Does James Rallison Write Or Animate His Videos

7 Animation Lessons From the All-time YouTube Animators

The cyberspace is often regarded every bit the keen blaster for its democratization of content creation and distribution tools. In particular, YouTube has made it possible for many freelance animators to non only mail service their animated videos only gain widespread fame and recognition for them.

These contained YouTube animators are essentially self-made, and their success stories give hope and inspiration to many budding animators.

Lessons and Animation Tips from YouTube

If you're planning on uploading your animated videos to YouTube to gain a following and animation clients, keep reading these vii animation lessons from the best animators on YouTube.

1) Look for Inspiration

Image past Frederick Medina via Unsplash

1 thing that many successful YouTube animators accept in mutual is that their work was influenced by certain media that they loved to eat - often from a very early on age.

For instance, Daniel Baxter and Tina Alexander'due south "How Information technology Should Accept Ended" (or "HISHE" for short) animated videos are based on popular media. The channel pokes fun at popular movies, Telly shows, and comics, focusing on the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

HISHE videos often point out plot holes and other inconsistencies in a lightheaded fashion. Information technology may be easy to interpret these jabs every bit merely disparaging the source fabric, simply Alexander states that information technology all comes from a identify of honey, that they make blithe parodies of sure films because they love them.

Some other animator of Explosm Entertainment, Rob DenBleyker, said that his involvement in visual storytelling began not with blitheness but with the comics he read in newspapers equally a child.

You might recognize Explosm from their NSFW stick-figure animations. They are best known for their dark one-act animated short serial "Cyanide & Happiness".

James Rallison, the animator behind the channel TheOdd1sOut, says that his inspiration for some of the stories in his videos comes from his own existent-life experiences.

TheOdd1sOut features a marshmallow-like figure that Rallison uses to tell stories from his personal life and share his opinions on the world. Like DenBleyker, Rallison's roots are in comics. TheOdd1sOut was a webcomic earlier Rallison made it an animated web series.

Animators' sources for inspiration aren't limited to comics and genre films. Deplorable-ist, a YouTube animator known for her video game-inspired animations, has fatigued inspiration from Minecraft, Hollow Knight, and Undertale and has also made animatics for Hamilton: An American Musical.

If you lot notice yourself at a loss for inspiration, ask yourself these questions:

What piece of media inspires you? It may be something y'all consumed during your childhood or a hard period in your life.
How tin you lot reimagine these media for your animated videos? What nearly them can you focus on or draw attending to?
How do you lot want your viewers to feel? What message exercise you want to communicate through your blithe videos?

2) Know Your Blitheness Niche

a woman talking about earning money by finding your niche

Ron Burgundy Branding GIF via GIPHY

YouTube is a competitive landscape where content creators and advertisers alike are competing for viewers' attending. On top of that, today'due south viewers are so accustomed to beingness bombarded with a myriad of data on a daily basis that they've learned to filter out letters and content that don't appeal to them.

This ways that if you desire to grab viewers' attention as an animator, you demand to do it within the first few seconds of the video.

One of the things that volition assistance you create content and proceeds an audience is deciding on your blitheness niche. Trying to serve anybody will h2o down your content. Instead, cull a niche y'all know you can serve content to. When deciding on your animation niche, ask yourself these questions:

What kinds of videos are you expert at creating? What kind of content tin you lot give your audience that no other YouTube animator is giving them?

How tin can y'all create animated videos that will entreatment to your audience? A big office of knowing your audition is knowing how they like to see stories played out. As an animator, you need to know how to stir up your audition'south emotions using techniques in animation and storytelling.

James Rallison, who ofttimes depicts events from his childhood in his animated videos, said that some of these events could exist mundane or even traumatic. What matters is that an animator uses their creativity to tell these stories in a manner that their audition will find entertaining or even comedic.

Will creating animated videos for this niche continue to reap rewards? If you find that you're still not getting more viewers and subscribe later on trying your best to concenter more than viewers, you lot might have to look for a different niche.

Finding your niche can likewise be a procedure of trial and mistake. Not every animator can be lucky plenty to observe their perfect niche on the first effort. In this case, commencement from the beginning and conduct inquiry on different niches of viewers.

three) Make Evergreen Animated Content

Image past ConvertKit via Unsplash

Rob DenBleyker of ExplosmEntertainment said that the animation company makes information technology a bespeak not to tackle electric current political events to keep their content from becoming dated.

At nigh, the company volition annotate on a news story in a tangential way, not specifically addressing the effect at hand nor the political figures and parties involved. This way, the content is more general and better stands the test of time.

More importantly, your younger viewers who may exist new to your content won't feel isolated because yous didn't brand your animated video'southward subject matter too specific. Addressing these events in a tangential style will generalize them and keep them relevant for time to come generations of viewers.

Some topics never wear out, and relatable content is one of them. 1 example of this are slice of life stories about characters who face universally relatable dilemmas and/or have qualities that your viewers tin can identify with.

In TheOdd1sOut, James Rallison uses his marshmallow-like graphic symbol to tell the viewers stories from his personal life and his opinions on the globe.

In an animated video called "Buying Apparel", he talks well-nigh buying sure dress to fit in when he was in school, which many people tin can relate to.

Towards the end of the video, Rallison addresses younger viewers who are withal in school, telling them that they shouldn't dress according to what they think is cool if they aren't comfortable. He encourages them to dress according to their preference and fiscal ways.

4) Come Up With Good Video Titles

a man who just got an idea for a good video title

Hack My Life Kevin GIF by TruTV via GIPHY

Your video title is the first matter your viewers will see along with the thumbnail, and then make sure it contains keywords that will take them clicking on your video.

Match the championship of your blithe video to its content. No one likes a click-bait championship that doesn't fulfill its hope. But come up with titles that intrigue viewers.

How It Should Have Concluded is a proficient example of this. It tells viewers what they're in for just is too vague enough to continue them guessing and helps become the videos to vi-figure viewings.

If your audition gets used to receiving clickbait content from you, they may learn not to trust your titles and stop watching them altogether.

Be mindful of the title length. A expert guideline is to continue your titles nether 70 characters. If your championship has numbers, use the number characters instead of spelling them out.

The title should also clearly lay out your video'due south value. Give your viewers reasons to scout your video. Why should people watch your video? What benefit tin it offering them - information, amusement, or both?

v) Appoint With Your Subscribers

What Is Up Season 9 GIF past The Big Bang Theory via GIPHY

Tina Alexander of HISHE revealed that she called on fans to submit ideas for HISHE'South Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men Apocalypse episodes.

Afterwards learning that YouTube deletes comments that overwhelm the system, Alexander made it a point to jot downward comments on their videos on who made them. If they depict inspiration from a comment, they make certain to credit the commenter.

You don't have to let your fans contribute significantly to your content, but make sure to appoint with your audition.

Another way y'all tin do this is to enquire your viewers what kind of content they'd similar to run across and for feedback nigh your electric current and past content. It will also assistance if you accost these viewers directly in your animated videos when using their ideas.

Apart from engaging with your viewers on YouTube, be sure to permit them know of other ways they tin reach you. This volition help y'all secure more animation clients.

Add together links to your other social media profiles and your electronic mail accost whenever and wherever possible - description boxes, profile pages, and even in the videos themselves. YouTube allows you to annotate your videos with direct links to other pages.

On other platforms such every bit Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, exist sure to list your email accost and a link to your YouTube channel on your profile.

Prospective clients are most likely to achieve out to you via email, so call attention to it whenever possible. Make sure to precede your email accost with a statement proverb that you are open for business or commissions on animation projects then that interested parties won't hesitate to contact you.

6) Upload Animated Videos On a Schedule

Image past Jessica Lewis via Unsplash

Posting your animated videos on a consistent schedule makes it easier for your subscribers to keep up with your new content. This will as well aid your channel to gain more than traffic, watch time, and new subscribers.

Creating animated videos can be very demanding, then brand certain to ready a frequency you lot can maintain. This means that posting new videos every day or every other 24-hour interval may be out of the question. At the very to the lowest degree, you should postal service once a week, and always on the aforementioned mean solar day.

Setting a fixed day of the week to post your blithe videos will get in easier for your viewers to remember, and they'll exist more than probable to watch your videos. On your end, it'due south likewise going to help you stay organized, create animated content regularly.

Surprise drops don't use to YouTubers and other content creators who are solely responsible for distributing their own content. Surprise drops are but favored past big-time musicians with millions of fans and tape labels who distribute and marketplace their music.

Strict deadlines are something that the Explosm team takes seriously, and the squad is immensely proud that they've never missed an upload.

It can be wearisome to set an alarm every time you have to upload an animated video. The good news is that YouTube allows you to upload your videos in advance and schedule them.

When yous upload your video, you can change its visibility settings and gear up a schedule for information technology. Set a date, time, and fourth dimension zone that your video will be published.

You can also use a social media content calendar, especially if you want to sync your video uploads with posts on your other social media platforms. SproutSocial allows y'all to plot a calendar for your social media posts across different social networking sites.

Setting the schedules also means that SproutSocial volition automatically mail service the content for you, so you can be offline while your posts are going alive.

7) Collaborate With Other Animators

Prototype past CoWomen via Unsplash

If at a certain point your animation YouTube aqueduct grows such that you tin no longer shoulder all of the tasks by yourself, Ross Bollinger of Pencilmation says you shouldn't hesitate to bring in other animators for help.

Pencilmation's videos feature a main character, a stick effigy named Pencilmate. The series follows him through various comedic misadventures.

As your channel grows, so will your to-do listing, merely as the channel'due south creator, y'all might find yourself gravitating towards focusing on specific parts of the agenda.

Bollinger, for instance, started managing the conceptualization and business aspects of Pencilmation when the channel'due south post-obit started to grow. At that point, he realized he needed the help of other animators to reach all the other tasks.

Collaboration allows you to learn more than well-nigh how other animators work by giving you a front-row seat to witness their piece of work ethic and creative process. Information technology'south besides a cracking networking opportunity.

You can also think of collaboration as practice for the existent world. The experience can teach you how to work with others, cooperate, and compromise. These are skills you'll need in your animation career when working with both clients and colleagues.

The Best Animation Lessons from YouTube

YouTube has become a platform for many animators to share their content and even gain dedicated followers and animation clients. You tin can as well get a YouTube animator, but there are some important tips from successful YouTube animators y'all need to recall.

The get-go is that it helps to have a source of inspiration for your blithe videos. These tin be media that you honey to swallow, be it comics, movies, video games, etc. Yous tin also draw experiences from your personal life.

Simply the idea is only a minor part of it. You besides need to execute the idea in a manner that will entreatment to your target audience. This brings the states to the next tip - know your niche.

How can you create blithe videos that volition entreatment to your niche? What kind of content can you requite this audience that they aren't getting from anyone else? Agreement your audition will also inform how you lot title your videos, what thumbnails you'll use, and how yous communicate with your viewers.

Once you've decided on your animation niche, ensure that the subject thing of your animated videos is evergreen. Depicting specific political bug or figures in your videos may crusade them to get dated years from now.

Lastly, collaborate with other animators when the workload becomes likewise heavy to handle past yourself. Apart from assuasive you to focus on specific tasks for your aqueduct, collaboration allows you to network and larn from other animators.

For more than tips on how to grow every bit an animator, enroll in our free masterclass and download our costless marketing handbook.

Business of Animation Footer Logo