Wednesday, March 21, 2018

There's a reason I went into publishing instead of animation and filmmaking.

I initially wanted to be an animated series creator, and I very well would have been had the barrier to entry for working in animation not been so high. I went into self-publishing, ebooks, and webcomics because that's something anyone can do with the right talent, skill, practice, vision, willpower, and enough hard work. Webcomics aren't protected by a barrier to entry the way traditional comics and animation or anime is. The more I pursued animation as a career, the greater I came to be aware of the barrier to entry in the animation business. Animation jobs take connections and often education (but not always education, just knowing the right people and having the proper talents and abilities mostly...With webcomics all you have to do is draw something, scan it, digitize the file, upload it, and voila, you're a comics auteur. Succeeding at starting a career in an animation production involves a lot more politics than online comics. So I slowly shifted away from that, while I may be talented and highly skilled, I'm still limited by industries with a high barrier to entry. Amazon Kindle, YouTube, Google, DeviantArt, ComicFury, despite hosting some great talents, and a large diversity of skill levels they host, from childhood amateur to veteran industry international pro, they still have a much lower barrier to entry (the whole “anybody can do it” DIY mentality. Traditional comics and book publishing, and animation, despite seeming welcoming to amateurs and newbies, really aren't accommodating to new talent at all. The barrier to entry for animation and traditional corporate publishing remains high, as does the quality standard, which isn't really tied to barrier to entry, but they're trying to maintain that illusion industry veterans like to keep that says that quality standard of a high barrier to entry is at an equivalent level. Hence complicating the perception of that industry. But as the internet media has show, the barrier to entry can be low while still maintaining a high level of quality. There are plenty of artists and authors who prove this, including myself. So no, NOT Everyone CAN do it, but almost anyone should be welcome to try.

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