Hey fellow creators,
I’ve been thinking about a situation many animators face: a client asks for test samples before committing to a project. How do you usually approach this, especially if you already have animations in your portfolio, but they’re not in the client’s preferred art style?
Do you:
Adapt your existing work to match their style,
Create a small new test specifically for them, or
Take another approach entirely?
I’d love to hear how you balance showing your skills while respecting your time and staying true to your style. Any tips, strategies, or personal experiences would be super helpful!
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You should definitely get compensated for your time making test samples. And for paid work, adapt to what the client wants in regards to art style. Ideally, the client would have contacted you because they like your art-style, but if you want to break new ground, I guess you need to adapt. But free samples do not do you any favour, especially if you have to put together something half baked, that doesn't put you in your best light.
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It is a common (BAD) practice in the industry. Even though you have a portfolio, studios have been burned in the past hiring people that have talent but just cannot match up to their style of animation in the timing department, fluidity, aesthetic or deadline requirements. So, they give you tests to do to answer all these questions before they decide on using you. They essentially want to know, if they give you a load of work, that they can predict that you can finish it to their standards within a time frame they find acceptable. This mostly takes place with TV series and web series because they need to put out episodes in a regular frequency. Features are not as strict. While features still have deadlines, it's not an intense week to week output that places undue pressure on the team.
With that said, when it comes to freelance client, insist they look at my portfolio and make a decision or pay me to do the designs and storyboard as a sign of good faith that they will actually pay up before I embark on anything further. Why I stand my ground on this is because the tests take up very valuable time. Whether you are a solo animator or a team, that's time out of your week that you could have been working on something that actually pays. Suppose you get 4 clients this month who want you to do tests and each test takes a week, that's 4 weeks of working for no pay, with no guarantee you will get hired.
If your team has to work on that test, that's 4 weeks you are putting them through the ringer, with no pay. It will only be a matter of time before they leave you.
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Cyrus Sales it's unfortunately a standard in the industry. I would say limit the test to one character and a 10 second test. Anything more than that is a lot of work.
The other option is to find the right clients that suit your standards. Easier said than done.
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Patrik Gyltefors thank you for your insight. I do feel like the time to sample can be a waste.. most times. Our first animation client did secure us for their project based off the animation we sent however since then it does seem like a bit of a waste of time. Especially when we have an entire website showing we are capable of animating in different art styles.
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Kevin Jackson beautifully said and maybe somewhere in there I was looking for some sort of glance that I'm headed in the right direct. I feel like at this point standing firm on, we can do a sample however that sample will need to be paid OR you can trust that I can accomplish what you are looking for. The amount of time it takes alone comes with a rollercoaster of emotions, add in it being a free sample and them not going with you... oof. Thank you so much for the feedback.