TOP PAYING ART / ANIMATION CAREERS

so welcome back to my channel my name is Michelle otherwise known as Mew tripled and on this channel I pretty much share my experience as a full-time artist living in Los Angeles primarily in the animation industry as a story artist and I also am in the midst of releasing my first published graphic novel ever Niche the bad demon so in today's video I wanted to talk about the best paying jobs in animation because I'm pretty sure a lot of you who watch my channel are very interested in pursuing some sort of art career in the future so for those of you who are unaware there's a spreadsheet out there called The Salty animator spreadsheet which is from an Instagram page called salty animators which basically shares the responses that people have chosen to give anonymously about their pay rate with whatever else information they're willing to provide and I feel like this is a little bit more reliable than stuff that you would get from glassdork so I'm going to choose some of the most notable ones just because I want our artists to aim high and just know that you know this is a potential future for you out there and if you aren't sure about what some of these job positions are I actually made a video before called 35 animation jobs where I kind of talk about more about what are the responsibilities of these certain careers but before I start running down through the jobs I just first wanted to say that did you know that only 38 of you are subscribed to this Channel and 61 of you who watch my videos aren't so if you aren't already I would truly appreciate it if you subscribe to my channel especially if you are looking to get more information about how to pursue an art career and just generally how to live a healthy balanced financially stable life as an artist so the way I'm going to structure this video is by saying the position the potential Studio whether if it's unionized or not and I will be giving the rates in the form of weekly rates and what that would convert to as a yearly salary so if you're confused as to why artists get paid on a weekly rate it's just because we're in a project driven industry which means that you're not always guaranteed a year of work although I will say most projects that I've worked on have been at least a year or two years and then you're kind of left on your own to find your next gig so the yearly salary is more so there to just be like well if you worked a full year in this job this is how much you would make in a year so first we're going to start off in story so a storyboard revisionist with one year of experience at Warner Brothers animation and Walt Disney Animation Studios which are both unionized was paid 1923 dollars and eight cents per week which is about a hundred thousand dollars per year a storyboard artist with six years of experience at Nickelodeon which is also a unionized studio was paid two thousand seven hundred dollars per week which is about a hundred and forty thousand four hundred dollars per year and a story artist with 17 years of experience at Walt Disney Animation Studios which is also Union is paid three thousand two hundred dollars per week which is about a hundred and sixty six thousand four hundred dollars per year so then next we're entering the world of visual development and art so a visual development artist with less than one year of experience at Paramount animation which is unionized was paid 2475 dollars per week which is around a hundred and twenty eight thousand seven hundred dollars per year and a visual development artist with seven years of experience at an unknown Union eye Studio was paid three thousand two hundred and ten dollars per week which is around 166 thousand nine hundred and twenty dollars per year and then there's a visdev artist with around 15 years of experience at cuckoo Studios which was paid 2 84. 62 cents per week which is around a hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year so this person has more experience than the previous person but it's making around 16k less per year so this person is also at cuckoo Studios which is non-unionized so that could be a potential reason why they're not getting paid as much as the previous person in the union Studio but that's just my guess so then next we're gonna enter the character slash prop design world and a prop and character designer with 0.5 years of experience at an unknown studio and I'm not sure if they're unionized was paid 1946 dollars per week which is around 101 192 dollars per year so it makes sense that this one is a little bit on the lower end because they've only had 0.5 years of experience but I also find it interesting that their job is both prop and character designer which is 2cm sense of different responsibilities and they're being paid at this lower rate so so I would say that this is okay if you're first starting off in the industry like this but I don't think you should be juggling these two different types of jobs at this rate in the long term then a character designer with eight years of experience at an unknown Union Studio was paid 2 250 dollars per week which is around a hundred and seventeen thousand dollars per year then a character designer with 10 years of experience at Netflix which is a unionized studio was paid two thousand nine hundred dollars per week which is around 150 800 per year so that's pretty good I would say that definitely with 10 years of experience I would assume a character designer should be paid more but also I'm a story artist and I'm really not as familiar with these other jobs and just so you know as I get further down this list I am primarily a story artist so as we get further and further are away from that I'm not going to personally be as familiar with what the proper pay rate for each title should be so this is just all based off of my assumptions and experience as an artist who has friends in these different fields as well all right so next we're going to move on to background so a background Painter with six years of experience at an unknown Union Studio was paid 2 255 dollars per week which is around a hundred and seventeen thousand two hundred and seventy dollars and forty cents per year then meanwhile there's a freelance background designer with two years of experience at Netflix which is also a union eye Studio who has paid two thousand five hundred dollars per week which is around a hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year so you might be wondering why is this person with less years of experience and is also freelance being paid more than the previous person who has six years of experience first of all I don't know the previous person's Studio but also this freelance person usually freelance artists their weekly rate is usually a little bit more because they're not always guaranteed that full-time positions so it's like this person might be getting paid 2500 per week but who knows if their job is only like a month or two months or three months long and it's not a full year so that a hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year is not exactly guaranteed then a background designer with 10 years of experience at Netflix which is also a union eye studio is paid two thousand eight hundred dollars per week which is around 145 600 per year so then next we're moving to the world of previous and layout so there's probably going to be a mixture of the two in here so a previous artist with eight plus years of experience at an unknown Union Studio was paid 65 dollars per hour which is around two thousand six hundred dollars per week which would be 135 five thousand dollars per year and a pre-vis artist with also eight plus years of experience at an unknown Union Studio was paid 2 800 per week which equates to 145 600 per year so the previous artist that I mentioned is actually getting paid less than this person despite having the same number of years of experience then meanwhile a previous slash layout artist with six years of experience at Paramount but this one is non-union and it's based in Texas is paid three thousand dollars per week which is around 156 thousand dollars per year so this person has less years of experience is at a non-union studio and is based in Texas so they're being paid more per week which I think is great I'm actually curious to know why this one is paid more than the previous two unknown Union eye Studios and maybe it's because this one is at Paramount which is a more major Animation studio and potentially the previous two might be either at smaller Studios that Paramount or have a smaller budget who knows next we're moving on to the world of Animation itself so a games animator with 10 years of experience at Sony games is being paid 1923 dollars and eight cents per week which is around a hundred and thousand dollars per year I know this amount is going to be higher than what most people out there in the world are being paid but also I feel like considering the amount of years of experience and compared to all the other numbers I've been reading this is pretty low for that number of experience so and I also don't think that games classify as a unionized studio positions so I don't really know why this rate is lower than the others considering those 10 years of experience then next we have a 2d animator with just four years of experience at an unknown Union eye Studio it was paid two thousand two hundred dollars per week which is around a hundred and fourteen thousand four hundred dollars per year so then next there's a senior motion designer with 13 years of experience in New York at Google who's paid 2596.15 per week which is around 135 000 per year then next we have a 3D animator with 20 years of experience at Walt Disney Animation Studios which is unionized who was paid 3846.15 per week which is around 200 000 per year then next we have a freelance Motion Graphics artist with 11 years of experience in Brooklyn New York who's paid eight hundred dollars per day which is around four thousand dollars per week and that is around two hundred and eight thousand dollars per year so that is pretty impressive if you are able to be paid that much consistently for a whole year because even though this person is being paid 800 per day again they are freelance which means that they might not be getting paid every single business day of the year so there's a chance that their yearly rate is definitely a lot lower than this but if you could achieve this daily rate that would be pretty good then next we're gonna move on to the world of CG 3D stuff so a freelance 3D artist who did work for commercial and game trailers with eight years of experience was paid around 700 per day which they say is around 90k 225k per year and that's around eight to nine months of work per year so this person gets paid around 700 per day but they only really work eight through nine months of the year so that might be around 90 to 125 000 per year which you know is good I I'm pretty sure if you work those additional months you would be paid a little bit more but I would say that if you are somebody who just needs those months off to live your life spend time with family take a break from work I think this is still decent enough to live a stable life and there is a 3D generalist with five years of experience in the Bay Area who's paid two thousand eight hundred dollars per week which is around 145 600 per year then there's a 3D modeler with nine years of experience at an unknown Union Studio who's paid 3134.62 cents per week which is around 163 000 per year and then there's an fx artist with 14 years of experience at a non-union position so I'm assuming that this one is freelance because they also give a day rate of 650 dollars to 750 per day and that would be around 3 250 dollars to three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars per week which is around a hundred and sixty nine thousand to a hundred and ninety five thousand dollars per year so they pretty much worked every day of the year they would still be paid pretty decently at 169 000 per year but I'm also not sure if this person has to pay for their own like health insurance and just their own benefits or where that's coming from and usually at a union eye Studio that is at default provided for you without taking away too much from your salary then a 3D environment artist with 17 years of experience at an unknown non-union Studio this paid 3 461.54 cents per week which is around a hundred and eighty thousand dollars per year and a ranking and simulation artist with 16 years of experience at an unknown non-union studio is paid 3576 dollars per week which is around 186 dollars per year then next we have a lighter slash compositor with nine years of experience at a non-union unknown studio in La who was paid four thousand and thirty eight dollars and 46 cents per week which would be around two hundred and ten thousand dollars per year so I think that's the highest one we got so far oh wait no there's an even higher one later so then next we're gonna move on to the world of editors so an animatic editor with five years of experience at Netflix so editors are a part of a different Union not the animation Union they're part of the MPEG Union which is the motion picture editors Guild so that's great that they have their own Union so their rates I don't know what they're gonna be like compared to animation Union Studios so just keep that in mind if you are planning to become an editor in the future so an animatic editor with five years of experience at Netflix with the MPEG Union is paid two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars per week which is around a hundred and seventeen thousand dollars per year then meanwhile an assistant animation editor with three years of experience also at Netflix and also with the MPEG Union is paid two thousand four hundred dollars per week which is around a hundred and twenty four thousand eight hundred dollars per year so even though this person is an assistant sometimes like it depends on what type of project it is if it's like a bigger feature film Project sometimes an assistant editor can get paid more than a regular editor but also at the end of the day I do think that the previous editor with five years of experience should try to aim for more if they want to or can and then an animatic editor with five years of experience at an unknown studio also with MPEG is paid three thousand five hundred dollars per week which is around a hundred and eighty two thousand dollars per year so yeah the first animatic editor who also had five years of experience should try to aim for more so the second part of this video is going to be more about directorial and Leadership positions because I would say that this is when the higher end of the rates are and this is kind of more in the aspirational end of things because I feel like this first section I mentioned are jobs that you know most entry and junior level people get into within like your first like five years of working and then afterwards is usually when people start taking on leadership positions because this is probably a time in life where you're maybe older maybe you have a family to support maybe you just have more life responsibilities who knows and in general I feel like if you are aiming to grow financially it is a good idea to kind of grow in your position level if that's something that you want but I'm not trying to say like you should do this because I think you can still live a perfectly fine life being an artist that is not in a leadership position but I'm just going to to bring this up anyway for anyone who does want to grow in their careers so in the story section we have a head of story with 16 years of experience at an unknown Union Studio probably a feature film studio is paid 3 500 per week which is around 182 000 per year but this person also works 45 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week so technically their hourly rate I guess is a little bit lower then next we have a showrunner executive producer with six plus years experience at Nickelodeon which is a union eye Studio which is paid three thousand seven hundred dollars per week which is around 192 400 per year so I put a showrunner in this section because I feel like there tends to be a more natural transition from being a storyboard artist to director to then a showrunner like that is the typical traditional route that you might frequently hear about but of course anyone from any artistic field or background can also become a showrunner like I literally worked with someone who is from the art department and became a showrunner even though their main focus was not story so it definitely is possible then we have an episodic director with 10 years of experience at titmouse animation which is a union eye Studio who's paid four thousand dollars per week which is around two hundred and eight thousand dollars per year so this person even though they're not the showrunner of the show they're the episodic director which means they're not even the main director of the show is being paid more than the previous showrunner so I'm really curious to know what the previous show at Nickelodeon is it's all a mixed bag at the end of the day and I'm just making these observations so then next in the art Department there's a color supervisor with 11 years of experience at Cartoon Network which is a union eye Studio being paid two thousand six hundred and fifty dollars per week which is around 137 800 per year then there is an art director with eight years of experience at Warner Brothers discovery which is also Union that is being paid 2 84.62 cents per week which is around a hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year so then there's an art director at an unknown Union eye studio with 10 years of experience that is paid three thousand eight hundred dollars per week which is around 197 600 per year then we're gonna move on to the world of CG so so there's a CG supervisor with 11 years of experience at Union eye Studio who's paid 3 384.62 cents per week which is around a hundred and seventy six thousand dollars per year then there's a CG supervisor with 14 years of experience at an unknown unionized Animation Studio who's paid four thousand two hundred dollars per week which is around two hundred and eighteen thousand four hundred dollars per year so now we're starting to get higher in the numbers but wait till you hear the next one so there's an art director slash CG lead with six years of experience but they are freelance who's paid one thousand six hundred dollars per day which would be around eight thousand dollars per week and assuming this person Works a full year and I assume that they would because if you're a leadership position you actually might surpass one to two years of working at the studio so annually this would be around four hundred and sixteen thousand dollars per year so the next we're gonna move to animation so there's a lead 2D animator with 12 years of experience at Peloton which is very interesting which is a non-union Studio obviously that is being paid 2 634.60 per week which is around a hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars per year then there's a 2d retakes director with five years of experience at Disney TV animation which is a union eye Studio that is being paid two thousand seven hundred dollars per week which is around a hundred and forty thousand four hundred dollars per year and sorry I forgot to add a last one which is a lead 3D animator with six years of experience at a non-union Studio got paid 3 269.23 cents per week which is around a hundred and seventy thousand dollars per year then next we're going to be moving on to the character design slash prop design world there's a lead character designer with 15 years of experience at Nickelodeon which is Union eyes who was paid 2 500 per week which is around a hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year and then there's a lead character designer with 10 years of experience at an unknown Animation Studio being paid seventy dollars per hour which would be around three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars per week which then would be around a hundred and sixty three thousand eight hundred dollars per year so I'm not sure what studio this is but the previous person had 15 years of experience at Nickelodeon and is making like 33k less per year so I don't know maybe this one is a feature Studio then there's a lead prop designer with seven years of experience at an unknown Animation studio and I don't know if they're unionized but they're being paid 2 692.31 cents per week which is around 140 000 per year so this person with less years of experience than the first person with 15 years of experience is being paid already 10K more than the person at Nickelodeon so I don't know I think maybe the person at Nickelodeon should be asking for more so then moving on to layout and previous a previz post viz supervisor with six years of experience at the third floor which is a non-union studio is being paid 2 307.69 per week which is around a hundred twenty thousand dollars per year I think this might be one of the lower end leadership position rates that I've heard of so far I think then there's a previous supervisor with 20 years of experience and I'm not sure if the studio is unionized or not and it's unknown is being paid 146 but they didn't specify if this is hourly weekly or yearly so if it's 146 dollars hourly that would be around 303 680 per year so this person would be making bank if so or they're being paid 146 000 dollars per year which would be 2807 and 69 per week but I don't know it remains a mystery so I'll just leave that there up for our interpretation then there's a layout supervisor with 11 years of experience at Walt Disney Animation Studios who's being paid four thousand dollars per week which is around 208 000 per year so then there are just some other random positions that I just found that I thought would be interesting to mention there's an associate creative director with 12 years of experience in a non-union agency in Chicago who's being paid 2 500 per week which is around 130 000 per year but they also receive a 10 bonus so that's interesting then there's a designer slash creative director with 15 years of experience at an unknown studio in New York who's being paid 4 423.8 cents per week which is around two hundred and thirty thousand dollars per year then there's a supervising director slash co-producer with 10 years of experience at Disney TV Animation Studios which is unionized who's being paid four thousand eight hundred dollars per week which is around 249 600 per year or so but yeah so far I think this is one of the top pay rates that is non-freelance so congrats to them so hopefully this video provided some insight for you to see like you know what is a valid career you could probably take in the future that you could also see financially supporting the life you need to live and just what other roles out there you can aspire to grow into while also knowing how much you might be getting paid and again remember that all of these pays are pre-taxed but that's also usually the standard numbers that are given to you before you take any job because you will be having to pay taxes and just again remember that job positions and titles are going to differ from Studio to studio so just because you are a story supervisor at this studio doesn't mean your responsibilities are going to be the same as this head of story at this other Studio like there are so many different factors that go into someone's pay rate but it's also important to know that you are getting paid fairly for your responsibilities and if you are at a union eye Studio I highly suggest going on the animation guilds website and looking at their wage minimums to know at least how much you should be getting paid at a bare minimum so thank you again for watching this video please comment like And subscribe especially if you want to stay tuned for my next video which is going to be the worst paying jobs in animation which is going to be the total opposite of this one so maybe you know what jobs to avoid or what jobs to not stay in if this is the job that you're starting off in so until then I'll see you later so peace out and I'll see you in the next one foreign [Music]

Channel: mewTripled

Views: 15,850

Keywords: animation, art, artists, money, finances, business, book, publishing, graphic novel, anime, manga, cartoon, artist, illustrator, freelance, income, how much i make, full time artist, art career, career, animation industry, storyboard artist, storyboard, los angeles, california, directing, director, tutorial, art tips, art trips and tricks, art tutorial, improvement, improve your art, social media, art school, coloso, art course, art classes, class, finance, pay rate

Id: UaRe1ZkEDzU

Length: 26min 44sec (1604 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023