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Author
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Topic: Hey AN, how's everybody doin?
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
It's some interesting and challenging times we're in. Everyone dealing with one thing or another.
Wondering how you all are, how's your life situations going, how you're weathering the storms and riding the waves...
Check in and say hello, let us know what's happening with you.
Hope all is well.
Charles
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tstevens
IE # 234
Member # 801
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posted
As they say in the military - SNAFU! I suppose that is the best way to describe how things could get in a few months.
At work we are riding on fumes until January. If we don't get a major job sometime between now and then I'll probably be looking at what the government refers to as the underemployed: People working part time in another profession while waiting for work in thier given field.
Advertising is suppose to be set for a comeback in 2010 though nobody knows for sure. Most advertisers are settling for re-using old campaigns instead of producing new ones. The biggest drawback is that most companies will wait to resume advertising until they feel the economy is stable. So yeah - commercial production is not the place to be these days. Fortunately we have had plenty of time to revise our website, logo, and so on.
Nearly all of the freelance animators and artists that we have worked with over the years are telling us the situation is very much the same around the country: everyone wants to produce but everyone is waiting to see what the economy does. It isn't quite a self-fulfilling phrophecy but it is close.
My personal life - I won't even go there.
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http://www.foogersnarts.blogspot.com
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ColorInAble
IE # 68
Member # 1444
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posted
I think Mr. TStevens has summed it up pretty well. The last two SIGGRAPH L.A. meetings have startde off by the Pres saying "Hi" and then the V.P. says "any work out there?" and then the audience groans.
I'm getting by by being an artist, that's how bad things are right now. And I'm developing skills (Maya), and refreshing other skills (getting up to speed on V.5 of Digital Fusion for example). And I'm learning new mediums (3D Stereo animation, photography, and compositing).
And at times I'm having a good time with my characters The Damn Reds Adult Escorts for example.
Is being an "Artist" a good living for me? Well, I pray every day for Hollywood to make a comeback.
And TStevens is very right about Madison Ave. just recycleing old ad campaigns. Everyone has shut their wallets as much as possible right now.
At least we've had the time to GO MOBILE @ ColorInAble.com so get out your I-Phone, or like I'm using now, your Palm Pilot, or even the Crackberry, and check out the mobile site...
Like Charles has been saying, this is the time to get things ready...
Though for exactly what, I don't know, but pray about every day...
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Paburrows
Member
Member # 3300
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posted
Well I opened an online blog/store for my Lost and Hoofprints sketchbook and have been talking it up on a few Lost websites and boards and am starting to see a modest start in sales. So I found the right niche and am working on settling in there. Nothing gangbusters yet, but Im purposely starting small and working up and out and it seems to be going well.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
http://room23store.blogspot.com/
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http://paulburrows.blogspot.com/
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Metsys
Member
Member # 3503
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posted
I have gotten a lot more freelance work this year than last year, primarily because last year I spent most of my time looking for full/part-time employment which was completely fruitless. Regardless of the work I got this year, it's still not where I should be financially but it's paying what little bills I have.
Every spare moment is going into our start-up studio and our graphic novel. We've gotten several fresh critical eyes to read over the first 4 chapters of the script and they all love it. The response to the story has been very positive which is driving us to get this thing out as fast as we can. Thank goodness I finally decided to enroll into the Animation Academy because that has been a massive help in getting this project nearer to completion.
In short this year has been better than last.
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http://glenmoyes.blogspot.com
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SNAKEBITE
IE # 101
Member # 17
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posted
I have to say the first half of this year was poopoo for me. real poopoo. its still hard, but staying proactive has really kept me focused and helped me through it. Fortunately for me there
is always a lot of personal work to be done, the investment for me
and the tribe. The big picture. Keeps me sane.
More paying work is coming in, I feel blessed. But I've been freelance for 13 years, so you go through it all. what most are feeling is not a new feeling for me and for a lot of people. I think we all need to center our perspectives and start to make different choices. The "get mine" attitude is played out and does nothing for our culture...not preaching, just thinkin out loud.
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contact@animationnation.com
www.artbysnakebite.com
www.myspace.com/mrbite
www.redskystudio.com
www.myspace.com/redskystudio
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
It's a challenge to try and make an honest living in a day and age when we're surrounded by corruption, or so it seems. But i believe there are alot more honest good hearted people out there then there are sacks of dog poo poo.
Yes, it's a challenging time and interetsing age we face in animation and in the real world, but ya know what? One of my favorite animators, Suzan Pitt, who is beyond what the status quo in this biz is about, always had a reassuring theme in many of her films.
"Life is difficult, but it is beautiful."
With that in mind, I get through the day.
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E. Allen
IE # 301
Member # 3297
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posted
True, Charles!
As for me, all of the positives vastly outweigh the negatives. This year, I met you guys in the flesh, and thought that things couldn't possibly get better than that. And then, a shocker, they did.
In October I finally made enough, after a dismal end to last year--and a not-that-promising start to this one--to afford to set cash aside for Artist's Market. Also, I purchased more DVDs (remarkable, given what everyone else is reporting with their entertainment purchases) this year than last. Things keep looking up, but partly the reason for that is staying in contact with old contacts from various parts of the country and seeing what their needs are from a design standpoint!
Needless to say, I'm more than excited for the near future.
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tstevens
IE # 234
Member # 801
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posted
I remember a sermon that my minister gave a few years back where he said, "It isn't so much about what you pray for as what you are thankful for."
If you can look back on everyday and have something to be thankful for you'll be OK. When you start praying for things that are out of your control, you need to sit back and take stock of your life.
As the old story goes, there is a little boy and all he wants for Christmas is a pony. On Christmas morning he walks out into a room piled high from wall to wall with horse crap. He gazes over the mess and says, "There must be a pony somwhere in here!"
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http://www.foogersnarts.blogspot.com
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
I heard this little parable once and even wrote a story around it. Goes like this.
A man cursed his fortune for having to go through life without any shoes. Until the day he met another who went through life without any feet. Thereafter, he was forever thankful for the blessings he'd been given.
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SNAKEBITE
IE # 101
Member # 17
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posted
Today I was finalizing my schedule for the next 4 months. I felt blessed. I may not always get the gigs I want, but I do get what I need. being able to say the next four months are fully scheduled is a blessing and it keeps me going. I went through real hard times in the beginning of 2009, but I'm still here. I'm still creating!..and people are paying me to create. Truly a blessing. I don't believe in any one thing, but I do believe in blessings....and if I didn't, most likely, they'd go away.
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contact@animationnation.com
www.artbysnakebite.com
www.myspace.com/mrbite
www.redskystudio.com
www.myspace.com/redskystudio
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dermot
IE # 193
Member # 1575
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posted
The last 3 years have been slow....and I've fielded a few ridiculous offers .
My big commitment was to turn down offers to work for free or next to mothing and do my own thing on downtime .
I think 3-D is taking a bite out of the business for pencil and paper folk.....some half decent movies seem to be getting made with very little design staff....in some cases the director acting as designer and board artist as well .
It's strange also how many friends and family are actually negative or less supportive than complete strangers in the art world / I get more encouragement from people I've never met through art forums like Animation Nation than from co-workers ; when I suggest I want to write my own stories I get a typical reaction like "who do you think you are?....only "real" writers can be writers"
Unstable times sometimes bring out the worst in some people.....resulting in behaviour that is hard to forgive later.
I have one original film concept optioned and in early development ; it will be interesting to see how co-operative the crew will be if the company gets financing and I find myself directing others who poo-pooed my ideas before .
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http://zoomfrog.blogspot.com/
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ColorInAble
IE # 68
Member # 1444
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posted
dermot... I guess the people you work with aren't on AN much...
When did storyboard artists give up cartoons / comics? And when did they give up coming up with story?
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ClosetAni1
IE # 115
Member # 46
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posted
Offers to work for free come in fast and furious in a distressed economy. When unemployment is high, the first thing to go is that what might be considered extraneous. It's been a very slow year for freelance projects and the last storybook illustration gig just ended. I'm grateful to still be working at all and amused to see Charles post this question on the same day I check in on the board.
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www.scooterandferret.com
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dermot
IE # 193
Member # 1575
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posted
quote:
When did storyboard artists give up cartoons / comics? And when did they give up coming up with story?
To be truthful.....I think the good storyboard artists I know all have something of their very own on the go as well......I think what surprises me is staff artists at various studios who are not happy.....but are not working too hard to "fight the good fight" and "raise the bar"
I've always found it exasperating when supervising or directing......or even when boarding how resistant people are to new ideas...whether in the form of revisions.....or outright new concepts .
A couple of years ago a script line said "________ walks down the stairs to fetch mushrooms from the basement" I thought that line and scenario was boring and suggested a radical number of alternatives....like a firepole tunnel under a barrel to a mysterious black void.
The design coordinator threw a fit and almost screamed at me "did you even READ the script?"....the director liked the idea and it was in the show as a "better idea"....but the resistance to innovation is what boggles MY mind.
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http://zoomfrog.blogspot.com/
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