Hello Everybody!
I am creating a new animated series with a few friends of mine. I am quite new to producing Animation and I have somewhat of an idea of how to get things done up until Storyboarding and Key-framing our episodes. After that, I'm not sure of what steps to take. Do you contract independent animators? Find an animation production company to help animate? Who do we talk to do pitch the teaser? Any help is appreciated! Feel free to message me directly too!
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Love animation. Good luck!
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Cool, but are you a little confused about terminology? I don't mean that in an offensive way. If you have someone who is doing keyframes/ or key poses, they'd be an animator so they should animate it for you? Can you just keep it in the team?
Different types of studios. If you work with a domestic studio they will generally do all the artwork, from script forward because their raison d'etre is to make sure the finished product is good and they likely want to do their own storyboards and direction.
But if you go to an outsourcing studio overseas they'll take whatever you give them, but the onus is on you to ensure quality.
But really, if you're new to animation, just produce it yourself. Hire some cheap animators and just get it done. Save the real budgets for when you're proven you can do good stuff. The limiting factor on quality is skill and experience, not budget.
I like your concept hit me up for some free consulting if you like.
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I agree with Simon Turnbull - he covered it pretty well. Depending on the budget and resources you have for this project, you can either outsource abroad or produce it yourself with contract/freelance animators, but you'd have to be very clued in to the animation process as a producer to follow up on it for the quality and output you're going for and the timelines you're aiming to meet.
In my experience the teaser is generally pitched to a distributor at this point, because that can help you secure your investment to then produce the series in whichever avenue you choose to go with.
Thanks Simon Turnbull and Arafa Al-Mughairi! I'm going to be meeting with the team soon and I'll pass along this information. I'd love to talk to you both about the process and learn more about your experiences with getting your animations/shows made.
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If you are stopped at the storyboarding process, then I'd suggest finding help there and then worry about next steps. Check out a friend of mine who is great at pre-vis: https://www.alexgrayfilm.com/
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Most of the independent animators I've met and worked with showcase their talents on Newgrounds. The array of work from around the world is staggering, but I'm sure you can find good animators to work with, there as well as here. (BTW, I've been doing more voice acting in animation projects, lately, since I can record from my apartment.)
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Uh, Colin Hussey - Newgrounds is amazing! Thank you for sharing!
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Hey, Matt Ip Shaw - How goes finding help with those next steps? Have you tried reaching out on the Producing Lounge as well? You can even look up Animators through the BROWSE tab and reach out to those who are also producers and/or directors and see if they could help out (just send them the link to this conversation to make it easy for yourself): https://www.stage32.com/people?name=&location=&roles=Animator
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Thanks, Colin Hussey! I'll definitely be taking a look at the site.
Haha, I just treated myself to a fancy new mic and interface so I could do some more Voice stuff as well! Recording from home is definitely a plus with everything going on.
Hope you're staying safe!
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Hi Matt - Immerse yourself in the animation industry as much as possible. I don't know where you are located, but look to sites such as CTN, cartoonbrew, animation world network and even animation magazine to understand who the players are, also check out the video I just posted in the lounge by Max Howard. The short answer is, look for an animation house that you can partner with to bring the characters to life. Depending on if you need financing or distribution determines the long answer.
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Laurie Ashbourne - AMAZING information! Thank you for sharing!
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Such a shame about Artella, although it never really got off the ground, and now Nimble Collective is also going down, I worked with both of these guys as they were launching at the same time -- we sure could use that cloud based pipeline and artist network in today's situation. They were both just a year or two before their time.
Corey Idleburg I've never heard of artstation and Artella before. I'd love to talk more about these platforms and how we can collaborate.
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Matt Ip Shaw Did you see that we're bringing in Frank Gladstone from ASIFA-Hollywood? You should ask him your questions! https://www.stage32.com/lounge/animation/Ask-a-45-year-veteran-of-the-An...
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I worked with Frank for many years -- good friend and sweet man. Asifa is a must if you want to immerse yourself in the animation industry.