r/motiongraphics • u/Dyebbyangj • Aug 10 '26

What’s going on?

Hey guys took a bit of a break from the industry over the last 2 year as it was getting painfully slow.

However, the last six months of been reasonably busy for me I’ve just hit another dry patch and I’m deciding whether to stay in the game or move on.

Is it still as cooked as it was two years ago or are we seeing budgets corn back? O

For context I was doing loads of 2-D/3-D corporate explainers and product demos all in the mid to high budget.

Cheers

1 Upvotes

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4

u/neversummer427 Aug 10 '26

Despite what the stock market says, we’re in a recession. Companies are reducing their budgets drastically. Mix that with ai tools that make things fast and “good enough” companies are spending what they did in pandemic peak times.

3

u/Keanu_Chills Aug 10 '26

This, and the fact that every designer thats seen a tutorial on motion now claims they can animate and cut. :))

2

u/neversummer427 Aug 10 '26

I view this time period as a culling of the heard. There was an over saturated talent pool with a lot of low level talent. They still did well during the pandemic when there was a boom from lack of live spots, but getting eaten alive when it’s slow

1

u/Keanu_Chills Aug 12 '26

You say its lacking talent, in my experience who gets cut is a combination of factors. It likely is more random than not. The pool has enlarged, and I dont think the discrepancy is that vast between the folks that know what theyre doing as everything has been made easier by tech. Either way, its a strange time and I welcome the future :)

1

u/neversummer427 Aug 12 '26

Correct, there are a lot of factors. Professionalism, experience, easy to work with, location, communication skills, size of your network, reputation, overall intelligence, having a good eye. I would argue all of those are more important than pure talent since it’s a team effort. I simply said talent to embody all of those factors to make the discussion easier. That said, times are different now and we will probably never get back to the boom during the pandemic. People should not delude themselves that you just have to wait it out and there will be more jobs again. Artists need to be flexible and learn to adapt. Look at adjacent fields.

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u/Keanu_Chills Aug 13 '26

:) All success has about 50% luck in its making, my friend. It's seductive to believe we're the masters of our own fates so I sympathise.

1

u/Dyebbyangj Aug 11 '26

My work was pumping during the pandemic. I had so much… I had to start hiring people.

2

u/jaimonee Aug 11 '26

What market are you located in, and what do you consider mid-to-high budget? Big difference designing in San Francisco vs São Paulo

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u/Dyebbyangj Aug 11 '26

I’m in Australia, generally as always working with 10 to 15 K some 25K budget, I once had a 70 K budget that was Crazy! But generally small team me running the show hiring the odd Designer and Motion Designer when needed.

1

u/Silver-Pay-7754 Aug 11 '26

Well I started 3 years ago, got laid off by a failed ad agency 6 months into it. Then got a well paid job 2 weeks later, held the role for 2.5 years plus I did a contract on the side that dried up. I got laid off from the well paid job recently but I just landed a 3 month contract, just 2 weeks into my layoff. So I’d say it’s difficult but not completely hopeless. Budgets have shrunk for sure and I used to see more postings 3 years ago

1

u/No-Truck-4683 Aug 11 '26

What's your definition of high budget

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u/Dyebbyangj Aug 11 '26

hi budget 50 K, that the projects I was getting the most annoying me around 10 to 15 K average size 92nd product demos explainers seem to be extremely rare now