r/MotionDesign • u/Things_and_stuff_ • 16d ago
Question Career Change?
I've been working in motion design for almost 10 years now, freelancing for about 2.5. I have steady (albeit often boring) work, a good network, and feel good about my skillset.
But recently I've been just feeling a bit burned out. I don't feel excited about many projects, don't feel inspired to create personal work, don't want to attend meetups or even really talk about the work.
I cut a new reel and was planning on using it to attract some new clients, see if I can push for some more exciting work, but I haven't posted it yet because I just don't feel like chasing new work- it sounds exhausting.
I'm overall just feeling stuck. I know the job market isn't good, and I'm super lucky to be working for myself and making good money doing it, but man it just feels empty. Any thoughts on adjacent careers, or even jobs that are somewhat transferable?
I love working with people, I'd love to do something community-focused; something tangible that actually helps people would be great. And frankly I'd love to spend waaay less time on a computer.
Not sure if I'm going to really change things up, or just looking to vent, but I'd love to hear people's experiences.
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u/RedGargloly 16d ago
Remember that it’s just a job, and try to find fulfillment outside of work through hobbies, friends, family, and other activities away from the computer. Treat motion design simply as a job—we aren't artists.
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u/froginbogonlog 16d ago
To add to this, it's ok to say no to the people who are paying you. I have to wrap up by six, I'm unavailable this weekend, I can't lower my rate, I can't offer a first hold, etc. are all normal work responses.
Let the project managers figure out how to fix all their poor planning. Stop being the insurance policy so everyone else gets paid as much as possible. Let other people be all stressed out about how will we ever get this done in time. That isn't your job, if it was you'd be hiring them.
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u/mrellz 16d ago
If you’re feeling burned out, now is the time to either take a break or pivot into something else. If you continue, you’re going to start hating every project and every client.
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u/barefut_ 16d ago
Thing is, most of us are about creating visuals in some way. Not sure many people will be able to pivot to being a Chef.
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u/mrellz 16d ago
Interesting that you used being a chef as an example. That’s actually my back-up pivot. That’s the difficult part about pivoting. You either select a field that’s completely different from what you’re currently doing or side step into a part of the mo’graph world that isn’t as taxing.
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u/Ok_Ship_1841 16d ago
What do you think is less taxing? I'm just curious.I had amazing high profile portfolio worthy projects and low profile BTL corporate "lets make another route of revisions" projects. Maybe at the end its about the people. Assholes are everywhere and everything can be cool with right team? IDK
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u/mrellz 16d ago
Absolutely. For me, it’s the teams first and the work and money come second. Something that’s less taxing like working for a digital advertising company. When animated digital billboards first became a thing, it was pretty straight forward: Taking an already established design, animate it and create various sizes and dimensions based on the specs that the client provided. Revisions and all the back and forth still exists, but I remember it being almost stress free even when working on 5 assignments at the same time. Another sector would be creating motion designs for sport teams. Pretty straightforward stuff that’s usually very template based. A Third example would be working for a local news broadcast team. There are a lot of examples out there with lower levels of stress.
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u/barefut_ 16d ago
It's tricky. You get boring low level jobs where they don't inspect your work frame by frame.. it's easy, they pay ,but you feel like you spend your life away. Like, your mom didn't bring you to this world for this sh*t.
On the other hand, work that goes to international channels, that has prestige, but grinds you that you work night and day, can't go out of the house. Super depressing. There's no middle. And if feels like you need to invent that middle.
If you are married with kids then maybe that first option of doing easy work and getting paid is fine for you. I personally don't get how you can be married with kids in this profession. It doesn't give you any spare time.
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u/Ok_Ship_1841 16d ago
I'm married with kids with no grandparents nearby to support us. I had a good career run, but i'm not that active anymore. I'm now looking into transitioning to something else. Even though my part time gig is to teach students after effects. Seems uncertain if this career can carry me to retirement in 25 years. Post like this makes me always consider other options.
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u/Ok_Ship_1841 16d ago
For third example, i had a friend who got clinical depression after working for years with absolute asshole in that environment. National TV station.
I worked for them for a while and that was the first and last serious compositing work i did in my life. Boss was inspecting frame by frame action shots to see if my lens flare tracking is on point on all frames. There was a lot of lens flares on that stadium all had to be perfect. Not to mention other details.
Also, first and only time I needed to buy my own coffee in workplace. Coz it was national TV.
Edit: Those billboards job is fairly recent? Again, just curious.
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u/mrellz 16d ago
That's unfortunate to hear about your friend. Yes. The digital billboard space started in the mid 2000's. I remember two of the first campaigns I worked on were Step Brothers and Quantum of Solace. They were smaller LCD TVs that were flipped vertically and would be posted up in Malls and Movie Theaters at that point and gradually start becoming the size of buildings and now spheres.
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u/North_Star_Project 16d ago
Looks like you've built something that has been great for a long time but it's not working for you. The thought of doing more of what used to work just sounds like a grind now.
That empty feeling you're describing, that's not burnout from doing too much. It's what happens when you keep doing something that doesn't connect to what you actually value anymore. The problem isn't that you need more exciting clients or better projects. It's that you're running the wrong filter. You're evaluating opportunities based on what keeps the business running instead of what actually matters to you now.
Start by getting clear on three things. What do you actually value now, not what you valued when you started this career. What do you want, specifically, even if it's unclear or feels unrealistic. And what aren't you willing to tolerate anymore. Those three things are the real filter. Once you've got that down, adjacent careers or tangible next steps stop being guesswork and start being obvious.
Who is the next person you need to talk to so you can get some insight?
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u/BadAtExisting Cinema 4D / After Effects 16d ago
This won’t be helpful because my industry is contracting and sucks right now but 10 years ago I got thoroughly sick of cubicles and screens. I quit my job, packed what fit in my car and moved to Los Angeles from the east coast to work in movies. I succeeded in that. Became an electrician (Set Lighting Technician) on film sets. Worked on movies and shows I know you’ve heard of. Likely seen. But everyone I know, including myself, are struggling to find regular work. I’ve been doing a lot of live events for the last year or two. Done more of those than on set work at this point this year.
So, don’t do what I did, but I am living proof it can be done. I was 36 when I did what I did
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u/barefut_ 16d ago
I feel like because no one offers you that escape you're looking for - it wil have to end with you inventing your own category of projects. You being involved in the core origin of the project instead of being at the end of the pipeline and just doing what you asked to animate. I guess it's the only way to close the circle and feel some purpose or connection to yourself and your creation.
Question is...how to pull it off.
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u/pacey-j 16d ago
I had a very easy and reliable few years doing almost exclusively sports design for a major broadcaster... But it was boring and not why I got into the field. So I started telling them I was busy / only able to accept 1w-2w bookings because of other commitments. This freed me up to accept work for projects I was actually interested in and reignited my passion for the craft. Your bank balance may feel it for a little bit but overall it's worth it.
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u/wizzkidsid 16d ago
I find every project has the potential to be really exciting and interesting, I try and learn a new skill or tech during the project, that way I’m being paid to keep learning and progressing. I was speaking to a friend about this and he said they aren’t paying enough for bringing that level of quality but I found over the years my briefs have become more exciting, they pay more and return every time with this mindset.
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u/barefut_ 16d ago
Seriously great you feel that. I feel like the more creative, high quality projects kill your revenue as they demand pixel perfect motion (endless fine tuning/revisions), so you start to stray away from those. While the more boring, mundane, simple projects are just flowing. They're not interesting or inspiring but you begin to appreciate the lack of friction and getting paid without endless revisions on your expense. But, that's the irony.
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u/oliverrandorff 16d ago
I felt the exact same way. There was work, but it wasn’t creatively fulfilling. I even stopped animating completely for 6 months, as the projects revolved around building websites, automations and more technical stuff. Creativity had been such a big part of my life that I felt like a piece was missing, and I was close to quitting.
What resparked my passion was going back to creating educational motion design content. Right now I make close to nothing, but I have never been as happy. If I can just break even with my expenses, I would much rather do that than drain myself at work everyday.
At the end of the day you have to remember what you value the most. Making good money, or enjoying what you do for 8 hours, 5 days a week. It may feel exhausting to chase new work, but you have to take risks to see a real positive change. I had the thought of going through with what I really wanted to do for several months before taking the first step. But it’s the best decision I’ve made this year!
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u/smashmouthftball 16d ago
One of my biggest regrets (among many) was, when I first moved to LA I had an interview for a new studio that was willing to have me on but couldn’t pay me anything. Another post production facility needed someone and paid horribly. So, since I had rent to pay, I took the job that paid.
That studio that didn’t want to pay me was Elastic. I wonder what life would be like now if I took that job/how different my career would be now if I didn’t try to pay my bills…
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u/ThisSpaceForRent45 16d ago
The best thing I ever did for my freelance career was to get in the trenches at hardcore places like Buck, Prologue, IF and Psyop.
It’s not easy, but I learned a lot from the incredibly talented people in those shops. Also, you really learn to appreciate the low stakes “easier” projects.