Money is always a challenge.

You need money to live.  To make money you need to spend time working.  To work you lose time to create.

If you are a writer and not really a visual artist you may need money to hire artists to bring your vision to life.     Money is not everything but having it is.   If you had a ton of money making anime, cartoons, series,  comics, etc would be a lot easier.

If I had 2 million dollars to spend I’d just go to the Korean outsourcers Japan uses and have them make my 13 part epic anime series.  But I don’t and chances are neither do you.

This has been a big challenge for me.  It goes hand in hand with my personal talent.  I don’t feel I have the talent to model 3d characters.  There are also tools I want that make things go by faster and there are a ton of other reasons I would like an actual budget for telling stories.

Now there are some new ways to find money.  I am talking about Crowdfunding.  The big boys out there are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.    That is an option open to anyone.  I will tell you truthfully though that it is a lot of work.  I ran my own campaign twice and failed twice.    You have to almost become a full time marketer.  That takes a lot of time and money.

So you have to ask yourself how much do you really need that money?

Coming up with a basic budget, being realistic and balanced can go a long way.   Plus we live in an age where there are more and more free tools that you can use.  Yes the technology to create your own anime is free.   For every high dollar piece of software there is a poor man’s open source free version.

Maya = Blender

Zbrush = Sculptris

Toonboom = Synfig

Below is an animated short created with Synfig and Blender.  All free software.

There are also cheaper alternatives.  I will tell you thought given budget constraints you can get a little more creative.

Also many software packages are allowing a monthly subscription.  The entire Adobe package is about 50 bucks a month.  I’m sure more people can swing that.

I also wanted to mention that if you have a little budget aside you can find artists for cheaper prices.  I have found great modelers on sites like Fiverr.com and Deviantart.com for pennies on the dollar.    If you can afford a Playstation, Xbox or a computer you can get a lot of artwork at that price.

Below is some artwork from a great artist I found on Deviantart.com.  I am not going to tell you the price but it was a really good deal.  It was affordable on my paycheck.

fiverilovekaiju

Here are some bullet points in regards to money.

*Determine your wants and needs

*Use free alternatives if you cannot afford the

 pro level tools-in many cases the free versions are just as good.  

*Be more thrifty- can you make your coffee at home for 10 cents on the cup vs $5

 for that latte mocha.  

*Find little quick ways to earn money to sink into your project.  

I’m selling my comic books and figurines I have collected over the years.  

*Try crowdfunding, it worked for me…errr….well it has worked for a lot of other people.

*Outsource if you must. 

There are plenty of starving artists out there who just need a little pizza money or

 even a few followers who you can convince to believe in you. 

*DIY- Do it yourself. If you cannot afford something do it yourself.  You can work for free.