Jan 17, 2024

Discussion Top Youtube Animation Creator Gets Real About Life as an Indie Animator

New episodes of the Youtube series Assumptions were uploaded this week. In this series, popular independent artists James Rallison (TheOdd1sOut), Rebecca Parham (Let Me Explain Studios), and Adam Ortiz Jr. (SomeThingElseYT) from Youtube They answer questions about the life and work of an animator.

The premise of the show is that the guests address the assumptions of the audience. Therefore, in this episode, questions and statements about the finances, motivations, and fan base of Youtube animators were posed to a panel of experts.

One of the first assumptions thrown at Parham, Larison, and Ortiz was that "Youtube animators are insanely rich."

Naturally, personal finances were not discussed, but Larison spoke generally about how costly it is to create animated videos for Youtube, especially when working with a team of artists:

I want them to be I want them to get paid. After all, videos have big budgets. I don't want to give you a number, but every time I make a video it's like buying a new car.

Parham said that financial stability can only be assessed on a creator-by-creator basis, but "I think most people are doing okay."

Several assumptions and questions addressed creators' workloads and how they manage them. When asked if he ever feels burnout, Larrison responded:

Being his own boss, he sets his own schedule. So no matter what I do, even if I'm playing with friends, for example, in the back of my mind I always hear a voice that says, "You're supposed to be working."

Parham agrees, adding that creators who work in teams have an increased sense of responsibility:

Many people's salaries depend on you finishing your scripts. And it is absolutely true that "it's always in the back of your mind."

Ortiz admitted that he has felt burned out in the past, but that one of the privileges of being an independent creator is that you can choose how you deal with that feeling:

When you're burned out, you feel like you're going to sleep today. I think burnout happens in any field, and as a Youtuber you just have to find a balance and take a break.

When asked how much of the drawing, coloring, and animation in their videos is outsourced, Parham said it all depends on the budget available, as her top priority is to make sure her artists get paid fairly for their work Answered:

Before Youtube started, I spent three years freelancing. Ninety percent of the potential clients who emailed or called me demanded free work or a substantial reduction, and I had to say no to all of them. So I made a promise that if I were ever in a position to pay an artist, I would never go below what they were worth. That was a big part of what allowed me to afford to hire the team. If I wanted to pay them their fair share, I had to have the funds in the first place.

Near the end of the episode, Larison was asked to talk about the difference between creating independent videos for Youtube and working for a big studio like Netflix, where his show "Oddballs" was produced. Larison replied:

It's interesting how much is different and how much is the same... [TheOdd1sOut has] a pipeline for production, making videos, etc... When I did production for Netflix, I saw the exact same pipeline and I said, "Oh, you're doing exactly the same thing I do. You're doing the exact same thing I'm doing, just on a much larger scale." Then there are things you have to work with the executive on. You're trying to create your own program, your own vision, and then other people are like, "This isn't interesting, it's not interesting, it's not interesting.

After praising the freedom that working at Youtube offers, Larrison found the studio experience enjoyable and said, "Given the opportunity, I'm still doing industry stuff."