067: Make money with animated gifs w/ Annie Wong AKA Headexplodie
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Release Date: 05/26/2020
101: How to niche down as a motion designer w/ Giuseppe Forestieri
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Should you niche down as a designer? We’ve all heard this advice! So, does niching down help you to win more clients or empower you to be seen as an expert? In this podcast, Hayley speaks with one of our students, Giuseppe about how he niched down his animation studio to work on projects he loves. About Giuseppe Forestieri Giuseppe Forestieri is the Animation Director of his own studio, and has a background in visual communication, specialising in animation and Illustration. Motion Aptitude is the fusion of two of Giuseppe’s biggest passions in life: creativity, and the great outdoors....
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100: Lessons learnt from making 100 podcast episodes w/ Hayley Akins
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Hayley Akins is a motion designer, animator and the founder of Motion Hatch. Hayley launched this podcast in November 2017! In this episode, Hayley explains how and why she started this motion design podcast and what she’s learnt along the way. She hopes these
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99: How to create motion design side projects that complement your day job w/ Charli Marie
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
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98: How Giant Ant became a leading motion design studio w/ Jay Grandin
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Jay is Co-Founder of Giant Ant, an animation studio in Vancouver. As Creative Director, Jay oversees nearly every project in the studio—leading the concept development and script writing processes as well as being actively involved in design and animation. In this episode, Jay unpacks how Giant Ant became a leading motion design studio.
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097: How to make six figures as a motion designer w/ John Filipkowski
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
John Filipkowski is a freelance motion designer from Chicagoland, with over ten years of experience. He’s worked with some huge brands on projects such as Dr Strange and Ant Man! In this episode we discuss how to earn six figures as a motion designer, the importance of outreach and how to build trust with clients.
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096: How to scale your income through productized services w/ Brad Hussey
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Brad Hussey is a web designer, online educator and digital marketing consultant based out of Canada. Brad has taught more than 600,000 indie designers, developers and professionals how to get better at their craft and make a living doing work they love. In this episode we explore how you can use a productized service model to scale your motion design business.
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095: How to make passive income as a motion designer w/ Justin Archer
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Justin Archer is a freelance motion designer who also makes passive income selling templates for final cut pro editors. He has almost 22k sales from Envato alone! In this episode we explore how he started making money through After Effects templates and how you can still be successful even if a market is saturated.
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094: How to get signed by a motion graphic design agent w/ Drew Melton
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
For some people, the idea of having an agent seems like a dream come true. But how do you actually get signed by a motion graphic design agent? What are the benefits? And once you’ve been signed, how do you make sure you get the most out of the relationship? Find out in our latest episode!
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093: How to work effectively with difficult clients w/ Ryan Koral
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Ryan Koral has spent the past 13 years telling brand stories through video storytelling. In that time, he’s learned a thing or two about working with all different kinds of clients. Join us as he shares his top takeaways on how to build a great working relationship, no matter the brief or project.
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092: How to use brand strategy to grow your motion design business w/ Melinda Livsey
Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business
Melinda Livsey is a former graphic designer turned brand strategist. In this episode, she’ll teach you how you can use brand strategy to grow your motion design business and how to price your projects based on the value they’ll provide.
info_outlineCommercial work pays the bills. But as motion designers and creatives we have tons of our own ideas. Today’s guest has a huge portfolio of her own personal work and animated gifs. Not only is this a creative outlet for her, but it has also led to many great paying jobs.
Annie Wong, aka Headexplodie, is the creator of some really awesome work. She creates short-form videos, GIFs, stop motion, and other fun content for the digital world. Her creations have landed her work with some pretty big brands, such as Vans, Facebook, and the Washington Post. She even has over 2 billion views on Giphy. She tells us how making animated gifs has lead her to lots of opportunities and funny stories but has also helped her to get client work.
Make Money with Animated Gifs
Annie has mastered the process of letting her creations become her resume. With a platform like Giphy, Annie makes sure that she includes her contact information so potential clients can find her. By creating short little projects that are easy to share, you’re putting your talent further out in the world. For Annie, this is a fun and easy way to advertise her craft.
Self Care as a Freelance Motion Designer is Important
Creating the space you need for yourself and your personal work is a real challenge for freelancers. Annie knows the importance of setting this time aside for self-care. This isn’t always easy. Obviously, the more you work, the more you earn. But if you don’t take the time, you will pass up the opportunity to do what is actually truly important for yourself. In the end, self-care will allow you to create better work and serve yourself and your clients in a more present way.
In this episode
- Using platforms like Giphy to find client work.
- How sharing your personal work can help you get noticed all over the world.
- The kinds of projects that are both personal and easily shared.
- Blending your client’s vision with your own personal style to create something that satisfies you both.
- The difficulty of setting time aside to make your own creations.
- Creating opportunities for self-care in a busy schedule.
- Using Patreon to diversify your income and create a deeper connection with your supporters.
- How to make money with animated gifs.
Quotes
“If it’s an art form that you enjoy doing, just creating short loopable animations, it’s just a really convenient and easy way for people to find your work.” [3:31]
“It’s kind of a weird paradox to create something that is personal but shareable. I tend to lean towards emotions or experiences that I think just kind of relate to being human.” [8:42]
“I can’t necessarily satisfy my personal creativity through client work. A lot of times, they will blend because clients will come to me wanting my style.” [15:17]
“When you’re hustling for work, it’s easy to forget what value you bring to the world. People need artists. People need your fun and colorful and weird ideas.” [36:35]
Links
Follow Annie on Instagram | Linkedin | Vimeo | Twitter
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
Related Episodes
How to turn your Motion Design skills into smart income with YouTube with Premiere Gal
How to use social media to get more clients with Golden Wolf
How to use YouTube to grow your motion design business with Ben Marriott
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