Required watching for everyone that does work for clients.
In case you don't know who this is, Stephen Silver has worked for Warner Bros. TV, Disney TV, Sony Animation and Nickelodeon Animation working on shows including Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, the animated Clerks series and more.
At 1/30/13 05:02 PM, Chaz wrote: Rubbish. He's clearly bitter about something.
Yeah, bitter about artists who get taken advantage of.
Good video, I agree with him when it comes to getting paid when your being approached by a business. But he does sound a bit on the war path.
It's been happening to him for 40 years. I think you'd be a bit pissed after 40 years of people constantly asking you for free work.
I can understand where he is coming from. I would be angry when a large profitable company ask for a disney style animation for free. I assume many people create animations here because its a personal project but doing it commercially is a different thing. I do believe art is looked down on but people dont realize art can provide a lot of attraction. I wouldnt do it free because I am already banging my head on the table when something doesnt look right.
One problem I have found is that people in general do not appreciate the fact that animation is the most expensive form of media to produce. They think it can be spit out as fast as machine-gun shell casings, with the quality of Avatar and as cheap as a bag of potato chips. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I used to do free work, and only for extremely good causes, but I don't do it any longer. It is just too much work to do it for nothing. I may do it for an extremely and ridiculously reduced rate, but not for free. And neither should anyone else. In fact anybody that has asked me to do work for free I have sat down and explained to them exactly what it does take to make their vision a reality. Then I asked them the utmost question "would you do that for free?"
Most of the time I get no response. Sometimes I get an understanding response, but they still have no budget. And then rarely I get the "you should do it because it's the best thing in the world to do" response and "I am worthy of your work". The last I tend to just ignore because they would be so difficult to work with any way it wouldn't be worth the money, no matter how much you were charging them.
So fellow animators and creators of the infinite imagination, don't give your work away. Most of the time people are just ignorant, and those that do Know better and still try to get it for free are not worth working for or worthy of your work.
Best to all.
Q-Arts Media
I think this video is relevant to this topic. Watch it, and learn to avoid stupid places like poptent.com and other "speculative work" websites.
I'm surprised at some of the more negative responses he's gotten from this video; I guess from non artist/animators. What the hell is wrong with somebody wanting to be paid for a service rendered. Why do people feel so entitled to free work from artists?
Is it that people think because we enjoy doing it that it's not work?
Smarty Art, Ninja, Action
Weeeeeellll it depends, if i was a client and the artist has done pretty good stuff in the past i would pay him/her, BUT, and this is a big BUTT ... i wouldnt - (never ever, NEVER)- put my money on an amateur animator/artist/whatever.
Sometimes you need to do stuff for free... just saying ...
Just learn to say no in some cases, depending the person, if it is just some guy say no, if it is a company or a studio, fuck yeah, say yes.
i know, hate me
This guy has it right, and he has so much experience with this, which is clear through his obvious frustration. I completely agree with him, though because I'm half his age I'm a lot less frustrated. He's not being completely asinine; he even says he supports artists giving their time for charitable work for nothing in return.
A lot of what he is reiterating reminds me of this blog I read once, linked below. I'm pretty sure someone from Newgrounds posted this here:
http://blog.milowerx.com/?p=594
Basically, if someone is not willing to pay you or give you an absolute offer (being, if we use this, we WILL HIRE YOU), etc., then they are not putting value on what you do. It's tough because a lot of artists truly do enjoy creating, but what non-artists don't understand is that it isn't always fun creating for others. Just because you are skilled at something doesn't mean you owe the world your skills. I would never ask a chef for free meals, so I could "try out his food, to see if I even like it." I would never as a mechanic to fix my car for free "because you are good at it and must always enjoy it." That would be ridiculous. Not to mention costs of supplies. Art is not only time, but initial costs for materials. To make Flash animations you had to buy the proper software (yes, I know, some of you pirated).
I think his moral is not to let people take advantage of you. Just because you have taken the time to develop a skill doesn't mean you owe anyone anything, particularly a business that should be able to pay you something for your services. If they valued it, they would. It's as simple as that. If they can't do it themselves, they should pay someone else to or offer guaranteed future paid jobs at the very least (even though I am suspect of that if they aren't even initially paying you).
Boop boop beep boop.
No one even gives me a chance to animate for them so what would make them pay me?
At 1/30/13 01:41 PM, Chaostoon wrote: Required watching for everyone that does work for clients.
http://youtu.be/oWXYoD7wfOs
In case you don't know who this is, Stephen Silver has worked for Warner Bros. TV, Disney TV, Sony Animation and Nickelodeon Animation working on shows including Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, the animated Clerks series and more.
