[B]Hello all!
Anybody out there who has an idea of the starting salary of animators, modelers, storyboard artists or cg lighting artists etc-- in the top animation studios like Pixar, Dreamworks animation, Blue Sky or Sony Imageworks?
Salary is probably one of the most important consideration ( if not the most important ) most artist would pay attention to when accepting a job offer.
Thanks.
poomch3d
[/B]
Well, if you've gotten an offer, they'd tell you what your income will be.
Otherwise, whose business is it what one makes?
The rates are likely extremely variable, anywhere from a low in the $30Ks to highs over $150K ( or more)--you mentioned several studios and positions, the range in those is very broad.
$100K at Bluesky or Sony might be a good deal, because of their location, where as the same rate at Pixar might not be, because of cost-of living.
Don't forget that talent and experience and education figures into this.
Someone with 20 years experience can negotiate a better contract than someone with 2 years in the biz.
Starting salaries apply to someone just starting at that company, not necessarily starting in the industry.
Because studios can have pecking order, even a 20 year + vet like myself can be told I'd get $700 a week at one place ( because they've never worked with me before) and $2000 a week at another--just because they do things differently.
Wages in the animation biz are a bit like the carrot that lures the horse, its just a lure. I wouldn't really concern myself with such info until I was actually given the offer. Until then, its just another "carrot".
Also, don't forget that these salaries are ultimately meaningless.
Yea, meaningless because the positions they are paying for can be wiped out in the blink of an eye.
I've had friends and colleagues lured to big-paying jobs, moving to different countries and transplanting roots into what was believed to be long-term positions.
The jobs go kaput in a year. What good is that "income" when you've got a house you've just gotten a mortgage on and suddenly no job? You likely have to move to another gig, somewhere else, and proabaly eat the costs.
So much for the income.
Yes, that still happens in the animation biz, even at your aforementioned studios.
So making salary the most important consideration.............I dunno...........
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
Yah, to be honest I've never heard of someone saying "I want a job in art...for the money, that is"
It's simplistic, but have you tried a site like Salary.com?
I've heard it asked a lot.
I tell them art isn't for them if they want in for the money--try long-haul truck driving.
You can make twice as much.
Seriously.
"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)
If you go to the Animation Guild website: http://www.animationguild.org/
click "enter" and then select the "contract" link at the top, you can see a PDF of the 2006 Wage survey (per week) for California animators. To be fair, those salaries would not be the same everywhere, especially for non-union employees (one of the reasons, so I've been told, that DIC Entertainment was formed).
East/West coast salaries may be similar (comparing L.A./San Francisco cost of living to NYC), but in my experience with other employers in other industries, Central locations tend to cut annual salaries in half due to what employers in this area consider a much lower cost of living.
t
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. "
- Goethe
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I think I know, but I'm not telling. : )