security ★ You don’t have to worry about finding clients and projects, you will be assigned tasks, be managed by superiors ★ Small studios prefer generalists while larger prefer specialists
  • 9. Job types in the industry Business owner / Solopreneur - ★ Can be more than just freelancing, running your own studio ★ Hiring of staff, office location, lease/rent, overhead costs, paying the bills You will have to be business savvy as well as wearing many hats - Director, Producer, Editor, Sound Designer as well as Accountant, Sales, HR, YOU ARE THE BOSS!
  • 10. Top ways to making money Sell tools and plugins for software, write scripts, code in Javascript, MEL, python that can optimize workflows, enhance the software, speed up repetitive tasks. Coding skills make you more valuable and earns more money. Places where you can sell your stuff: ★ AEscripts ★ Blendermarket ★ Unity Asset Store
  • 11. Top ways to making money Material / Texture Packs: Artists need materials and textures to drop on objects, speeds up workflow. Render engines being developed for Maya, Cinema 4D, Blender, etc. Go convert and create materials for these! Sell courses: Selling Tutorials and Courses on popular learning-platforms can be extremely lucrative. An online course can have thousands of enrollments paying $10 per person, that can be quite a sum. Udemy, Skillshare, Khan Academy are just some examples where you can become a content creator. Use a microphone and screen recording software and you are set!
  • 12. Top ways to making money 3D Printing: Create products that can solve problems, or craft items, novelty goods, promotional merchandise, you name it! Digital Prints / Posters: Sell online, fan art, use your work, a great way to make money on the side! Sell 3D Models: Artists cut time using models instead of creating them, add materials/textures for specific render engines, kit-bashing is also popular for game artists to create characters, props, environments etc.
  • 13. Top ways to making money Start a 3D Blog and Website: Give back to the community. Share your knowledge and insight with the world and the favor will be returned sooner or later, take anything you have created in 3D, Materials, 3D Models or Plugins and make them available on your site, give away some for free and make people want to come back for more. You can also make money through affiliate marketing and ads. Create a Children’s Series for YouTube: Billions of views can be lucrative if your production is engaging, entertaining, educational with good storytelling.
  • 14. Top ways to making money Sell 3D Renderings on Stock-Image and Stock-Video Sites: Setting up an account and uploading your renderings and animations to Stock-Image or Stock-Video sites is something you can do in less than an hour. Some market research and reading of the news to create great image combinations that are high in demand, will of course go a long way in increasing your income from these kinds of sites.
  • 15. Other ways to making money ★ Sell t-shirt prints with your artwork ★ Make a short film, get festival exposure or even Awards ★ Research and make a viral hit ★ Pitch a project on Kickstarter and get funding ★ Make awesome Art and get funded on Patreon ★ Get funded by the government ★ Make an App/Game ★ Render Product Pack Shots for Startups ★ Make 3D Clan-Logos and advertise in the gaming-Industry to get customers
  • 16. A thought on Risk-Taking Start small and fail often and as early as possible, work on projects that scale and get market feedback as early and often as possible. Adapt to market needs based on research to market your product and/or skills. Use blogs to get feedback, build on it to make decisions on projects you are working on, make adjustments or start a different one altogether.
  • 17. Conclusion The ultimate goal should be to cut out the middleman, distribution channels and sell yourself. You want creative freedom, you want to manage your own time, be able to work from wherever you are and create whatever your passion seeks. The most fulfilling way to making money is to create something that you are passionate about and build a fanbase that likes what you are passionate about.
  • 18. Now go create and share!