THE HOPEFUL FUTURE FOR INDIE ANIMATORS (plus a "Dr. Bees" update)

Image nabbed from @TheCartoonBase

September was an exciting month for indie animation.

Knights of Guinevere, Homestuck and Loki IRL all had debut episodes along with Space King, Monkey Wrench and Bridge Kids getting new installments (among others). Some scored views in the MILLIONS and their production values equal or surpass TV in most cases (sometimes on a fraction of the budget!!). Congrats to all!

One thing that DID NOT release in September is "DR. BEES FOREVER". I'll get to that sluggish bugaboo in a moment - but first...

I want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone thinking of creating their own independent animation, as there has never been a more HOPEFUL time to pursue it. It seems more viable than ever before as a pathway for artists.

While I won't paint the picture that TV-quality indie animation is practical, easy, or affordable, the barrier to entry that networks and commissioners once represented has been lowered, if not entirely smithereened by this point. Hits like The Amazing Digital Circus, Helluva/Hazbin and Smiling Friends prove, if anything, that now it is the industry that needs resourceful indie creators and not the other way around.

Simply put: YOU NO LONGER NEED PERMISSION TO MAKE AN ANIMATED SHOW.

(To be fair, it's been this way for about twenty years thanks to places like Newgrounds, but there are a lot more character plushies being sold nowadays and, I suspect, a lot more stability as a result)

What you still need, are TOOLS, TALENT and TIME ("TIME" being a classy euphemism for "MONEY"!!$$$)

TIME/MONEY is what the indies lack. You can either take a long TIME making something alone, or spend a lot of money on collaborators for THEIR TIME.

So, for the sake of all any budding indie animators who are broke (as in my case) AND don't want to let years pass between episodes (as also in my case) I can suggest...

...A FEW POSSIBLE WAYS AN INDIE ANIMATOR CAN SAVE TIME...

1. Forego healthy standards for sleep/social life/nutrition/hygiene (NOT recommended but sadly a common choice)

2. Embrace an economic style of limited animation and simplistic visuals (preferable for some, a hard sell for others)

3. Become a hyper-productive and stoic animating machine, capable of ignoring all distractions and dopamine diversions (very difficult but worth pursuing!)

4. Be genuinely inventive and curious about new or alternative methods for creating the same results in less time. (not always fruitful but can pay off hugely).

I'll give an example of tip 4...

I've just spent a miserable time drawing dozens of dry, semi-architectural backgrounds for Dr. Bees Forever. What I thought might take a day or two has taken TEN. I am now tooling with using 3D modelled environments in Blender with "toon shading" to create the same kind of visual in less time. (I'll let you know how that goes!).

My love for making animation...

...is matched only by my hatred for how long it takes.

Drawing every frame, colouring every background, laying in every sound effect, is not for wimps, and in fact making it EASIER is necessary to meet the demands of an audience.

Many struggling indies (myself included) must embrace something like the list of concessions I have outlined above and make compromises, if we are ever going to provide an audience with frequent work to enjoy. BUT THE TIME TO TRY IT IS NOW! This stuff IS doable and becoming more DOABLE and VIABLE every day!

I'm sorry Dr. Bees isn't out yet, I really thought it would be. I'm certainly not lacking inspiration. The hard-earned successes of others has been a great boost, and I will give it my all this month!

THANK YOU to those independent artists that raise the bar, thank you to my supporters for raising my spirits, and thank you to my landlord for NOT raising the rent (this year).

- Harry