Crowdfunding in Animation
Like many forms of art, animation isn't a stranger to crowdfunding to produce a high quality production. To start, animated webseries need a high interest and online following to have a successful crowdfunding campaign. This by no means is to say that indie animation can only be successful after launching an official campaign to meet their financial goal. A handful of great series have been picked up by streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video to be made into an official series. Some examples that started off YouTube before being featured on such platforms include Hazbin Hotel, Adventure Time, and Oddballs, to name a few. That being said, using crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter can definitely help bring attention and build anticipation for unique animated films or special episodes.
One prime example is Critical Role's kickstarter for their series The Legend of Vox Machina that is currently on Prime Video. Critical Role is a channel made up of professional voice actors who make a series of videos on Twitch and Youtube playing Dungeons and Dragons. They had one of their campaigns adapted into an animated series by Prime Video with two seasons, each containing 12 episodes. In 2019, they launched a Kickstarter to crowdfund for a special of this animated series. As a result from their already large following and newfound fans from their animated series, they achieved well over their intended goal of $750,000 by raising a total of $11,385,449 from their Kickstarter. More details from their Kickstarter page can be found in the link below:
Another example of a successful Kickstarter campaign for an animated film is Studio Heartbreak's The Lovers. The animated film is one I've been personally keeping an eye out for their unique concept and the dark romance it portrays. Studio Heartbreak launched it's kickstarter in May 2023 along with an animated trailer to showcase the film's concept and the production quality of the small scale animation studio. The campaign also includes the behind the scenes for the production of this film by adding in character turn-arounds for the main leads of the film, concept art of the environment and backgrounds of the film, as well as including GIFs of the animated lineart of scenes found within the trailer. I highly recommend watching the trailer below of the studio's first independent film!
And like the previous Kickstarter, more details of this upcoming film's kickstarter can be found below:
As stated before, animation like many other art forms is no stranger to crowdfunding. It needs financial support to create high quality works of art for production costs and artist labor. Animation is an expensive cost to produce but creates an amazing work of art for the audience to watch and be mesmerized by time and time again. These passion projects to many, including myself, are worth the time, money, and effort it takes to create it. So the next time a new independent animated film shows up on your Youtube or any social media feed, consider taking some time to watch it and engaging with it and supporting the artist by doing something as simple as leaving a like.
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