Help! Dont know how much to charge on a freelance job

guyj7878

I got an offer to do a medical 3D Animation after interviewed for a full time position on a salary of 70,000$/year
Im located in California and my level as a animator i would say in the middle 
Iv never worked as a freelancer animator before ....only as a full-time in house animator so i dont know how much should i charge for this type of animation
all the parts are already modeled 
How much should i charge?
Hourly Or per finished sec? and how much?>

Brian "Panda" Choi

Charge hourly, but really calculate daily for yourself.  Easier to count days than specific hours.

Charge whatever you should be salaried and then some to cover overhead like rent, software subscriptions, etc.

guyj7878

Hi Brian
Thank you for your response 
Is 35$/Hour would be fair enough ?
And how can i calculate this if im working from home?

Jakob Gavelli

Charge Daily, but do as Brian says and calculate hourly for yourself. Also don't forget to calculate Tax, I dunno about the U.S but it the EU we have VAT which is an extra 25% you need to charge etc. So don't forget about that stuff!

35$ is not high btw. I'd say 35$ is middle of the road, depending on your cost of living and average salaries in your area. Sounds like a good average rate to me! Might be a bit low even.

If you have a fulltime salary of 70k, that's ~5800$ a month. That's ~35$ an hour as you said, if we assume 20 days of work per month and 8 hours of work per day.

But I don't think you can do a conversion like that. You need to know how much higher tax you pay as a company vs worker. And how much extra you need for insurance and stuff. I'd say you're on the right track though. I still think 35$is good, but do your research and see how much money you end up with after tax, softwares, etc.

(No idea about how it works in the U.S, but in the EU as a freelancer you pay much more tax than a average employee, as the company pays a large amount of the tax on it's workers salaries and VAT, so there's a very big difference between employee-salary and freelancer-rates)

Sebeuroc

Jakob Gavelli said:

(No idea about how it works in the U.S, but in the EU as a freelancer you pay much more tax than a average employee, as the company pays a large amount of the tax on it's workers salaries and VAT, so there's a very big difference between employee-salary and freelancer-rates)

True in the US as well. Freelancers are considered small businesses, and if you aren't prepared, the additional taxes can be brutal. Plan ahead!

$35/hr sounds middle of the road to me. Maybe slightly on the low end. However, the most important thing is to calculate your cost of living VS your freelance rate. I'd say you want to be earning at least 2x the bare minimum you need to pay bills, though 3x would be more comfortable. That may sound like a lot, but you need to be able to pay for your own software, hardware, workspace, utilities, insurance, etc... It adds up quickly.

ambelamba

This is why I believe that some kind of agency/reps are necessary for 3D artists. Storyboard artists have agencies. Concept artists often rely on reps to find works. Why not us? Maybe paying 10% commissions worth it.