How Much To Charge For Animated Gif

A guide to animation rates, with tips and advice from an experienced professional person in the industry

Animators are extremely fascinating professionals, oftentimes with a broad skillset and a full range of incredible ideas. They work with static images to produce the beautiful, coloured and smooth works we see animated on social media and ads every single solar day.

Though a adept number of animators works in studio,some choose the freelance life to ameliorate manage their workload and have more than control over their own professional life. Like all freelance occupations,beingness a freelance animator comes with its own set of challenges. Oftentimes, how much to charge for your projects and services is one of them.

Not being an animator myself, I have reached out tofreelance Animator William Davies to better understandhow much to charge every bit a freelance animator. Near of the amazing images on this piece are from the homo himself! Merely hugekudos to Chloe Chamberlain for the hitting header image you see above.

How much to accuse for an blitheness project?

As with many other freelance occupations,at that place are several ways to charge for a freelance animation project. William prefers to chargeper project, pregnant he would usually accomplish out to clients looking for an animator with a fixed budget and take on the job from there.

Withal, it is important to understandif you tin can larn a living wage from that project, especially if it ranges across multiple months. "Sometimes a job has been advertised with an unrealistic fee, in which case I would non consider submitting an application," Will explains.

Yet, animators tin can charge in a number of different ways.Some prefer charging per mean solar day, which can exist relatively easy to do if an animator has worked in a studio earlier. Some freelancers recommenddoubling your day rate from studio piece of work, and so multiplying that by viii working hours, which should give you your twenty-four hours rate. If y'all earned £12.fifty/60 minutes working in a studio, you lot solar day charge per unit should exist effectually £400.

At the same fourth dimension,there are animators which work with a lot of different small projects. With the ascension of Twitch and YouTube, for example, it isn't uncommon for animators to piece of work on Twitch emotes or motion graphics for YouTube, leading to a number of small projects here and there to account for.

While some animators would charge per project in this case (thus leading to some cases of overcharging),a great approach would be to use a fee per second for smaller animations and GIFs. This ensures that your rates will be consistent throughout, and y'all will be able to charge somewhat fairly depending on the length and complexity of your blitheness.

So in a nutshell:

Animators can charge:
- Per project
- Per day
- Per 2d
Animators sometimes work with clients on fixed budgets
If you worked in a studio, you can double your hourly rate and multiply it past eight to obtain your ideal day rate
Smaller projects and GIFs (for example for Twitch and YouTube) can exist charged a per-2d fee
You should e'er make sure that you can earn a living wage from any project that you lot undertake

How do I calculate the costs of an animation project?

Even if you had a rough thought of the project/twenty-four hour period rate that you desire to charge,it can still be dangerous not to take all the derived costs into account. Simply similar photography, animation can really get out of mitt fast. This is particularly true if y'all are a finish-move animator, merely other animators tin sometimes have overheads as well.

For this reason,Will recommends to create a production schedule in advance. This volition help you take all the necessary costs into business relationship, dividing them by product stages, to include materials, hours of work, complication of animation and potentially the deadline as well.

If you are a stop-motility animator, the cost of materials can pile up pretty fast. At the same time,the complexity of work tin can require longer hours, and hence lead to additional costs for your project. It is useful to plan at least a rough outline of hours of work per each stage of production. And if the production fourth dimension is longer or the deadline is tighter,don't exist afraid to accuse a bit more than.

Volition adds: "Plan a product schedule to make up one's mind how many days you lot need to create the film, including post production. Effort not to underestimate the corporeality of time information technology will take to make the picture (it is a good thought to keep a written tape of how long previous projects have taken for hereafter record). Also, consider the cost of materials (for stop motion), equipment (including lighting, cameras, graphics tablet for 2D animation) and software subscriptions."

You can besides have the advice of other freelancers in this series of guides andconsider the usage of the piece of work. If the piece of work is to be used internationally, your rates may exist higher compared to a local project. More value for the customer equals to more than value for you.

So in a nutshell:

Create a production schedule to help y'all outline the project
Include overhead costs such as materials, equipment, software etc.
Calculate the hours of work that you think would exist required to complete the project
Accept into the account the complication of the animations
Don't be afraid to charge more for a tighter borderline or longer production times
More value for the client equals to more value for you lot!

Common mistakes when pricing blitheness work

Equally with many other freelance roles,starting animators can feel the temptation to undercharge just to make sure to land a job. You lot should never, in any case, underestimate your piece of work or somehow convey that your services do not have the value they deserve.

This does not but hurt yourself every bit a freelance professional, but the manufacture every bit a whole. In the long run, information technology will set lower standards for prospective clients,who will believe that animators are non worth their money. There is already a misconception in the manufacture as to how much the work of a creative is worth – please do not contribute to that.

On the issue of undercharging, this is what William said: "It is hard for an animator who is merely starting out to make a name for themselves, and they may have to expect to do some unpaid/runner work experience to begin with. But with a portfolio, they should look to receive a off-white and realistic bacon." As soon equally you take some feel under your belt and you lot feel confident nigh your skills,you should always charge your clients for what you experience is your true worth, and ultimately to ensure you can brand a decent living out of your profession.

It is also quite easy, specially when starting out,to underestimate the corporeality of time needed to complete a project. That is why a production schedule or plan can be useful; information technology will enable you to put things into perspective, come up with a scheme or overall plan that you can follow, and give you lot some construction when approaching the project.

As mentioned,you should also always try to consider all the costs in advance, to avoid having to adjust the fees on the fly. The production programme tin help with that too.

Being a freelance animator can exist quite challenging,but also extremely rewarding and fun when washed correct. Follow the in a higher place tips and you'll definitely be off to a adept start!

Examples of illustration prices

To help you gain some perspective, here are some handy examples of analogy prices that you tin refer to when coming upward with your own rates. Some of these come from an amazing thread on the r/freelance subreddit, in which Alpha17x talked about their own experience with animation rates.

$500/twenty-four hour period can exist a quite decent day rate to aim for, but it is also quite low when compared to other professionals in the industry.
Some skilled and experienced animators can accuse upwardly to $1,000/day, and piece of work just effectually half-dozen hours a day.
Larger projects may keep you decorated for longer. Y'all can consider offering a discount for work that lasts more than than i calendar month.
For reference, an employed animator can look to earn aminimum of $ii,000/calendar week and around $50/hour, according to the Animation Gild.
Animators in the UK can realistically convert these rates to our local currency, and adjust them accordingly if needed.

Useful Resources

There are several resource out in that location available for animators, and numerous will come from the most established guilds and unions in the world.

If you are in the US, the Blitheness Guild is the mode to go for annihilation animation-related. The Gild'south website offers back up and guidance to all the animators in the United States, including a handyminimum living wage guide to ensure yous are paid adequately.

Britain animators didn't have a real blitheness-focused marriage until last year. They can count on theBECTU to have some representation as creative professionals and freelancers, but the BECTU itself has just recently expanded one of its branches into theAVU, theAnimation and Visual Effects Matrimony. Both of these offering guidance, support and help to any freelancer in the United kingdom.

Additionally, Animation UK is an excellent site for animation resources. Make sure to bank check it out if you are a United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland professional!

I hope this guide was useful and will get you on the right track to start charging for your projects straight abroad. Feel free to share your own experience with animation rates in the comments section and permit us know if in that location's anything we missed!