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Looking for an animator to help

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Looking for an animator to help

Hi Everyone

So I have this great idea for an anime series, I have been developing the story for a long time and I believe it is a very good concept and if we would get it off the ground I think it would be received really well. I would like to start with a few episodes that will be most likely 15-25 long per episodes. I have absolutely no artistic talent what so ever so i really need some help. I was originally gonna do a comic or manga but like i said i can't draw to save my life so i thought why not enlist some help and i figure we can just skip the whole comic manga part and jump straight in to producing a few episodes and see how it comes out. I am willing to pay per episode that is completed, but as long as it is a reasonable price.

Thanks

This is similar to a forum post I made about 10 years ago on Newgrounds when I was inspired by anime stories. It is near impossible, and for a good reasons.

The next step you could take at the moment before asking that question is to create a storyboard or animatic, present that to some animators that have interest, and see how it goes from there. Your don't need much artistic talent for that.

You'll probably have to be established as a writer or in a similar field if you want to attract attention, a lot of animators have so many ideas they wish to take on that others become less important, that is unless you are offering a substantial amount of money.

What do you need assistance with specifically? Character design? Backgrounds? Animation Software?

I suspect you'll not get many serious replies offering help, and I'll explain why.

Are you aware of how much work, time and effort " a few episodes at 15-20 minutes each will entail? Now, you wrote a very key word in your post: you seek "completed" episodes, albeit at a reasonable price.

Are you aware that a "reasonable" cost for an anime-style animated series is about $250,000 USD, PER episode, if not more.
You can cut a lot of corners, cheapen a lot of thing and stiff some talent and get the cost down to about 1/2 of that......but you WILL compromise what the thing looks like.
I'll bet you are not expecting a number like that.

Now, you are probably sitting there thinking that I have just shot your idea into the ground, but hold on for a minute before the anger wells up inside.

You WILL need several animators to make the stuff, and make it in a timely enough manner. The time line from script to post will likely be somewhere in the area of 6 - 8 months for something done REALLY fast. If you insist up a specific anime look, or a level of quality, bump that up to a year for a small crew.
For one episode.

Now, you'll need to find people that are multi-faceted: those that can storyboard, sheet-time, layout, animate, do backgrounds, design props, characters, colour models......and who are willing to stick with the thing through until the end of what you want done.
Because if you are looking for a "reasonable price", I'm making a safe guess that you don't have a couple million bucks laying around..........right?

Let's be honest here, people are not going to be willing to do that for just good graces alone. I know you said you are offering payment, but understand that the talent you are calling for does command more than small wages.
$50K a year, per artist would probably sway most, but once you hire 5 artists.......there's that $250K budget hit. And you'll have another couple hundred thousand in expenses to come after that.

Yes, even if you do this with FLASH/HARMONY, do it for internet broadcast, do it as 5 minute shorts..........you are STILL looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get it done.
Look, a 5 minute storyboard, that is USABLE for you and your crew will cost over $2000 to be done right.

Even if you are going to do a 1 minute promo........paying talent to do it for you.......you could be looking at minimum $10K for that one minute.

Yes, you CAN do something for dirt cheap. Lots of really half-assed, shitty looking cartoons get made for next to nothing, and if you want that.........godspeed.
If you want something nicer, you'll need people more skilled than you......and I'm not talking students. I'm talking pros with the good judgement and experience to avoid mistakes that can cost you the whole thing. Talent that can make your idea look good....and help the thing end up so it can do good by you.

Now, I implore you to think hard about what you want to do, research some more ( a LOT more) so you have a better idea what to expect and how the whole process works. It'll give you a better idea if your project is tenable at all, and what you'd have to invest into it to realize it.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)