How much to charge for animation in US DALLAR $$$$
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How much to charge for animation in US DALLAR $$$$
Its been a While now seen i last post. But every single day i read all that you guys post the only thing is that i do not log in that one thing i like About this forum anyway. I Want to know how much should i charge a customer for doing a 30 second advertis in us dallar? Its important to have a price range you start at example 10second US$1000. 15second US$2000. 30second US$3500 etc. What you charge? Do you create animation for free?
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MadReindeer
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Input from an artist who has also hired other artists
There are a couple of factors to consider. It's more than just a per-second-of-footage kind of thing. Ask this:
1. How much does the animator have to create, versus how much does the customer provide? Is the animator expected to design all characters, or are those already created by the client? Is it animation-only, or are you expected to also add in lip-synch or audio? Is it just single animation shots, or is the animator expected to edit all the shots together and provide a finished product that requires no further editing? Is the script clear, or is it a jumbled mess that you'll have to spend a lot of time making sense of? Is it really simple animation (i.e. a line goes from point A to point B) or are there 50 different moving elements all in the same shot, with moving 3D backgrounds and compositing?
Break down all of these items, and figure out how much time is going to be involved for you.
2. How do you justify your rate? An experienced animator with plenty of clips and a solid reputation should be able to charge far more than someone who's just getting started. That sounds unfair to the beginners, but it's just the truth. Look at it from the client's side. Yes, a client wants to hire a good artist. But it's about more than just artistic ability; clients are also looking for strong communication and how easy you are to work with. An experienced animator with lots of example clips from past jobs sends a clear message: "Others have found me useful, and I delivered what they wanted because look at how good these results are. Don't you want to experience the same success that they did? Then hire me!"
Someone who's just getting started might want to do a few jobs at a heavily discounted rate (or even a free one, either on your own or collaborating with others) in order to get some examples out there. Then raise rates once you've got a track record you can point to. A good friend of mine started her photography business that way. She did a bunch of free photo shoots with friends, built an amazing portfolio and put it online. Now she has more paying work than she knows what to do with. Do you have an online portfolio, Hothead? If you do, it'll help you greatly.
3. If all else fails, look through the "wanted" ads until you see a job that you believe is worth your time and effort. A few weeks ago, I posted a job on here for a trade video. I was clear about the deadline, the work involved and the price that would be paid. I had several artists apply and the first one I saw who had impressive online clips, I hired. I was impressed with his credentials and he was fine with the payment price, and we made a successful project.
Hope that helps.
1. How much does the animator have to create, versus how much does the customer provide? Is the animator expected to design all characters, or are those already created by the client? Is it animation-only, or are you expected to also add in lip-synch or audio? Is it just single animation shots, or is the animator expected to edit all the shots together and provide a finished product that requires no further editing? Is the script clear, or is it a jumbled mess that you'll have to spend a lot of time making sense of? Is it really simple animation (i.e. a line goes from point A to point B) or are there 50 different moving elements all in the same shot, with moving 3D backgrounds and compositing?
Break down all of these items, and figure out how much time is going to be involved for you.
2. How do you justify your rate? An experienced animator with plenty of clips and a solid reputation should be able to charge far more than someone who's just getting started. That sounds unfair to the beginners, but it's just the truth. Look at it from the client's side. Yes, a client wants to hire a good artist. But it's about more than just artistic ability; clients are also looking for strong communication and how easy you are to work with. An experienced animator with lots of example clips from past jobs sends a clear message: "Others have found me useful, and I delivered what they wanted because look at how good these results are. Don't you want to experience the same success that they did? Then hire me!"
Someone who's just getting started might want to do a few jobs at a heavily discounted rate (or even a free one, either on your own or collaborating with others) in order to get some examples out there. Then raise rates once you've got a track record you can point to. A good friend of mine started her photography business that way. She did a bunch of free photo shoots with friends, built an amazing portfolio and put it online. Now she has more paying work than she knows what to do with. Do you have an online portfolio, Hothead? If you do, it'll help you greatly.
3. If all else fails, look through the "wanted" ads until you see a job that you believe is worth your time and effort. A few weeks ago, I posted a job on here for a trade video. I was clear about the deadline, the work involved and the price that would be paid. I had several artists apply and the first one I saw who had impressive online clips, I hired. I was impressed with his credentials and he was fine with the payment price, and we made a successful project.
Hope that helps.
US time is worth more or less depending on where you are and what you are doing. Time in Australia is worth less, we fritter it away lying about under coolabah trees and resting cold tinnies on the front of our shorts to help lower core temperature. Talk is similarly cheap here also.
I hate it when you're at the shops, and the wife spends 15 minutes browsing one item, becuase it's on special and she wants the best deal. I'm all "You want to save 80 cents? I'll give you 20 dollars to stop wasting my time!"
OK, I'm sorry, I'm just kidding around.
Freelance rates are worth researching properly.
I hate it when you're at the shops, and the wife spends 15 minutes browsing one item, becuase it's on special and she wants the best deal. I'm all "You want to save 80 cents? I'll give you 20 dollars to stop wasting my time!"
OK, I'm sorry, I'm just kidding around.
Freelance rates are worth researching properly.
Madreindeer Lets say i follow your to do list and i has to do every thing like one of red bull animation how much should i charge. Madrobot Have a point some some people just Want to know how much they will spend. I dont Want to over charge the client an lose the work nor under charge because i dont know What my work wort thats unprofessional
I'd say start at a million bucks and work your way down from there, see how much you can get.
Jokes. I've charged way different rates - really cheap and then sometimes quite a bit. I think I could be charging WAY more though. I'd say weigh it up, see what feels right to you, if you're getting paid a billion bucks it may freak you out and prevent you from working well, same if its too low. Let your gut help you out is what I'd say. Then again, good to get an indicator of what others charge.
Jokes. I've charged way different rates - really cheap and then sometimes quite a bit. I think I could be charging WAY more though. I'd say weigh it up, see what feels right to you, if you're getting paid a billion bucks it may freak you out and prevent you from working well, same if its too low. Let your gut help you out is what I'd say. Then again, good to get an indicator of what others charge.
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funksmaname
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- Joined: Tue May 29, 2007 11:31 am
- Location: New Zealand
i don't really know how to answer this, except i dont think it's as clear cut as basing it on time... in the olden days you could base it on time becuase you HAD to draw a fixed number of frames per scene - this isn't the case, and the complexity of the character build comes into play rather than drawing time... once you rig you might be able to create a minute of animation in an hour - depending how much the character has to do...
So, you have to look at the project, discuss the style and complexity, get a certain amount of budget to develop storyboards and/or animatic which will give you a much cleare idea of how much work is really involved.
I don't think it's as easy as 10 seconds = $1000 etc - 10 seconds, at 12FPS for example, is 120 frames - that's approximately $80 a frame - when you are using AS and can pretty much just 'manipulate' every frame this seems very expensive.
Define the number of characters and backgrounds you have to draw/rig, and estimate how much time THAT will take - once done, you could probably animate a minute in 1 hour or whatever...?
So, you have to look at the project, discuss the style and complexity, get a certain amount of budget to develop storyboards and/or animatic which will give you a much cleare idea of how much work is really involved.
I don't think it's as easy as 10 seconds = $1000 etc - 10 seconds, at 12FPS for example, is 120 frames - that's approximately $80 a frame - when you are using AS and can pretty much just 'manipulate' every frame this seems very expensive.
Define the number of characters and backgrounds you have to draw/rig, and estimate how much time THAT will take - once done, you could probably animate a minute in 1 hour or whatever...?
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DarthFurby
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neeters_guy
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Slowtiger will probably not post here, but you can benefit from his knowledge:
How much can I charge pr second Anime Studio animation?
This a pretty common question, so a search will return some good tips.
How much can I charge pr second Anime Studio animation?
This a pretty common question, so a search will return some good tips.
I would charge in stages.
One for character artwork, once approved then background. A price for each characters and revisions, backgrounds and revisions (beware of those who are never happy and want major revisions done for free).
As you finish, you get paid. You should have a good idea on how much time it takes to do each character and background. Ruff sketches and written descriptions should give you a starting point.
Once all the assets are done, music, voice work, others artwork, titles or what ever. (Some clients have spent their whole budget and the project ends up dead at this stage.) Then you will be ready to animate. How is dependent on what the client wants. In depth rigging for 30 seconds is a wast of your time, point motion will be faster. 30 minutes, then the time spent rigging can pay off on repeated actions.
Have the client give you an out line in writing on exactly what they want, give a price for the artwork, background, and animation separately. Then a ball bark of the total cost. Don't cheat yourself and work for 2 dollars and hour, but don't over charge at 100 and hour.
Dale
One for character artwork, once approved then background. A price for each characters and revisions, backgrounds and revisions (beware of those who are never happy and want major revisions done for free).
As you finish, you get paid. You should have a good idea on how much time it takes to do each character and background. Ruff sketches and written descriptions should give you a starting point.
Once all the assets are done, music, voice work, others artwork, titles or what ever. (Some clients have spent their whole budget and the project ends up dead at this stage.) Then you will be ready to animate. How is dependent on what the client wants. In depth rigging for 30 seconds is a wast of your time, point motion will be faster. 30 minutes, then the time spent rigging can pay off on repeated actions.
Have the client give you an out line in writing on exactly what they want, give a price for the artwork, background, and animation separately. Then a ball bark of the total cost. Don't cheat yourself and work for 2 dollars and hour, but don't over charge at 100 and hour.
Dale
You should check your hourly price by starting with how much money you need. That's a simple calculation only done once (maybe once a year).
You need to know how much money you spend in one year for rent, food, taxes, software, hardware, insurance, and so on. This is one big number. Now divide this through the number of hours you'll be working on projects. Tip: this is not 365 * 10... it's more like about 200 * 8. You will spend a third of a year at getting new jobs, at least.
Now you have a good estimate of what you need to charge per hour. You have to judge yourself now: are you an experienced and fast worker? Or are you a beginner who still makes lots of mistakes?
You should know your work good enough to make a list on how long it takes you to perform a typical job: to rig a human character for walking, for talking, to create a background, to create 10 sec of animation, to design a character.
With this knowledge you can calculate how long a project will take you.
You need to know how much money you spend in one year for rent, food, taxes, software, hardware, insurance, and so on. This is one big number. Now divide this through the number of hours you'll be working on projects. Tip: this is not 365 * 10... it's more like about 200 * 8. You will spend a third of a year at getting new jobs, at least.
Now you have a good estimate of what you need to charge per hour. You have to judge yourself now: are you an experienced and fast worker? Or are you a beginner who still makes lots of mistakes?
You should know your work good enough to make a list on how long it takes you to perform a typical job: to rig a human character for walking, for talking, to create a background, to create 10 sec of animation, to design a character.
With this knowledge you can calculate how long a project will take you.
What's their projected budget? I always ask that first. Ad agencies generally have a pretty good idea of what things will cost, or what they're willing to spend. Then you can say "I can give you this for that price."
How long do you think it will take you do the animation? Triple that, and charge for that number of hours. You have to figure out what that time is worth. How do they want it delivered? That can impact your costs too. A quicktime is a lot less than turning a quicktime into a color correct D5 with leader and all the other junk.
And, really, it depends on the job, doesn't it? How much does a car cost? Big variety there, right?
And, no one seems to want to talk about actual costs here. It's loaded. The last commercial I did had 23 sec of animation, some light compositing-not terribly complicated. abut $18,000 delivered on HD CAM SR. And I would say that was fair for the job, a little low perhaps.
I don't charge for time. I charge for the job. There are approval milestones in my contracts. I get a deposit, and a final payment. If it's a big job, there's a deposit, production payment, and final payment. Final comes after the job's done, the other two before and during. Final seems to take about 60-120 days, depending on the agency, and how much I have to harass them. Keep that stuff in mind too.
How long do you think it will take you do the animation? Triple that, and charge for that number of hours. You have to figure out what that time is worth. How do they want it delivered? That can impact your costs too. A quicktime is a lot less than turning a quicktime into a color correct D5 with leader and all the other junk.
And, really, it depends on the job, doesn't it? How much does a car cost? Big variety there, right?
And, no one seems to want to talk about actual costs here. It's loaded. The last commercial I did had 23 sec of animation, some light compositing-not terribly complicated. abut $18,000 delivered on HD CAM SR. And I would say that was fair for the job, a little low perhaps.
I don't charge for time. I charge for the job. There are approval milestones in my contracts. I get a deposit, and a final payment. If it's a big job, there's a deposit, production payment, and final payment. Final comes after the job's done, the other two before and during. Final seems to take about 60-120 days, depending on the agency, and how much I have to harass them. Keep that stuff in mind too.