Memory sketch without ref, looking like a fire-pixie.
Learning to not work for abusive burnout-schedules is part of the process onto being a
If you start up on a production and every artist (particularly board artists) not in leadership positions like directors and supervisors are under 30 that’s a HUUUUUGE Red Flag🔺🔺🔺
Basically it says a) they’re specifically targeting young, hungry people who are less likely to push back if they’re being asked to do unreasonable things because they’re insecure about their careers and b) no one with commitments like kids and mortgages trusts their schedule
(Note: Unreasonable schedules and work-loads)
“Board Driven” shows especially, as they exist with the current TAG contract, are the biggest con in Hollywood. Board artists are expected to to the ENTIRE job of a writer in addition to the entire job of a board artist with no extra time or compensation.
I say this as someone who LOVES to write; they bank on ambitious, hungry young people who want to prove they can do it all, willing to do at least two jobs (but also often the job of a designer to create all the characters and environments that will be needed)
Out of curiosity I looked up WGA minimums and found that if kid’s cartoons were covered by WGA and artists on Board Driven shows recognized as writers, they would have to pay me more to write an 11 minute episode script than TAG makes them pay me to write AND board it."
"The last time I worked on a board-driven show, the more artists bent to meet unreasonable demands, the more was demanded. I left burnt out, demoralized, and unsure of how I would ever work in animation again. I told my friends “I feel like cartoons don’t live in me anymore
The things expected of story artists, for no extra compensation, are atrocious. I keep seeing people even younger than me say things like “I’m 26, I can’t work fast enough to keep up with new kids these days”, any industry that makes people feel this is predatory, simple as that
It’s an industry taking advantage of being “a cool job” to bring in people full of enthusiasm and juice everything out of them with an industrial press, then throw the husks away. And the most marginalized groups will always be the ones with the most to lose in that system.
Anyway this is all to say please support #StoryCraftUnite and #NewDeal4Animation animation is producing the most-watched content on streaming services, we kept the wheels of the entertainment industry turning through the pandemic, our jobs shouldn’t run us like rented mules
ha
(response to the abuse practices of the spider-verse abuses)
"People in the comments are saying “well if treating a crew like this gets results this good, then we should celebrate it!” But I PROMISE you a crew is always going to give you the best version of what they’re capable of when they’re happy and feel like their work is being valued
Like however good something may have turned out despite the crew waiting for the eagle to come pick out their liver every day, it can be EVEN BETTER if your crew isn’t in constant anticipation that their sandcastle is about to be kicked over.
It’s not just crunch, there’s a great quote I heard once that was something like “people don’t burn out because of hard work, they burn out when they feel like their hard work doesn’t matter”. Endless reworks with no end in sight makes a job feel like a Sisyphean nightmare."
"I saw a similar discourse happen when I said Big Mouth treated me better than any other show I’d worked on and people were like “well if treating artists like people makes shows like Big Mouth we should abuse them more”, but I’ll tell you what actually happens-
If the cool, high art projects treat their artists like garbage, those artists burn out and go to the jobs that treat them well. You don’t get better art from abused artists, you get the best, most experienced artists avoiding those projects after they’ve been burned
Cool projects aren’t made better by bad conditions. They have bad conditions because they know that by virtue of being cool and desirable, they won’t have a hard time finding more bodies to throw into the pulp mill when if they grind up all the ones they already have."
"The last time I worked on a board-driven show, the more artists bent to meet unreasonable demands, the more was demanded. I left burnt out, demoralized, and unsure of how I would ever work in animation again. I told my friends “I feel like cartoons don’t live in me anymore
The things expected of story artists, for no extra compensation, are atrocious. I keep seeing people even younger than me say things like “I’m 26, I can’t work fast enough to keep up with new kids these days”, any industry that makes people feel this is predatory, simple as that
It’s an industry taking advantage of being “a cool job” to bring in people full of enthusiasm and juice everything out of them with an industrial press, then throw the husks away. And the most marginalized groups will always be the ones with the most to lose in that system.
Anyway this is all to say please support #StoryCraftUnite and #NewDeal4Animation animation is producing the most-watched content on streaming services, we kept the wheels of the entertainment industry turning through the pandemic, our jobs shouldn’t run us like rented mules
ha
(response to the abuse practices of the spider-verse abuses)
"People in the comments are saying “well if treating a crew like this gets results this good, then we should celebrate it!” But I PROMISE you a crew is always going to give you the best version of what they’re capable of when they’re happy and feel like their work is being valued
Like however good something may have turned out despite the crew waiting for the eagle to come pick out their liver every day, it can be EVEN BETTER if your crew isn’t in constant anticipation that their sandcastle is about to be kicked over.
It’s not just crunch, there’s a great quote I heard once that was something like “people don’t burn out because of hard work, they burn out when they feel like their hard work doesn’t matter”. Endless reworks with no end in sight makes a job feel like a Sisyphean nightmare."
If the cool, high art projects treat their artists like garbage, those artists burn out and go to the jobs that treat them well. You don’t get better art from abused artists, you get the best, most experienced artists avoiding those projects after they’ve been burned
Cool projects aren’t made better by bad conditions. They have bad conditions because they know that by virtue of being cool and desirable, they won’t have a hard time finding more bodies to throw into the pulp mill when if they grind up all the ones they already have."
