Illustrator and Cartoon Animator content developer turns hobby into extra income

Application Cartoon Animator Conceptual Art

MAXIM

A lot of illustrators and animators find the 2D Marketplace a wonderful source of income from their hobby, including Maxim, who has created a side business for himself creating characters, backgrounds, props and more which can be used by individuals and companies looking to create professional explainer videos, 2D animated projects and print media.

In this interview Maxim talks about his influences, why he chose Cartoon Animator (CTA) as his preferred 2D animation software and how he hopes one day to turn his hobby into a full time job.

” Cartoon Animator is the best program for quick animation creation right now. Creating characters is an easy process thanks to the templates available inside. It was a good opportunity to expand my opportunity to sell my art, and I am pleased I made the decision. “
MAXIM – Illustrator / 2D Content Developer

Q: Welcome Maxim. Can you tell us about the work you’re doing with Cartoon Animator?

Hello. I make characters, scenes and props. I like to simplify the style of my characters. This allows for a smoother animation while still retaining recognizability.

When choosing a theme for animation, I focus on download statistics. Reallusion allows me to see which of my content is more popular based on the number of downloads. Also, over time, a lot of feedback from users of my content appeared. It always motivates and helps me. Even when creating characters, I try to imagine how my content may be best used by customers. Maybe it will be a promotional video, a presentation or a training video.

Q: Kindly tell us why did you choose Cartoon Animator as the platform to create your content?

I had been creating artwork for the website Shutterstock and it was noticed by a Reallusion manager who contacted and asked me if I would be interested in creating content for Reallusion’s 2D Marketplace.

I felt it was a good opportunity to expand my opportunity to sell my art and I am pleased I made the decision. This was back in 2017 and since then I have seen a lot of fantastic changes and improvements to Cartoon Animator and in my opinion CTA is the best program for quick animation creation right now

Q: What’s your favourite genre or theme to work with?

Right now most of my characters are employees of offices and hospitals. I create content that I feel will be useful for people producing material for explainer videos and print media, as well as relevant scenes and props to compliment my characters.

In the near future I will add family characters to my collection to expand the possibilities for my customers when working with my content. I feel I have a style of illustration that maintains consistency in look and design and produces a professional final product.

Q: Do you find the process of creating characters and content for Cartoon Animator easy and enjoyable?

Yes, it’s very simple. Reallusion is constantly expanding its animation capabilities. Creating characters is an easy process thanks to the templates available in Cartoon Animator. Yet I am able to custom design my own actors, scenes and props and put a personal touch to them. And then of course the ability to add preset motions with a single-click and have the characters instantly animate with smooth, professional animations makes 2D animating fun and easy. You can literally make an animation with two mouse clicks.

The ability to add 3D motion is just amazing. This makes it easy to make animation from different angles, but again, the process is as simple as dragging and dropping a preset 3D motion on to your character to get instant professional results. And if you have a motion capture suit, you get a complete animation studio at home.

Q: What advice would you have for inspiring developers looking to break into the Reallusion Marketplace and sell their content?

For novice developers, I advise you to try your hand at Cartoon Animator. The program is well optimized and requires a minimum of computer processing power. There are many tutorial videos on the Reallusion YouTube channel and website which teach you everything you need to know not only about 2D animation software, but also creating your own custom content for CTA.

After you develop your first character, you can animate whatever you want quickly and easily. You can apply one of the hundreds of 2D or 3D motions or you can keyframe your own motions and even the fine details of your characters movement like face parts. You get total control.

The main advantage of Cartoon Animator is that you can use the content you already have. You can turn your sketches easily in to characters, scenes and props to create entire worlds. You can animate any characters and scenes that you have created in other illustration programs. For instance, recently I have been learning Blender and have been creating a character model in it. This will allow me to make different angles of the same character, scenes and props and then use them in CTA, as well as gaining new skills in Blender.

Q: Do you have plans for future content in the works?

In the future, I plan to expand the theme of the characters. For instance, I would like to create an entire family of characters. I also want to try After Effects and learn Blender better. A big benefit of using CTA for me is the way it seamlessly works with so many other 2d character animation software packages, from design and illustration to modeling and adding post-production effects.

Q: What advantages do you find Cartoon Animator gives you?

The main advantages of Cartoon Animator are the speed and ease of content creation. As a developer, I get to spend more time being creative than being bogged down with technical aspects of the work, because CTA does all the hard work for you.

And since I can use so many other software packages alongside CTA it allows me to expand what I am able to create. And of course, additional income from my hobby is always encouraging. The 2D Marketplace is a wonderful opportunity for any artist to generate income and reach their audience. And best of all, it’s free to join and sell!

Q: What projects have you most recently been working on?

In general, my main job is construction. Therefore, there is always not enough time for 2D character animation and my other hobbies. But my passion is for illustration and animation and all my spare time goes towards creating new content for the 2D Marketplace. In the future, I am hoping I will completely switch to the art and animation industry and that is a goal I am working hard towards.