Is indie animation practical? Will it become a viable competitor?

[ThePharaohZ]

It's no secret that studios have treated animation as lesser value and risky investments. Even streaming services are cutting projects whether they are completed or not, cancelling shows after one season, and rushing endings just like network cable television did. It has become so disheartening, but there may be a glimmer of hope in indie animation. Series like Hazbin Hotel (before Amazon), Digital Circus, etc. have shown that independent creators can create content on par with or even better than major studios. But there are quite a few issues. Indie animation is funded through crowdfunding. Not to mention it takes longer as the creative team is smaller and more limited. But indie creators have shown that when love and passion is poured into something, it turns out great. Indie creators have creative freedom that otherwise be restricted by studios. It looks like more attention is being drawn to indie animation and it may become a viable competitor. Maybe major studios will get their act together then (Doubtful. They'll sooner try to buy out the series and end up ruining it.).

 

[Leviathan]

Sooner or later, there's gonna have to be a serious conversation about how to monetize indie animation.

What's holding everything back is that there's not a Steam or Itchi.io equivalent for indie animation and everyone is at the mercy of crowdfunding and Youtube.

I'm hopeful the successes of Hazbin Hotel and The Amazing Digital Circus can help create more viability for indie animation.

 

[The Overlord]

Sooner or later, there's gonna have to be a serious conversation about how to monetize indie animation.

What's holding everything back is that there's not a Steam or Itchi.io equivalent for indie animation and everyone is at the mercy of crowdfunding and Youtube.

I'm hopeful the successes of Hazbin Hotel and The Amazing Digital Circus can help create more viability for indie animation.

I think they usually make money by selling merch.

Vivziepop mostly funded Helluva Boss through merch sales and has videos promoting her merch.

I have seen a lot of the Amazing Digital Circus merch too.

 

[ThePharaohZ]

I think they usually make money by selling merch.

Vivziepop mostly funded Helluva Boss through merch sales and has videos promoting her merch.

I have seen a lot of the Amazing Digital Circus merch too.

Which I assume she had to build a following first in order to do that, right?

 

[CookieS]

Which I assume she had to build a following first in order to do that, right?

Absolutely. This goes for almost any art these days. Musicians, authors, or any creative need to build an audience online. Most distributors/publishers expect artists to take the lead on marketing efforts while they push out the product. In most cases, remaining independent and producing less because of it creates better results.

 

[prpis]

The indie animation Angel Hare’s kickstarter was able to gain beyond their expectations at a whopping over 100k in earnings for their merchandise. I say that is more than success.

 

[The Overlord]

Which I assume she had to build a following first in order to do that, right?

Sure, but everyone has to start somewhere. YouTube does let a lot of people bypass the usual studio system, but that in itself does not guarantee success. For every Hazbin Hotel and Amazing Ditigial Circus, there will be a thousand YouTube animations that don't take off or are not very good.

 

[Ace]

YouTube right now is more or less a proving ground for which indie projects will take off and that's what I think is going to happen in the future.

but I think why people gravitate towards Hazbin and Digital Circus because there's effort put into the animation and the visuals. People will come if there's tons of visual quality put into it.

A lot of the stuff that doesn't make it (which includes both indie and mainstream stuff) comes off as generic on the visual/animation side. Either they're inefficient when it comes to the quality and marketing of their shows or they're just not willing to take risks on trying new things and giving a decent budget. The mainstream is just focusing cost cutting and not putting effort into animation and clueless executives who don't realize their ship is slowly sinking. The market is much different now.

What I expect to see is the industry do next is try to grab control of some indie studios and indie creators in the next few years because they want to take something that's been proven and shown to work and also relegate power to or contract smaller studios to do the work that they do inefficiently.

 

[DeanBurrito25]

What's holding everything back is that there's not a Steam or Itchi.io equivalent for indie animation and everyone is at the mercy of crowdfunding and Youtube.

I like this analogy in particular, specifically Steam since I use it frequently nowadays. A distribution platform like that where anyone with the skills can submit their stuff for the viewing public to engage with would be the best case scenario. For a while, it seems like we had this with both Frederator's "Channel Frederator" and "Cartoon Hangover", but you can only get so far with the resources of one studio.

It seems like the bigger indie darlings have benefitted from either a loyal backing cultivated over years or having an established foundation/parent company to begin with. I remember following Vivzie years ago in the days of deviantArt when she was developing her characters, and that was eleventy odd years ago. Only recently have we seen the YouTube pilot and later Prime series for Hazbin Hotel. Furthermore, Glitch has already built itself as a distributor for indie content, so of course The Amazing Digital Circus did gangbusters. (Having fun characters, quality animation and a compelling story were the cherries on top.)

A few ongoing indie series I follow such as Monkey Wrench and Ollie and Scoops just don't have as many resources as the aforementioned. How do we best support them aside from crowdfunding and the like? If YouTube gave as much support to methodically produced animated projects as they do Let's Plays and react videos, maybe this would all be a non-issue.

 

[Antiyonder]

Whether Indie or overlook stuff from the bigger companies, all I can say is take any opportunity you're given to support any show/movie in question. Binge and/or purchases physical releases if optional.

 

[The Overlord]

This video goes into how the Amazing Digital Circus makes its money and it's merch:

 

[CNNickFan]

Nope!

It's being held back by pretty much everything. Limitations are wild when you're not being backed by billion dollar corporations.