How to make a living with 2D

[Paul Fierlinger]

I just got permission from the director of the documentary we are doing some animation for right now. This is pretty typical of the type of commissioned work we do; small inserts into larger live action films. The subject matter is a rehab for women recovering from abusive situations in their homes.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltbSTTF ... l6AY9RUyKQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


The animation is almost completed with the last two scenes still in animatic form. Music and sound effects will be later dropped in by the editor of the documentary. I had asked for music upfront to animate to but the director's composer wasn't available at the time.

We were given a lot of creative freedom to come up with a concept and a rough animatic which took me three days. A couple of days following took up some back and forth discussions with small changes after which we were good to go.

We started work on Feb 26th and our slated date for delivery is the last week of March. The animation segments add up to 3.5 minutes so that's about a minute a week. This is WIP #22 which indicates that I sent in dailies every day or two.

[schwarzgrau]

the link doesn't seem to work

[Paul Fierlinger]

Thanks, schwarzgrau, it should work now.

[schwarzgrau]

I don't like the zoom onto her face, technically and stylistically, but I guess that's a matter of taste. Except of this I love the way you told the story. It doesn't feel exaggerated or over dramatic, but you get a good sense of the situation.
And I guess I should save my breath to write something about your drawing or animation style, cause it looks great as always.

I completely see the need for animation in documentarys if there isn't footage and hand-drawn animation with it's undefinied lines is surely the best choice for this, especially on very sensible topics like this. I hope this won't change that fast, cause it would be great to do this kind of animation too, if I'll get a lot faster one day.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I agree with the zoom into the CU of her face objection because it's been gnawing at me all this time and now you have validated it. Such critiques (and focus groups too) are so helpful for these situations. I'm going to experiment with the use of far less color because it worked best when it was in pure pen and ink animatic stage. Another problem, and a major one for me, is that I have no music to draw to. If you imagine each jump cut accentuated by the music you might think better of the zoom, yet I worry that this, to me unknown composer, will blow it. Such music must be handled very sensitively -- as you say, void of exaggerations. This segment is a perfect example of why I've been working more and more outside of a team, which is a good segue into this:

I hope this won't change that fast, cause it would be great to do this kind of animation too, if I'll get a lot faster one day.

You might want to consider jumping straight into a short independent video aimed at the Internet. You could shoot the live action parts by yourself or sometimes better yet, use still photography or a mixture of all three.

If it would be me, I'd pick up a news story from the 19th century print media and shoot the live action parts using B&W current settings. If horse and carriage hackneys would be a part of the story, I'd use the original copy but show current taxi cabs. In other words, the story would document how some things never change.

As we all know, because this has come up often on these pages, the best way to learn and try out new ideas is to work on a real project that has a beginning, middle, and end. It wouldn't be wasted because you could use it as a sample reel -- or even better, a festival film -- but for docu festivals, not animation fests. It's how you would make yourself known to live action folks.

[CartoonMonkey]

Beautiful stuff Paul! It's nice to learn a few tips and hear about interesting areas 2d animators can work in that I hadn't really thought to explore.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Thanks, Chad. What comes as strange to me is that ad agencies have never shown any interest in this side of our work. After Tulip came out, Peter Barg of Z Animation, who represents us for the production of commercial spots, also found this out to his surprise. He thought he should be able to get dog product accounts interested but never a bite.

@momo: I never noticed your website until yesterday. You have some pretty could life drawings in there and should have no trouble taking this direction. I also noticed you are a good idea man -- the Sushi clip is just one of those ideas I like (except I would have preferred to see it animated in TVP to give the characters more life than Flash could ever achieve).

[momo]

Thanks Paul. The ideas you brought up in this thread are very interesting indeed. The one point that is difficult to figure out is this middle ground where you great something that appeals to yourself and that people would be willing to pay for. When trying to sell there is always the danger of loosing yourself. But I am probably overthinking it.

The sushi clip's purpose was to learn flash at the end of our course when I was at school. I must say I am surprise you thought it was a good idea, the pitch sentence we came up with a friend of mine goes like this: "A piece of sushi who wants to become sashimi but the rice won't let go".

[Paul Fierlinger]

The one point that is difficult to figure out is this middle ground where you create something that appeals to yourself and that people would be willing to pay for.

Did I really say that? Perhaps I forgot to mention another important, perhaps the most important condition, which is that your idea must be useful to your target audience of one. People will buy only things that are useful to them. It must have the same appeal to them as it is appealing to you. Being appealing to you is important only in that this will make for a subject which you understand well and the targeted audience will sense this from the quality of your work. But even more important than that is that someone else will find it useful.

EDIT: I understood the sushi clip as going a bit further than you mention, because I particularly liked the subtlety of the ending where the fish comes back and stays only if it is not tied to the rice -- that's a strong message.

[momo]

Did I really say that?

Nope you never did, I did Your answer is very clear. I must say it is the first time I get such a clear answer on this topic. I guess it can be said that internet provides the space to find the targeted audience. And to find the target audience one must just look in a mirror.

I am very happy that you are reading that subtle difference in the relation between the two characters. Although I must admit. this was not done consciously. The piece of seaweed at the beginning was there just to make for some struggle for the fish to leave the rice.

[artfx]

I am very surprised I haven't come across this thread before. Since no one brought it up, I figured I'd throw it out there:

PORN.

There are independent animators making a living doing porn, a few are, dare I say, getting rich. There are digital download sites that seem to cater to this. This market isn't nearly what it was seven or eight years ago. Piracy is killing it to some degree, and 3D animation, more realistically rendered, is displacing 2D, but it still exists. Imagine someone selling 14,000 copies of a 20 minute animation they made for 3000 yen, or about $25 USD. It still happens. While it might seem strange, it makes sense as it follows what Paul has been saying. That is "useful" to some audience out there.

When you get out of that world, however, things become very different. Too many artists, however skilled they may be, are trying to directly compete with what is currently popular in TV and film. They want to make the next big anime show or the next Pixar style film. While I personally made money with anime style, that was years ago. Today there are countless shows and thousands of hours of such content out there on the net for free. Why would someone watch your show? More importantly, why would they pay for it. (It's difficult to find an audience even if it IS free these days.)

This leaves the indie with two choices. One, is do what Paul is saying. Stand out, seek out a different audience with a different mindset, do your own thing and make your splash. The only other option is to slowly build your own fan base, one by one if necessary, even if it takes years, to the point that the fans are actually following you and willing to support you more than any individual work that you have done. Plympton is a mix of both, in my opinion. His fans are following him more than the works, and his most loyal fans will chase after anything he does. Those who have spent the years building up their loyal fan base (which is what many indie bands are doing on the internet these days) are the ones who can go to Kickstarter and quickly raise tens of thousands or more for their next project.

There is a third option, if you can survive for a few years to do it. Just make a feature film. Like Ralph Bakshi said in his famous Comicon speech, somebody will buy it.

[CartoonMonkey]

I'm on a small vacation, visiting family and my father remarked: "Don't you wish you could just dig ditches and make money that way instead of bothering with computers?"

I had to laugh out loud and tell him: "heck no!"

If you're at all able to make money doodling little moving pictures for people, count yourselves lucky you've cultivated that skill! Finding a way to sell it to the right people can be tricky, but the rewards are great.

[momo]

One other way the few Swiss animator I came across make a living is by doing illustration and/or anything drawing related.


Btw here is an article about the life of an Hungarian animator: Marcell Jankovics

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film ... 12926.html

[D.T. Nethery]

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/interactive/ ... 13591.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Spotlight Stories group also unveiled their Story Development Kit (SDK), which will enable other studios to create custom projects for the Google Spotlight Stories app. “​With the SDK, an animator can build a story using familiar tools and set up an interactive story in an intuitive way,” said Rachid El Guerrab, ATAP’s technical project lead for Google Spotlight Stories. “A lot of work is going into our new ‘film language,’ and how we introduce creators to thinking in 3D, in 360 degrees, with a free camera, and with viewer­based pacing. The SDK also offers various tools to help storyboarding, music and sound design, publishing, testing on phones, etc.”

Produced through Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, the Spotlight Stories attempt a new kind of immersive, 360-degree film experience by using the sensory inputs of mobile devices. The group has produced three animated projects to date: Jan Pinkava’s Windy Day, Mark Oftedal’s Buggy Night, and Glen Keane’s Duet.

Google announced at the conference that the shorts, previously available only for Moto X and Moto G users, will now be available to all Android users on the Google Spotlight Stories app. An iOS version of the app is expected to follow.

[ten_zero]

Glen Keane (ex-Disney studio) « Nephtali » avec Opéra de Paris