With the wave of whiteboard video projects that have made their way to my office, I figured it was time to give whiteboard animations their own link. Currently I am working on finishing up two promotional videos for a company promoting their new app called "Cuddle Up". I am also working on a whiteboard video for Caesars Palace marketing a new promo at the moment. 

    I am in the process of creating a new animated video which touches upon a subject that most freelance artists would have loved to learn before plunging into the world of freelance. I go over 10 quick tips that will help out freelance illustrators that are new to the game. I started out with about 25 tips, but noticed how long the animation would have become. I might think of releasing a part 2 after I meet my other client obligations as well as my kickstarter obligations. 
    For this video, I am trying a different style that I don't normally do. It's great to switch up styles and learn new things and this video is an attempt at diversifying my style a bit. I will post updates. 

I highly recommend that all illustrators, comic artists, and graffiti artists consider adding an incredibly popular design service called Whiteboard Animation. This is a still shot from my upcoming Whiteboard video. These are explainer videos created to help explain a topic, service, school lesson, or promote a product in a fun and engaging way. Well done whiteboard videos are in extremely high demand. 

In most cases (not all) nothing is being animated, it's more like speed drawing. The video shows a hand drawing the images on screen in realtime and is sped up to match the narrators script. Offering a new service or putting a fresh new twist on one of your existing design services, is a great way to get new business. If you already know how to draw well, the rest is easy. I encourage you to diversify your list of services! 

I'm sure you've heard it said that it's easier to get repeat business from a past client than it is to get a new client. I agree. I highly recommend that you look at your previous clients list and go down the line and give each one of them a call. Rekindling these relationships almost always leads to more work. If not from them, then from their referrals. 

Hand is just a placeholder of course…But getting some practice on my digital whiteboard animation here. 

One of eight zombies for a "Walking Dead" inspired piece I'm creating for DJ Steve S. 

Browsing the website of my old college, I stumbled upon this alumni website. What an honor to be listed under animation. I was the only one of my graduating class listed! What an honor!

Now starts the journey of listening to countless voice over demos. I have casted a few characters so far and will be posting some snippets of their work on thedontquityadayjob.com which is still in development. I still have not found a voice to the main character Radames Rodriguez which I hope to have casted soon. During the holidays I will be revising the script to the pilot episode. Although the funds are scheduled to transfer in January, I already contracted talented character designer Jasmine Leiva, and we have been working together to develop all of the female characters of the show. In January I will be bringing in two storyboard artists and a layout artist. 

What an incredible feeling it is to have the support of your family, friends and clients. I will admit that fundraising, marketing and promoting was probably the toughest job I had ever been responsible for. But It was an awesome learning experience. Now we can get to work!!!

I'm already extremely excited about the support I have been getting from family, friends, SVA alum, and past co-workers, but I recently got the attention and support from the president of my alma mater The School of Visual Arts. This is an outstanding achievement for this project and has filled me with an overwhelming burst of inspiration to push forward with my marketing efforts full steam ahead. 

With just two weeks left to the campaign, I must raise $7,960 to successfully fund this campaign. All engines are go and with the help of my brothers who have been the real driving force behind my marketing efforts, this project will be funded in time. Then we can begin work on the animated pilot episode and turn this dream into a reality. 

I don't have the answer yet, but I have an idea of what it is. With over 1,170 facebook likes, our momentum is really growing everyday thanks to all of the support from my family, clients, friends, co-workers and people who believe in this project. This has been an arduous journey and although I have outlined an aggressive marketing campaign, I didn't anticipate the amount of work that is involved in fundraising. I have a new found respect for people who do this on a daily basis. I thought kickstarter helps you to promote your campaign, but they do not. The success of your campaign is all about who you have in your network, point blank. Your phone book, your email list, your co-workers, your child hood friends, past clients, neighbors, social network connections (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and businesses that you frequent. When you run out of people to contact, then you rely on the network of your family and friends. I'm learning everyday what has been working for my marketing campaign and what hasn't been working. You have to make quick adjustments and have some back up plans. Currently there are 17 days to turn this dream into a reality and I haven't slept much since it launched. Mostly planning and getting creative on how to reach people and make it easy for people to contribute to the campaign. The latest Idea I am toying with is pay by text. Although it's an innovative way to get people to contribute by simply sending a text message to your assigned keyword and phone number (getseconds.com is the company I went with), it sort of breaks the kickstarter code. If you get hundreds of people to text and contribute, no credit cards are required which means the amount is simply added to their phone bills and you get the money at the end of the month. First issue is, if your campaign is not longer than 30 days, you won't collect in time. Second issue is, if your project isn't fully funded, then you get no money and then you have to go through the trouble of refunding those texted contributions. So the pay by texting option is a bold step to take. Still, it sounds like a viable option and one definitely worth the risk. It will be interesting to see how people respond to it. 

After just two days of launching and promoting, Kickstarter puts our "Don't Quit Ya' Day Job - The Animated Series" project amongst some of the world's most popular projects! Fantastic feeling, but we've got a LONG way to go to reach the goal. We need to match the numbers up as we have over 400 facebook likes, but just 9 contributors. Click on this link and contribute today: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1154019552/dont-quit-ya-day-job-the-animated-series

I recently made the transition from inking by hand, to inking entirely in photoshop. It has taken my art to an entirely new level. It's great when you can step out of your comfort zone and embrace changes. It has improved the quality of my line work and my overall finished product. Above, you can see that I am inking over the lines of a scanned sketch. Next, I start dropping the colors on separate layers beneath the inked layer. Then, I add some shading, highlights, and the final step below is filling in the black lines with colored lines. Take a look below at the finished custom DJ character for DJ Steve S. 

Don't Quit Ya' Day Job - The Animated series is a work in progress. I am in the process of putting a kickstarter page together to raise the funds to create the pilot episode. I got tons of new artwork to show and lots of great stories to tell. I will need your help to get the word out once the kickstarter page goes live in October! I will keep posting!