For the Fun of It - the animation union rally

what it meant to me

The Animation Guild starts their negotiation on Monday morning, and yesterday, there was a rally in Burbank. The biggest we’ve ever had.

I’m in here somewhere to the left.

It might be surprising to hear that I am part of the Animation guild. I’ve been a card-carrying member of IATSE 839 for the past 10 years or so. But this substack has been mostly illustration and art and other things.

Part of the reason I started this substack is because I haven’t been able to work in the industry for a long time. I’ve been out of fulltime animation work since the last show I was working on (supervising directing) got canned during the merger in March of 2023. When I started, I was a few months into unemployment from the industry and looking for something to do. I knew it was going to be a long unemployment, after all, my best friend had just returned to Canada after being unable to find work. The gloom of the industry had just started to settle in then. But if there was gloom now, now we're in a storm. I knew it would be long, but I didn’t know it would be this long.

Saturday’s rally was particularly important to me because I recently had found a job. For the last few months, I was doing storyboards. A non-union job, it was a survival wage more than anything.

But on Thursday, I had gotten laid off with a day’s notice, the season done and they hadn’t let me know until now. Now that is gone too.

Animation

I remember exactly when I chose that I wanted to do animation as a job. I was in the 10th grade, and we were expected to do 40 hours of either job training or volunteer work. I had been curious about something with drawing, but scared because it didn't seem like a stable or doable career.

I did this course at the Art Insitute of Vancouver (which, btw, RIP but also congrats on all the students who got their debt erased because it was a scam school). Anyway the Art Institute of Vancouver had a program for teens to learn animation over the weekend. It was something like $40 for two full 8 hour days of learning.

They still had flipping paper animation, and it was the first time in my short life where I felt like I was doing just what I wanted to do. And more than that, I felt like I had found my people.

My people, my team, my heart

That was what the rally reminded me of. That most of all, what has kept me back in Animation, is that the team is something that hasn't gotten old for me yet. My heart still soars when I see an old crewmate.

There were more people there than I'd ever seen of our union at once. I want to say hundreds, maybe thousands, it was hot and awful and uncomfortable and we shouted and booed and cried and cheered.

The negotiation starts on Monday with AMPTP, and all we can do is fight. Even though we are tired, even though it has been a devastating few years.

I love illustration, and art, and the practice of making art, but losing animation has felt like a slow unraveling of my soul. I have gone through so many phases with it, with grief and anger and acceptance. In order to keep my heart from breaking every day, I have to strive for an acceptance of it all, that none of this is within my power.

I can be an Emmy-nominated artist, writer, and director with a dozen years of experience and have truly made it, and can still be struggling to find work. I can even be working on a preschool spinoff of Adventure Time, one of the most popular franchises of all time, and be getting certified for ECE to further my preschool knowledge, and have sold a half dozen shows into development, and still be wondering if I should pursue a different career.

They had us fill out this animation bingo.

When I talk to others in the same boat, we all return to the question of, well what else would we do? This is something I struggle with, and continue to struggle with. I love a lot of things, teaching kids, writing and illustrating books, painting. But to me, animation is part of my whole. It’s one of my communitie. It's hard to imagine replacing it with something else.

Sorry this week is a little more of a downer. Being at the rally did give me some hope that I hadn't felt in a long time. I am still a mosaic of feelings about it. If you want to see more coverage of the rally, you can see more at Cartoon Brew.

I saw a dear coworker and friend Austen Marr at the rally, and he had just finished teaching a class for Warrior Art Camp!! I am finishing up my ECE certification but as soon as that's done, I am hoping to take some of their amazing courses. They have such a great variety and whether you're in animation or illustration, I think you’ll love what they offer.

I have been looking for a carry-all pouch for my purse and finally settled on a Delfonics pouch. If you've got a little more than pencil case amount of stuff, you'll love the delfonics pouch. It even fits my new little clipboard for watercolors.

I still covet things like the Peg and Awl Sendak roll, but the Delfonics pouch honestly holds more and serves my personal needs better (as I have more palettes and larger things than a roll would hold. It is also available in a bunch of colors, at places like Jetpens! It’s a bit pricier than your standard pencil case but the canvas makes it nice and sturdy.

ok love u bye