Freelance animators...what's fair to charge?
Are any of you professional freelance animators?
I run a freelance business, most of which consists of character designs, illustration, and graphic design, but I occasionally get asked to do 2D animation since that's my major. I think I'm fairly decent (I was one of the semi-finalists in the Toon Boom contest), but the problem I'm having is figuring out what's fair to charge for that work.
I’ve Googled many times, gone to the Animation Guild’s wage report (which one should I be comparing myself to? I'm not a studio), and looked in AIGA’s pricing and ethical guidelines book, and still have no clue if my prices are in the right range. I keep seeing the answer of “figure out what you NEED or WANT to charge in order to function....” etc. but that doesn’t really help me. I WANT to make a lot, obviously. Who wouldn't? But you can’t always justify that to clients. It seems that no one’s willing to divulge their actual rates outside of studio work, which makes it hard for me to know if I’m way out of line with my prices. And it makes it hard to back them up when clients challenge them. Can anyone here give me some insight?
I’m pretty sure I’m charging very low and should be getting paid A LOT more for the time I spend on things. Right now I charge about $25 an hour for illustration and graphic design, and $30 an hour for animation, though I usually quote a flat fee based on how long I expect it to take. That’s low, right? Or is it too high? I’ve also tried quoting $50 per second of animation. But every time I send off an estimate, the client basically goes “whoa! That’s way too expensive! Sorry, we can’t afford you.” Am I quoting too high, or am I just getting the wrong clients? I know I can’t afford to compete with animators overseas, but I want to charge fairly to myself too.
What do you think a freelance animator should be quoting per second of animation, in Southern California? Anyone willing to share (please)? Even email me privately if you don’t wanna post it? Let’s say just simple animations of items for games, like a shovel digging a hole. And then what would you charge if it was a more complex animation with one or more characters?
Sigh, if only we could charge (and get) $1 million an hour! :D
Personally I love what I do SO much that I sometimes even feel bad asking people to pay me for it ..... lol.
There are so many factors to calculate. No 2 jobs are the same and if, like me, you do a little bit of everything (2D illustrating, 2D and 3D animating, 3D modelling, motion graphics) it just gets harder.
What has worked for me is breaking down a project into various steps and estimate the time it would take me to finish every step. Then timing EVERY step while I work on it using a stopwatch and keeping track of these times in a Exel sheet. This way I build a database with all my projects which I can use as a reference. Every new project I compare with my database to compare the type of project and level of difficulty to better estimate the time I'll need to finish it and the wage I have to ask.
It's also a nice way to see yourself evolve.You'll notice that you'll be doing similar projects in less time as your skills improve.
I think your hourly wages are fine. I usually try to get between 30 an 40 an hour myself, although I've only been in the business for a couple of years. But I also know guys who ask between 50 and 100 per hour.
It depends on the client to. Big businesses or government jobs get charged a little extra ;)
I think it's hard enough just to be a fair appraiser and evaluate something based on what you know of a market. When ya are actually an artist and want to appraise yourself then I believe it makes it harder. Add wanting to sell your services to that, with your own art that you trying to evaluate fairly..dealing with clients, keeping track of whats out there..even harder. I would think that if it's something truly your own and original then it would be better than having to pick up on a project where someone else left off or reproducing something commonly cranked out..
I have a saying for other contractors, "sometimes ya get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you", not sure where it came from but it stuck with me.
It's not that I want to be anything, anybody special or make a living as a freelance animator. Just have an interest in how it works and what's out there. If I ever decide that I want to do a animation series or maybe buy a slot on a network, then I'd like to have a good idea about how to keep it fun and running smooth, how to outsource when needed. Generally just be confident that any network contract or other goals are successful. With that in mind, I guess it kinda makes me look at it from different angles XD
I think it's interesting that there are some freelancers here on MOS but there never seems to be any freelance templates for anything.
Honestly, I don't make my money animating but I do own a decor biz and we primarily use contractors. The chick who bids doesn't do the work but she knows how to bid, what to look out for and does an excellent job of keeping track of things, communicating with the clients and other contractors, ensuring deadlines are met and making sure our contracts are successful.
If I bid on an animation project or anything, it's more likely because it looks like fun and I happen to have the time to meet the deadline but honestly I'd probrably make more doing my usual thing, hehe.