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How to Find Work as a Freelance Motion Designer

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It's time to land all the gigs. Here's a few professional freelancing tips for Motion Design.

Freelancing. For some, it’s the only way they can imagine working. For others, it’s the scariest most unknown place they can imagine...like the dark dimension from Dr. Strange. If you can find balance between the hustle and reward, it's an absolute game changer for any artist.

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Freelancing comes with all kinds of perks:

  • You get to work when you want.
  • You can work where you want and for whom you want.
  • You can potentially work on cooler projects and make more money than you can as a staffer.
  • You can even work from home in your pajamas all day with no one to judge your lack of fashion sense or personal hygiene.

These are some awesome perks. I mean who doesn’t want to work on the coolest, best paying project ever while wearing their pajamas?  

Just setting some keyframes.

With great freedom comes great responsibility. All those administrative tasks your employer took on? Once you become a freelancer, they are all yours. You no longer get benefits, vacations, equipment, software, or a steady paycheck. Of course, you can get all these things as a freelancer. It just takes a bit more effort from you on the business end of things.  

At a staff job, you get to go to an office and work on the mograph projects that are assigned to you. Someone else goes out to get and manage the clients, scope the projects, do the invoicing, pay the taxes, rent the office space, buy the software licenses, pay your benefits, deal with taxes, and so on.

When you go freelance you have to become the whole business. Freelancing is a scary thing for the uninitiated. After all, where on earth can you get money if you don’t get a paycheck every two weeks?  

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Hey grandma, It's Paul. I know my birthday's not for a few months, but...

How Do I Find Motion Design Work?

This is the number one question we hear from students, new freelancers, and those considering making the jump to freelance. The answer? Hustle.

Donald Duck hustles

Most work comes to freelancers in one of four ways:

1. ONLINE FREELANCE SITES

There are boatloads of websites out there positioning themselves as freelance work marketplaces. These websites can be, to put it lightly, a mixed bag.

Most of these sites make freelancers bid on projects for a fairly limited amount, like $5. Most freelancers on these sites use templates to make the process economically sustainable, and it is generally not very creative work.

Some of these sites use contests to incentivize people to create work for them, meaning if you don't win the contest...you don't get paid.

With all that in mind...these sites are a way to get started and build a client base. If you are extremely new to motion design, this is a place to cut your teeth on lower risk projects. Clients paying you $50 bucks tend to be a bit more forgiving than the ones paying $5,000.

If you want to get started, Fiverr and Upwork are reputable places to try out. Just don't think you're going to retire off of these projects.

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How is this sustainable?!?

2. REFERRALS

Referrals are huge. In my 12+ year of freelancing, the vast majority of my clients have come from referrals. This means so-and-so who worked with me on such-and-such recommended me to their producer or director. When they had overflow work, they contacted me directly.

This is the best way to get new gigs as it requires almost zero effort on your part, beyond doing great work and being professional. The catch is, this kind of work comes with experience.

Pro Tip: To get more referrals, don't be a jerk!

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3. SALES

Did you just read that word and think “WHAT? I’m a motion designer, not a business person!” While that might be your gut reaction, you need to check it. If you are a freelancer, you are a business owner. Business owners need to think about sales, proposals, invoicing and client/customer relationship management.

If you want to be always booked as a freelancer, you need to get comfortable with selling yourself. Even if you get a referral, you still need to do a little selling.

Selling can be as simple as sending an email to video production houses letting people know that you are a Motion Designer in the area. Just get your name out there! Buying a producer some coffee goes a long way.

And don't even think about asking for cream and sugar!

If you’re not sure where to start with selling yourself as a Motion Designer, check out The Freelance Manifesto: A Field Guide for the Modern Motion Designer by our very own Joey Korenman.

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The Freelance Manifesto is your roadmap to finding work.

The Freelance Manifesto distills years of experience into an easy to read, easy to implement system for finding clients, making money, and achieving your freelance dreams.  

4. SOCIAL MEDIA

You hope I’m kidding right? If you have been shying away from social media, now is the time to cut it out and get posting. I'm not talking about pictures of latte art on Facebook. Start posting your work on Dribbble, Instagram, Behance, or Twitter.

People spend more time on Social Media than actually talking to others. If you want to reach more people, get on at least one social channel. In the social media world, keep it professional. Start an account that is solely for your professional side. Post work as often as you make it. People will see it and, who knows, maybe even hire you to make more of it.

And for the love of all things MoGraph, please keep the political posts on your private Facebook account. I've heard of multiple Motion Designers losing out on work because of controversial political posts.

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So which myspace theme should I choose?...

Don't forget to also use LinkedIn, but there are more secret tool there waiting for you.

5. MOTION DESIGN JOB BOARDS

What? Job boards for motion designers? Is there such a thing? Yes! In fact, we have our very own School of Motion Job Board. Yes, you heard that right. Your very own trusted source for mograph education, news, and tips is now a source for work too. Neat!

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School of Motion Job Board for the Win!

We think the School of Motion job board is the bees knees, of course, a bit biased. We also like the job boards at Dribble and Motionographer.

Also, if all else fails you can Google Motion Design Jobs and get a healthy amount of MoGraph gigs. Most of them will be full-time, but there are freelance opportunities out there as well.

Now, go find some work!

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EXPLORE ALL COURSES ➔

Dive into real-time 3D with our Unreal Engine beginner's course by Jonathan Winbush. Master importing assets, world-building, animation, and cinematic sequences to create stunning 3D renders in no time! Perfect for motion designers ready to level up.

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Unlock the secrets of character design in this dynamic course! Explore shape language, anatomy rules, and motifs to craft animation-ready characters. Gain drawing tips, hacks, and Procreate mastery (or any drawing app). Ideal for artists seeking to elevate their craft.

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Elevate your freelance motion design career with our guide to client success. Master a repeatable method for finding, contacting, and landing clients. Learn to identify prospects, nurture leads, and develop a thriving freelance philosophy amidst chaos.

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Rev up your editing skills with After Effects! Learn to use it for everyday needs and craft dynamic templates (Mogrts) for smarter teamwork. You'll master creating animated graphics, removing unwanted elements, tracking graphics, and making customizable templates.

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Stand out with Demo Reel Dash! Learn to spotlight your best work and market your unique brand of magic. By the end, you'll have a brand new demo reel and a custom campaign to showcase yourself to an audience aligned with your career goals.

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Illuminate your 3D skills with Lights, Camera, Render! Dive deep into advanced Cinema 4D techniques with David Ariew. Master core cinematography skills, gain valuable assets, and learn tools and best practices to create stunning work that wows clients.

Explore this Course âž”

Master After Effects at your own pace with Jake Bartlett's beginner course. Perfect for video editors, you'll learn to create stylish animated graphics, remove unwanted elements, and track graphics into shots. By the end, you'll be equipped for everyday AE needs and more.

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Revolutionize your Premiere workflow with customizable AE templates! Master creating dynamic Motion Graphics Templates (Mogrts) in After Effects to speed up your team's work. By the end, you'll craft easily-customizable templates for seamless use in Premiere Pro.

Explore this Course âž”
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The freelancer’s guide to finding, booking, and keeping clients.

Drive your freelance motion design career to the next level with a repeatable method of finding, contacting, and landing clients. You’ll learn new ways of identifying prospects and nurturing leads, plus how to develop a freelance philosophy that keeps you thriving through chaos. See this system in action so you can implement it yourself!

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Not sure where to start?

If you’re a beginner, here are some great courses to help you get started:

After Effects Kickstart

Dive into the fundamentals of motion design with our most popular (and recently updated) After Effects course.

LEARN MORE

Photoshop + Illustrator Unleashed

Master the basics of Photoshop and Illustrator and gain invaluable insights in this introductory level course.

LEARN MORE

Design Kickstart

An introduction to the design principles behind all great work.

LEARN MORE

More Advanced?

If you’re a more advanced student looking to up your game, here are some great options:

Animation Bootcamp

Learn the art and principles of creating beautiful movements in Adobe After Effects.

LEARN MORE

Design Bootcamp

Learn to design for motion in this intermediate-level, project-based course.

LEARN MORE

Cinema 4D Basecamp

Learn Cinema 4D from the ground up in this exciting introductory C4D course.

LEARN MORE

Now is the time to learn the skills you need to advance in your motion design career: