Animation Pricing Guide Costs and Factors
Are you thinking about getting an animated video made but are unsure of what to expect it to cost?
The short answer is:
This studio’s rate is 50 per 5 seconds of animation or 1-minute of animation starting at $600.
But the complete answer is affected by many factors. Here is how we can derive an estimate for your project:
Factors
It’s time to ask yourself some questions to get a better idea of your project’s needs to will impact it’s cost:
What length of video are you looking for?
What style of animation would you like? This answer may require the creation of custom assets which will affect cost.
Sometimes you’ll only need someone to purely just animate what you have provided. Other times you only have a script and will need someone to design every asset from the ground up.
Additionally, every animator’s rate will differ based on their experience and what they can offer to satisfy:
Speed
Quality
Affordability
Once you get a clear idea of your project, then we discuss the process. Let’s get started!
Production Pipeline - Deliverables
In both production houses and in my independent freelance studio, this is the process to produce an animated video:
Styleframe
2-4 Still images of key scenes in the script.
Meant to give a sample of what the video will ultimately look like.
Storyboards
A pdf of all still-image shots, drawn or designed, to see how they will create a sequential story.
First Draft
Animated video
Edits
The advantage to doing styleframes and storyboards before jumping into animation is to lock down an agreed upon style and direction for the video in a more accessible way as early as possible. While not unheard of, it is an unnecessary cost to spend hours rigging and animating characters only to find out the client wants to go in a different direction. It’s cheaper for the client in the long run to know what to expect up front so they can give the green light to the next stage in the production process.
Example Packages
Every project I work on will include 2-3 styleframes, storyboards, and a first draft of the video and precludes any hours of edits after the initial video draft.
I can produce:
A 15 second animation with graphics provided to me for $150 in 3 working hours.
A 30 second animation with custom graphics for $750 in 15 working hours.
A 60 second animation with 2 custom characters, and custom graphics for $2300 in
46 working hours.
Here is another great tool for calculating animation prices:
Examples of what I’ve charged for past projects
I have charged a rate of $50-65 per hour over the last few years. I’m not at liberty to divulge the names of clients but here are some breakdowns of my major projects.
“Tech - Giant 1”
High quality, super smooth motion graphic animation
no characters or designing
1:30 min of animation
50 hours of work
$3000
“Tech - Giant 2”
Medium quality motion graphic animation
no characters or designing
2 min of animation
24 hours of work
$1200
“Home Repair Services - Mid Sized”
4 character designs & animation
Styleframes and storyboards were provided to me
2:00 min animation
25 hours of work
$1,000
“Healthcare - Mid Sized”
Designed, rigged, animated 4+ character, assets, backgrounds.
3:15 min Animation
67 hours of work
$3,875
“Media - Giant”
High quality character animation (All assets provided)
30 second animation
13 hours of work
$675
“Tech - Big”
High quality, super smooth motion graphic animation
No characters. Minimal custom designed assets.
1:15 animation
Many Rounds of Revisions
149 h
$8195
If you’re still curious or would like help figuring out the scope of a project, visit my website or email me at
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