Bianca Ansems

Bianca Ansems was a really interesting speaker that came into our school today. Born in Amsterdam, her path to where she is today is certainly an interesting story. What i find most interesting, however, is that when she started out she couldn't decide between what style she wanted to use. I empathize with that a lot, as i never really got a hold of a creative style when i was younger as well. In her words, as a freelancer she likes to adjust her style to suit her and her employers needs. She believes that working with so many styles helps to create a cumulative effect on her skills as an artist. She has experience experimenting with stop motion as a form of animation, but her main source of employment is working at the London based Cartoon Network Studio as a storyboard artist for The Amazing World Of Gumball.
Back in 2013, Cartoon Network decided to pump money into Europe's animation industry by setting up an overseas studio. This is initially where TAWOG was picked up. The format for the show was a sitcom, which differed from most of the other shows running on CN at that time. It had a mixed media approach to the animation, which posed a lot of unique and interesting challenges that the animators had to overcome. She came on board on one of the later seasons.
Bianca gave us some tips on how to improve our storyboard art. She told us to make sure that comedic timing translates across the storyboard. She told us that its good to create some scratch voice recordings for matching with the animatic. She also gave us insight into what goes on in between some of the phases of their production cycle.
She told us about layout, which is a transition between pre-production and production. It sets everything up with 3D beforehand so that people will know how to animate what when they need to.

She also told us about some of the things that go into working as a freelance animator. She told us to trust that work will come to you, but not to get complacent. Networking isn't building a network of colleagues, but a trust network of friends that you can work with. She told us to do good, consistent work, and to meet deadlines, and give more than what is initially asked for. 

She said that we will have to deal with bullshit briefs, and we need to be able to work under those conditions. She recommended that you help guide your client to make smart decisions, but know what battles to pick and when. She said that as a freelancer, you are a company. 

As a boss, you get projects, negotiate with clients, watch, organize, and interact. Make sure everything is in writing. and that your clients know you know how much your art is worth. Make sure you write invoices, and that if they don't pay within 30 days, make sure to follow up or charge interest. 

As an employee, you are the creator, you need good skills, and you need to stay on schedule. You also need to take care of yourself, and know when you're overdoing it. Only ever work with bad clients once. Sometimes you work with day rates and sometimes you work with a budget, but when you work with a budget, make sure your standards are set for the project and you know when to jump ship if need be. 

As a freelancer, you need to get an accountant. It gives an air of profession and it give you more time to focus on work. 

You should register as self employed as soon as possible.

You also need to make sure that when you work as a freelancer, all the members involved in the commission has knowledge of what you're doing. The five big things you need to survive as a freelancer is: a steady source of income, satisfaction in what you do, a good portfolio of work, trustworthy contacts, and proper experience. 

Respect your client, and respect yourself.