How does one go about starting an indie animation studio?
Like, starting from the very bottom
How does one go about starting an indie animation studio?
Try doing stuff you like about art and git gud
You got to start creating stuff! Start by yourself and work from there. Create something, it doesn't even have to be good, just get a portfolio made. That portfolio's important because you need it to convince people you can finish projects.
Once they're convinced you can hire people, recruit people, crowd fund, and more. But it all starts with making SOMETHING.
Unironically, one of the best things to do is to start making animations on some social media site, Newgrounds, YouTube, Instagram, etc. It can help you make connections with other people in the business and you basically get somewhat free advertising for what you can do. A ton of big indie cartoons, companies, and games nowadays started on Newgrounds or YouTube and just naturally grew in popularity.
Rich parents.
This is the one thing 100% of indie studios have in common.
I think anon is also looking for possible business advice such as securing funding, how to get the connections and start-up loans as well as the differences between starting an indie company with virtual employees (Studio Yotta) vs. a physical location (Does Glitch function this way?).
What would be your role, artist or business? What’s your ultimate ambition for the studio? Making series? Doing business with Hollywood?
Artist
I want to produce cartoon shows like Glitch
Has anyone told you that your art looks really good, in a tone of voice where you're absolutely sure they're not just saying that to be nice? If that hasn't happened, get there first.
Like I said, you’re probably going to have to start by making your own cartoon first. Do you have any animation experience or any software you prefer? If not, I recommend SFM to start since it’s somewhat easy to understand and it has a ton of support for third party content.
What makes something a "studio"? Could I declare myself a studio if I make independent cartoons?
I mean, yeah, that’s what most independent artists do. Heck that’s what people like Walt Disney and Eastman and Laird did when they started.
Go back in time to 2010 and make one gmod shitpost video a week every week for 10 years. Eventually you get good enough to make something other than shitposts, but it's still going to suck, but that's OK because sucking at something is the first step to starting to get kind of good at something. By sucking very hard and long you'll eventually end up in the company of like-minded creative types who are willing to sustain themself off of potato peelings and foraged insects. One of these people will have an idea that can pass for original or close enough to original to not be call an outright knockoff of something else. Build that idea into your shitposts while riding the waves of memes to keep your content relevant to search engine algorithms.
Next make sure you live in Australia or someplace that gives grants to animation studios. Take the money and hire a bunch of interns for more original production, but don't outsource your shitposting, you have to bear that burden, call it your "art" because the media will eat that like half-starved teen mom working in a burger joint who thinks the cameras are off.
Start with a pilot short or even a sizzle reel, things that are doable as an individual. Pick up a book on producing animation and look at the schedule/pipeline planning models and negotiation advice and strategy. You need something for audiences, then you need talent and funding, then you need to make it, then get it in front of people. You can attack any of those in the way that gets the job done.
Distribution, publicity and funding is easy to do but harder to control online, and easier to control but harder to do offline. Think outside the box regarding the business model, you might find you qualify for a grant if your cartoon has a cultural contribution, you might be able to make a deal to distribute with local channels, screens, or comic shops to get off the ground.
You will probably want to (eventually, as you grow from just you to a small team to a large one) consult someone with lots of animation production experience who can improve your plan and schedule, as well as someone with business experience who can optimize your strategy.
Hand draw a feature length film with Disney quality animation by yourself
Learn to like kosher dick.
Kek
How do you actually hire autistic people to work for you? I'll soon be an engineer at an oilrig plant, siphoning off a lot of money to create my stupid show with my own stupid fetishes. And far from this fat fucking clowngirl
My Dad is rich but doesn't want to give me or my siblings anything until inheritance is a thing.
God I wish I started earlier, didn't start posting shit until 2020. Currently 30 now with not much success and am completely ashamed of my animation work.
Made a "pilot" last year and while the view count is good for my channel, the quality is so crappy that I'd rather not have made it. Haven't animated since I posted it.
Too poor to hire animators .
Just snoop out people whose art and writing you like and commission them.
That kind of sucks, but I can see where’s he’s coming from. He could be even worse and refuse inheritance as well.
Unironically wait for AI to get better
Don’t do that because you’ll never improve if you rely on AI to fix everything for you. It’s why we’re currently in an age of anti-intellectualism, nobody wants to put forth the effort with AI around.
Pilot
First mistake
If you're a /beg/, never make anything longer than 4 minutes
usually its enough to just go "I have money" to artists on fiverr and whatnot. And just like that, you have artists for a cartoon.
The problem arises if and when that artist has other projects, but I assume you could just negotiate a contract and say "I'll pay you enough so that you don't have to work with the other guys".
practice
start creating stuff, the most important thing to being a successful artist is consistency, natural talent doesn’t matter
develop your skill
develop your audience
build connections with other artists and people in industry
build your financial capital
all of this is achieved through consistently putting stuff out there
Don't forget the most important part: creating nothing is worse than creaitng something bad. The creator of High Guardian Spice has a certain level of leverage on the animation industry, even if its just "I made high guardian spice, so let me be a runt animator on this bs project" That's still money in the bank and most stuff to put in a resume/portfolio.
learn ai
Learning AI is going to get you nowhere in the indie scene because most indie companies don’t like it.
Or government subsidies. So if you're Australian (Glitch Studios) or Canadian and you make your stuff within the country, you've got a chance.
saaaaaaar
It'll be dogshit. I want to make GOOD cartoons!
His reasoning is he didn't ask for handouts and earned his fortune, which is understandable. Maybe I'll start a small studio after he passes, but who knows what the state of everything will be by then.
No one starts by making anything good.
You have to build a mountain of shit to climb your way up to the level of good.
No anon, you have to climb a mountain of shit to FIND anything good in 2025.
Whatever you do, don't start out by making animated parodies, that ship sailed and is a complete waste of time, and odds are, your audience won't like your original stuff
Step 1: need well-off family to put you through school of visual arts.
Step 2: have some amount of charisma to hob nob with other artsy liberal types in Cali and get invited to things.
Step 3: start cultivating internet fanbase, train them to shout down any criticism or negative takes on your shit
first you need rich parents
If you don't have that then win the lottery
You start by stealing character designs and ideas that you like, then tweak/edit them to your preferences. Then you draw them over and over again to create a portfolio. Then, you create some animations on newgrounds/youtube/twitter to gain traction.
Money. If you dont have it then go make some shit and make money and at the same time build up an audience. If you do have money then hire animators and manage them.