harrypartridge
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THE HOPEFUL FUTURE FOR INDIE ANIMATORS (plus a "Dr. Bees" update)
🕑 Added 2025-10-02 16:38:00 +0000 UTC
Image nabbed from @TheCartoonBaseSeptember was an exciting month for indie animation.
Knights of Guinevere, Homestuck and Loki IRL all had debut episodes along with Space King, Monkey Wrench and Bridge Kids getting new installments (among others). Some scored views in the MILLIONS and their production values equal or surpass TV in most cases (sometimes on a fraction of the budget!!). Congrats to all!
One thing that DID NOT release in September is "DR. BEES FOREVER". I'll get to that sluggish bugaboo in a moment - but first...
I want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone thinking of creating their own independent animation, as there has never been a more HOPEFUL time to pursue it. It seems more viable than ever before as a pathway for artists.
While I won't paint the picture that TV-quality indie animation is practical, easy, or affordable, the barrier to entry that networks and commissioners once represented has been lowered, if not entirely smithereened by this point. Hits like The Amazing Digital Circus, Helluva/Hazbin and Smiling Friends prove, if anything, that now it is the industry that needs resourceful indie creators and not the other way around.
Simply put: YOU NO LONGER NEED PERMISSION TO MAKE AN ANIMATED SHOW.
(To be fair, it's been this way for about twenty years thanks to places like Newgrounds, but there are a lot more character plushies being sold nowadays and, I suspect, a lot more stability as a result)
What you still need, are TOOLS, TALENT and TIME ("TIME" being a classy euphemism for "MONEY"!!$$$)
TIME/MONEY is what the indies lack. You can either take a long TIME making something alone, or spend a lot of money on collaborators for THEIR TIME.
So, for the sake of all any budding indie animators who are broke (as in my case) AND don't want to let years pass between episodes (as also in my case) I can suggest...
...A FEW POSSIBLE WAYS AN INDIE ANIMATOR CAN SAVE TIME...
Forego healthy standards for sleep/social life/nutrition/hygiene (NOT recommended but sadly a common choice)
Embrace an economic style of limited animation and simplistic visuals (preferable for some, a hard sell for others)
Become a hyper-productive and stoic animating machine, capable of ignoring all distractions and dopamine diversions (very difficult but worth pursuing!)
Be genuinely inventive and curious about new or alternative methods for creating the same results in less time. (not always fruitful but can pay off hugely).
I'll give an example of tip 4...
I've just spent a miserable time drawing dozens of dry, semi-architectural backgrounds for Dr. Bees Forever. What I thought might take a day or two has taken TEN. I am now tooling with using 3D modelled environments in Blender with "toon shading" to create the same kind of visual in less time. (I'll let you know how that goes!).
My love for making animation...
...is matched only by my hatred for how long it takes.
Drawing every frame, colouring every background, laying in every sound effect, is not for wimps, and in fact making it EASIER is necessary to meet the demands of an audience.
Many struggling indies (myself included) must embrace something like the list of concessions I have outlined above and make compromises, if we are ever going to provide an audience with frequent work to enjoy. BUT THE TIME TO TRY IT IS NOW! This stuff IS doable and becoming more DOABLE and VIABLE every day!
I'm sorry Dr. Bees isn't out yet, I really thought it would be. I'm certainly not lacking inspiration. The hard-earned successes of others has been a great boost, and I will give it my all this month!
THANK YOU to those independent artists that raise the bar, thank you to my supporters for raising my spirits, and thank you to my landlord for NOT raising the rent (this year).
- Harry
Comments
Harry Partridge
Thank you LK!! I'm workin' on it :)
Lucky Knight
GO HARRY GO! :)
Harry Partridge
Hah! Thank you Paul. That does make me feel a bit better :)
Paul Pascalau
Don't worry, Harry. Using the Julian calendar, it's still September 20 today. So you may be able to fulfil your original release goal yet.
Harry Partridge
Thanks Karkos. It's not an easy path but I'm looking forward to staying on it. Likewise, I wish you the best of luck with your pursuits.
Karkos
Very inspiring words Harry. Thank you for keeping on doing what you do. The world needs more people with this line of thought now more than ever
Harry Partridge
I would love retail and online spaces to carry more varied products. One hurdle is that it can be seriously difficult for an indie artists to take on the woes of getting merchandise manufactured and distributed - though perhaps that too can become easier in the future. Right now you do really need mega success (views consistently in the millions) for there to be outside interest in merchandise. Here's hoping for a more democratic and even playing field in entertainment (and merchandising) in the future :)
Harry Partridge
Thank you! I think there are reasons to be hopeful. Thanks for your continued support and encouragement. I promise I am taking care of myself - I hope YOU are too!
Harry Partridge
Thanks Trevor. Yes, I think it's going to continue. My assumption is that technology (and I don't just mean AI) is going to continue to open the floodgates for indie creators to make more and more work in the same or less time. I do think that as long as the internet can platform smaller creators without heavy censorship, that this space will become more democratic and competitive (which is good) in the future.
Harry Partridge
Thanks Gregor and best of luck with returning to your personal projects. As I hope I made clear, I still believe this stuff is really challenging to do alone, but it's becoming increasingly possible. You have the talent and drive to push forward which is the first major step :)
Gregor Scott
Great write-up Harry, just so happens to have timed nicely with my schedule opening and me really finding the time and routine to work on personal projects. This map of the space you’ve laid out is one I’ll be carrying with me as I set off again and I look forward to catching Dr Bees when it’s done :)
G Patreon Fan
I love the news, though it'll be a battle. Note that "Space King" was completely IGNORED despite it's success as sudden and powerful as an attack by those characters. That graphic was edited by fans, the 'awards' went to the so-called 'indies' and ignored Space King despite being there for a while, #3 just dropping recently...I doubt Knights of Guineviere is (One Man's Opinion) an Indie... My $.02 added is that we need to get into politics - NOT the tired arguments online of fake "Sides" but rather us and our fans need to WRITE (gasp!) and send old school Snail Mail to our Congress and Senate reps. Polite, concise, to the point - sign and date. My statement is long but it's needed, not sorry in advance. What subject? Free markets. There are about 6 working on being about 5 big companies that one way or another control 90% of access to the media and suck the teat of the Govern-NOT. Thus they are cooperating vs competing and don't fear when their products even in closed off markets don't sell. This is what has been killing off animation and anything indie for decades, entrenched monopolies and a Government either incompetent or unwilling to step in and enforce its antitrust and anti-monopoly laws. Agreeing not to compete with other companies also counts as a "Conspiracy" - aka financial conspiracy and is illegal and subject to fines/jail. Our politicians in the dark give these guys $70K for every $1 in bribes. Only our $, no one they care about. WB got $90 million to write off their "batwoman" show via tax $ we pay. Disney will scream until they get $450 million to squeeze some kind of profit for the Zeigler snow whatever... Ultimately they don't want anything NEW to get in because it likely would be a wild success and spark competition and risk vs betting on the average, known names and making $ even when things fail by bailouts and stock manipulation. The $70K for $1 in bribes happens in the dark. When it's not in the dark the politician's fee goes up highly to do what they do best; nothing. And it gets higher if they are asked to go against it because someone who writes an old school letter is someone who'll vote and influence dozens of others - so $ is needed in lies / propaganda to counter it. If they are refused $ they turn hostile...! So - we should be demanding a free and open media - the markets need to be OPEN - retail should accept any toys, DVDs, comics on a consignment and have NO favoritism to bigger companies. We don't need to EAT a cartoon. Big retail needs to be broken open to smaller ones. The major internet sales and searches need antitrust. Either fake "Side" can be manipulated to be obliged to do this. The Republicans should be 100% for anyone whipping out an idea, even a cartoon and perhaps becoming the next Walt Disney. The Democrats should be for open retail choices and markets because more competition = more jobs and established producers have an edge they can use for demanding more $. Indie animators could get their base writing and politicians would get piles of letters. Even on the pessimistic end this would be good. Again $70K for $1 in bribes happens in the dark. Imagine these corrupt pigs getting piles of letters and smiling wickedly... They call in the industry reps and instead of being bribe fountains demand huge tributes - to do NOTHING. The big companies still do have some $ but due to aftershocks of lockdown and recent economy its getting low. The smaller giant ones would probably refuse. And they'd refuse next pile of letters. Then the politicians, especially the corrupt pig ones would turn HOSTILE... Not like we'd be asking them to go against Big Insurance or that country in the Middle East... But break up this racket there will be tons of room for competing projects and today's computers (I mean animation software) lots of good animation could be rushed to completion and done far cheaper than decades past. We should have far more cartoons than even in the 1980s frankly, but there's no outlet to be worth investing even the cheaper $ due to these monopolies. Ok - sorry for that long statement - but I think I needed to say it.
VGAfanatic
Thank you for that wonderful pep talk, Harry. Independent animation is a very wonderful thing, while admittedly thankless at times. Here's looking forward to seeing what new inspiring creator comes out of the woodwork next! And here's looking forward to the completion of Dr. Bees! I hope you're at least taking care of yourself while making it.
Trevor Bond
A lot of 'indie' talent is taking off lately with passion projects, and I hope to see small budget studios pop in taking risks on original works. Especially since once they're up, a lot of these can simply become stable ad revenue in the long run, since keeping them up takes minimal resources and no effort. I'd love to see an entire low budget industry pop up around animation in this vein. Because there sure ain't much worth watching from the billion dollar budgets lately, ugh.
Harry Partridge
Thank you Max. You know I will :)
Harry Partridge
I am suggesting balance. Embracing limitations and compromise is what I am calling for. And as for "studio-produced" shows, that does not accurately describe Monkey Wrench, Bridge Kids, Loki IRL or Space King. Spindlehorse may be a titan now, but as far as I am aware Viv grew it from nothing. I am not suggesting that any of this this is easy or immediate, but that it has a future! :)
Brendan
I love ya Harry, but saying "Now is the time! You can do it!" and then supporting it with a list of studio-produced shows made on thousands of dollars of budget feels distant. Even you have support that most people simply can't get now. It's not really viable to strive for notoriety as an independent any more and it's far more realistic to simply balance it with your work:life and accept mediocrity.
Max
Inspiring words. I hope you are as inspired by this as it sounds 😉 I said it before and I'll say it again: I'd rather see you take your time, than end up with a rushed animation. We all knew your upload schedule (I hope 😅) before we joined this patreon. Keep on inching forward and you'll reach the finish line eventually
