Hcameraon90, I'm just getting back into it after a long hiatus due to a loved one's serious health issues.

Mark, thank you. I don't want to compete with the big boys either.

Thank you everyone for your input!

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"I am not a senior anything."

How to charge for your animation / Creative work :


There are different ways to do it. If you are an Indie -

1) If the client has a budget, it's easy. Both of you agree or disagree and then adjust.
2) Else....

a) Do your work estimate. Calculate the the Man-hours needed.
b) Charge $12-50 per hour depending on your Comfort Level.


If you have a team :

a) Do your work estimate
b) Check out the talent involved and their respective man-hours.
c) Calculate the total Salary Component for those man-hours.
d) Charge "2X" of the salary component.

Note : Big guys / Consultants charge 3X of the salary component.


Hope it helps. This is what usually I follow as an Entrepreneur and my office offered the costing to the clients based on these principles without referring to me every time when there was a need to quote.

But as a creative artist, I am very arbitrary. I mostly followed the rules of an Advertising Agency ( I owned one) - "Opportunity Cost". I followed this principle even for my software projects. And my Strategic Guiding principle : 1/10th Cost...3X Price with 4X extra features (planned by the client ) offered on the very 1st meeting. That means the Price remains close the Top Quote and a good Production Process keeps the cost low, thus ensuring even a better margin and very little cash outflow.

I tried to compete with bigger guys so that I could get a better Price and Margin.

In my younger days, this has helped me take business away from Lotus Notes, Microsoft Consulting, CMC and many big guys.

Before you start ridiculing, let me share my guiding principles : "A company is as good as the Man it is being represented by". So I map the thinking ability of the Executive of the Competing company who makes the presentation to my client, not the Company per se. So Lotus Notes or Microsoft never bothered me as competitors. Rather they offered me an opportunity to get better profit. I could always unsettle their plan offer with a few strategic questions posed to the client.

But young executives don't understand these simple game plans. MBA's and the board members have their own way of thinking and sometimes you have to let the control go, if you want to scale up the business.

one thing I've been asked on several times has been the price for a music video, i often don't know how to respond because it really depends on what the person asking expects....
so it could either be a simple thing that requires a few hours .....or some massive all out production because the guy want's steven spielbergs attention and has no clue how much work goes into the animation process....lol

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"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

@Planet

The best way is to go with an open mind.

The client is usually tentative and scared of being taken for a ride. So encourage him to express what he wants. Show him the possibilities and give him the confidence that you can execute. Show him a small sample if needed. Make him feel that this is a "collaborative venture".

It could be easy. The cost will flow through the joint planning.

Once you produce a few music videos, you will know the costing that you can quote upfront and you would have few creative samples as your credential.

That's a great point prabhatM, and in my case it's me being concerned about being taken for that proverbial ride also - like that guy on craigslist looking for an intern to make lord of the rings 4, no pay but would look great on my resume

discretion is needed because not everyone is like that....

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• My NFT    My Marketplace My Blog
  
• Music Sync Licensing

☯🐉

"To define Tao is to defile it" - Lao Tzu

I think anyone who does creative work is in a difficult position, because people can't really relate to the amount of work that goes into a production.

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I currently charge £35 per hour for graphic design, illustration, web design, 3D modelling, animation and applications. I do sometimes bend a little when working with charities or small businesses but never too much.

People will always try to push your rates down. Don't let them! Your work will suffer for it.

When ever I have found myself working on a project lower than my standard rate (I did it quite a lot when I first started by quoting on fixed price jobs through peopleperhour and guru) I have always felt cheated and unmotivated.

You produce your best work when you feel passionate about a project and know you are getting properly compensated for your time.


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Designer, Illustrator, Artist, Developer, Modeller - Augmented Reality : Instagram and Facebook Camera Effects
www.realityaugmented.co.uk

I have a related question from the other side. I might be soon looking for a person to do some iClone work. Not as an end-to-end project but as a prep-chef building blocks that I do not have 3D skills to do myself to then fit into a bigger system. But I also know that I need specific skills (e.g. a couple animation, holding hands, moving together, precise footwork, etc)

But I can't find a forum where such a person could be found. And I might be looking for examples of skills general video do not show case.

I tried eLance as an example, but it only has one result when searching for iClone.

The original poster said: "Are there customers". I say "maybe, but how could they find you"?

Every once in a while we get posts saying, "Need iClone help."

Someone claims to want to make a movie (or a video, at least) and needs some iClone talent.

Usually there are a couple of responses, people ask questions, request more information, and then it dies.  Sometimes there isn't even a second post by the originator.

I think people stop in, assuming an iCloner can make a movie for them in an afternoon or two.  As soon as they start to realize it's actually a lot of work, they go away.

Not many people are willing to pay $20/hr or more for several hundred hours of work.

I've seen similar conversations on making custom props.

The success stories seem few and far between, but I would love to hear about more of them if anyone has some to share.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
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Sounds like an ill-defined market then. Which is interesting. Because it's obvious that finding an artist in Big Boy league (Maya, etc) is complicated as there are so many variables and skills required.

On the other hand, iClone is a pro-sumer, so the list of features/skills is smaller but still large enough to need specialists.

So, there is an opportunity for people to show case their skills on common themes. Which they do already for the specific items (in the marketplace). But not - it seems - for skills/contracting. Well, there is some sort of Profile associated with items being sold, but it does not seem to be searchable in a way to let people make money directly.

Which is a pity.