I wrote this article a few weeks ago now, and I intend to do a follow up one soon. The main focus was on explainer video style of animation which we do a lot of. And a question I am always asked at the outset ( understandably) is how much!?!?. But it's never that simple, as the length of video, style of artwork, style of animation, how many assets etc all effect the costs. I am sure I am not alone in this, and pricing each project can sometimes be quite involved, reading through scripts etc to ensure you fully understand the scope of work before committing to a price.
Animation : How Art and Animation Styles affect the Price by Jason Venus
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I don't work in animation, but still found this to be so interesting. A while back, some producer friends and I were forming a production company and needed a logo. The submissions and prices were varied to say the least. This article clears up why. Can't wait for part 2.
I work in animation, also mostly explanimations. It is very difficult to price the different styles. I mostly look at two factors: how many assets must i make and how many different animation scenes must i produce. I work with fixed prices, so i must be very adapt at reading the script/story and visualizing the scenes before i commit to a fixed price. And yes i have been wrong in my assumptions and sometimes an animation is taking more time than i envisioned. But that is all in the game. I try to minimize the difference in styles, so the price difference is not so much a hassle anymore.
Another factor affecting cost is how much work would be involved. If you want one character walking along, that's one thing, but if you want thousands of orcs storming the castle, well that costs way more. Which is why it can be tricky pricing such situations. Bid too little and you lose money, bid too much and you lose the job.
Yeh, all good points. The next article I'm working on is more about the 'animation itself'. As the amount of animation, whether it's a walk cycle showing legs or cut off at waste all effect how much production work is involved. Some of it comes back to how there assets are created in the first place, how easy they are to rig and work with, without needing to re-draw parts etc. This is why there can never really be a flat rate, unless it's a packaged 'style' so everyone knows what to expect I guess.
In my experience, animation cost pretty much boils down to "how much have you got?" I've taken projects that didn't pay quite as much as they should because it was either that or no income at all. Even the big Hollywood places often operate on razor thin profits.