Similar Posts
10 second tip: Lean the body
Save Today’s 10 second tip is about a simple, but very effective trick to improve the appeal and dynamic of your poses: Lean the body! Save Share via:
Review: The Art of Rio
Save Titan Books returns with an interesting new “Art Of” title which combines the art of both of the first two Rio films into one inclusive tome. How does it stack up to the other art books we animators find…
Review: Oscar Nominated Shorts of 2014
Save The annual tradition of reviewing the Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts is upon us once more. How did this year stack up? Read on to find out! (Spoiler: Not good.) Save Share via:
Review: Disney’s Frozen
Save Now that Disney’s 53rd animated feature has been in theaters for a bit, we take a look at what went right and what went wrong in today’s Animator Island review. Heavy spoilers below, you’ve been warned! Save Share via:
Review: Drawn to Life (vol. 1 & 2)
Save Every day it seems another few books for animators hit the shelves, and there are no lack of options for where to spend your hard-earned money. How do the pair of Drawn to Life books by Walt Stanchfield stack…
Review: Character Animation Crash Course
Save There are a LOT of animation books out there. In almost all of them you’ll find the standard walk cycle, an explanation of keys and in-betweens, and many animation staples that any beginner needs to know. Eric Goldberg’s Character…
Great info graphic! Thank you, JK! It’s important to know these things. Especially in the US people keep being exploited just because they don’t compare their wages.
For freelancers 30 dollars per hour would be far too low (240 dollars a day… 175 euros… seriously?), but since 43 percent seem to have a steady job, the average seems okay.
As a rules of thumb everybody should calculate what they need to live (food, rent, insurance, cost for the car, some pension stuff) and never accept below that number (unless it’s a personal favor or you benefit from the profits and your work force is an investment). If everybody does that, the industry has to pay everybody fairly. And freelancers, don’t forget that you will have times between jobs… you need to charge more to not starve during that time!
You need that money to live, you can prove it and therefor confidently demand it. Never forget that the people who hire you get paid to talk you into a lower wage – it’s their job, it’s what they learned. It’s nothing personal or doubting your skills, it’s business. There is not an infinite amount of animators in the world and none with your exact style and skill set.
“A growth rate of 6% – deemed slower than the national average.”
Jinkies, that statistic by itself is frightening.
I guess that’s why I keep hearing people suggest that if you like anything else, you should do that as your main career. (Although I am not sure if it applies to me because my other “big” interest is screenwriting, which has that same oft quoted advice.)
Well then that works out beautifully, doesn’t it? Neither will get in the way of the other one if neither is a “main” anything! 🙂
What I take away from it is we’re probably not going to all be able to go the traditional route. And I think that’s okay, because it inspires creativity and new endeavors. If there was enough space for us ALL to be cogs in a machine, where would be the fun in that? Ha ha, but then, it’s never quite as simple as I’d love it to be… In the end, the people who balance surviving with thriving will probably never regret any of the hard work it took.
Yeah it is scary stuff! I want to look for a new job but right now I feel like I’m lucky just to be working at all so I stay here.
Great article. Good work !!!
GREAT info TY kindly Cheers
I’m one of the numbers on that chart! 😀
That’s why I work for myself. Better money, no competing for jobs.
Good writeup, I am normal visitor of one’s site, maintain the excellent operation, and it’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.