Howard Wimshurst

Turning Pro is a mapped out strategy to earn significantly more with your animation freelancing.
We achieve this through:

Video lessons
Pricing calculators
Fun Exercises
Contract templates
Commissions community
Tailored review of your portfolio

It's all wrapped up inside ONE course, for a one-time entry fee.
Hope to see you on the inside.

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1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 54

Howard Wimshurst

Here's a recap of some of the features of Turning Pro - the business training course for animators:

125 Video lessons - created by an animator with 12 years of commercial experience as a freelancer.
15 Specialized calculators - Permanent access to the calculators I use in commissions
15 Exercises - such as quizzes and writing exercises to help you retain the information
13 Contract templates - the documents I use to keep my operations smooth in commercial animation.
2D studio Map of the world - to effortlessly explore more commercial opportunities
Commissions Community - a private discord group where we share resources and commission opportunities.
Portfolio review - Get a custom-made portfolio review to make it more attractive to clients

Here is a livestream showcase if you missed it: youtube.com/live/BFdLPyMD7R0?si=LEkyHqBWVNSlOWWv&t…

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 41

Howard Wimshurst

Hope you will join me for the launch of Turning Pro www.animatorguild.com/turning-pro.html
I will also be in the discord chat. Anyone can jump in and ask me questions in there: discord.gg/2rVsNteJwc

1 month ago | [YT] | 20

Howard Wimshurst

I made an online course that teaches everything I know about the business of animation. It's a big course. Potentially overwhelming... (www.animatorguild.com/turning-pro.html)

1 month ago | [YT] | 61

Howard Wimshurst

Hey guy, In case you haven't seen my latest upload (most people haven't) - I set the countdown timer for the opening of my new online course which teaches business skills to animators. I'm working now to perfect everything inside the course. Well, rain or shine, it will open on December 1st on www.animatorguild.com/turning-pro.html you can see a dramatic-looking countdown timer on the page, and you can add your email to the form at the bottom to be notified when it goes on sale.

I get that I took a big haitus on YouTube, but man, YouTube really seems to be punishing me in terms of viewcount. I have released a string of new videos and most of the viewcounts flop.. EVEN WITH A NARUTO THUMBNAIL. So I know this is super cringe to say but I do appreciate everyone who hits the like button / leaves a comment.


Here's the link to the latest video: https://youtu.be/1PseS_2KpA8
I think it's a banger. My friend Lazar Corp is a force of nature with an amazing collection of animations to be inspried by.

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2 months ago | [YT] | 192

Howard Wimshurst

👋 I hope you remember me and my little animation channel. Soon I will be making a comeback on YouTube.
I'll explain later why I stepped away from posting regularly (for over a year- YIKES😬)
I'm brimming with ideas, but I want to get a feel for what the appetite is right now...

1) Any inspiring animations / animators whose work you want me to closely analyze?


2) What kind of techniques or styles would you be interested to learn more about?
3) What ability level are you? Where are you trying to get to? and what's holding you back?
4) What content outside of Animation are you vibing with right now?
5) What does my channel do for you? What do you want more of?

I want to serve the animation community and to do that I will listen to any / all suggestions.
Thank you for your time. Here are some pictures I took during my trip to Japan in cherry blossom season.

P.S. If you can identify what series these action figures are from, then we could be the best of friends.

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4 months ago | [YT] | 302

Howard Wimshurst

Which of these skillsets do you feel like you're lacking in?
(and is a problem for you)

5 months ago | [YT] | 54

Howard Wimshurst

Which of these are you most interested in

6 months ago | [YT] | 72

Howard Wimshurst

An open letter to (CITIA) ‪@annecyfestival‬

Dear Annecy Team,
I have attended Annecy festival many times, and it is an experience I look forward to every year. I regret that my first email to you is one with a negative theme, because you have helped to create a lot of joy in my life. As an animator, film enthusiast and business owner, this is an event that I care deeply about. So I have decided to write to you in honesty about our concern. This year, my friends and I left Annecy 2024 with a bitter aftertaste.

Members attend the festival to see real artists express themselves through the medium of animation. We do not pay to squint our way through garbled auto-generated AI pulp.


This year I had sit through multiple AI-generated pieces of content, and that was only in the fraction of animations in competition I personally saw. Aside from making me want to scrub my eyes with a soapy sponge, here are some other reasons why AI content has no place in a competition of artists like Annecy Festival:


1. AI dilutes the artform
Artists persevere through intense introspection, self-doubt and (often unpaid) creative labour to say something important, personal and authentic to the human experience. This AI filth offers nothing remotely authentic or relatable to the human experience. The visuals have the appearance of complexity but are empty of meaning. No intention. Every AI generated video is an area of ugly static noise where human expression could have been. The audience does not want to wait through this stupid mush to see the next legitimate entry in competition. I joined the audience in booing each AI generated entry that came up. Waste of our time.


2. AI contains data-laundered property
Would you accept the submission of a film that contained stolen artwork? AI generated images are mostly built on stolen datasets that do not belong to them. Built on the backs of proprietary works of professional artists without their informed consent. Not only is this legally contested, it is also categorically immoral. One AI entry I noticed had literally used an AI filter to rotoscope a famous piece of hand-drawn animation from a renowed studio. I would be happy to point to the exact shot they stole from in a frame-by-frame comparison. These are the kind of grifters you are now inviting and validating into the animation community. I had not realized that Annecy festival was so enthusiastic about showcasing data-laundered or outright stolen content alongside original works of art.


3. You betrayed the artists
Respectfully... Your festival would be NOTHING without the human artists, and what they have contributed over decades. They invested in their creative education, contributed their labour and shared deep human vulnerabilities in the form of animated stories. They submitted to you in good faith, assuming that they were entrusting their films to responsible bastions of the artform. They now find their animations shown alongside scrambled imitations of animations. This shows a misunderstanding of what art is, and a disrespect towards the artists who made Annecy what it is. You owe these film makers an apology.


4. Inclusion of racially-biased content is hypocritical
Looking at the festival programme, there is a clear agenda leaning towards gender / racial / cultural inclusivity. I support this agenda, but to select image-generated content for your competitions flies in the face of your otherwise progressive attitudes. The datasets these image generators draw from are riddled with nasty biases and stereotypes from the past, including sexist images, racist images, even child pornographic images. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about: Entering the prompt of a "black youth" might return a picture of a boy wielding a knife. Entering a prompt of a "wife" might return an image of a woman working in a kitchen. Prompting the image of a "gay man" might return naked or pornographic images. These historically entrenched datasets freeze our social progress and hold us to outdated and restrictive norms.


5. You knew what you were doing
You have had plenty of time to research all of this for yourself and confer with the artists and audience of your festival. Your mistake cannot be explained as incompetence, or even cowardice. You knew exactly what you were doing when you selected these entries. It feels like you spat on the legacy of animators past and present. No, not just artists - HUMANS. It feels like you spat on humans. And this is a festival that cares about the artform?


6. AI inclusion erodes confidence in the industry
Annecy festival benefits from a healthy animation industry. But if confidence in the artform is lost by all key players... there won't BE an industry. It's not just about the MERITS of human-made art. It's about the CONFIDENCE of all key players involved. Students and professionals need confidence that the animation industry will continue to financially reward professional animators. Patrons, buyers and clients need confidence that human-made stories are still seen as superior to auto-generated stories. Audiences of animation need confidence that what they are watching was made by a human with an intention to communicate something meaningful, that their trust is not being taken advantage of by stochastic parrots. AI image generators, whilst not actually matching up to real art, undermine the confidence of ALL key players in the animation industry. When this fad dies away, the desparity between human art vs machine generated content will become clear to all, but until then, the confidence of all key players in the animation industrythreatens to collapse the industry. The remedy to this is clear and decisive LEADERSHIP from institutions like yours.


7. My recommendation
Take a clear stance against this blatant erosion of our culture, our artform and our industry. Set a requirement that AI artifacts must not be present in animation submissions. Openly discourage the use of AI in the animation process. Publicly condemn this silicon-valley-fueled AI fad, and the grifters that work in its shadow. Have the foresight to turn down quick money that will lead to your later demise. You must resolve to draw a line between real art and AI garbage. The people demand it. The future of your festival depends on it.


I hope you carefully consider the points I have listed here. Thank you for your time.



Kind regards,
Howard Wimshurst

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7 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 263

Howard Wimshurst

Hey guys. I'm not dead, don't worry. I will be at ANNECY FESTIVAL next week, where you can see my animation process LIVE at the TVPaint booth in the Mifa tent at 3pm on 11th June.

If you're there, come and say hi. If you can't make it, I stream my animation process most nights on our Discord group VC, where anyone can drop in: discord.gg/2rVsNteJwc

I've been doing a lot of animation work behind the scenes. I took a break from the youtube video grind so that I could focus for a while without the distraction. I will explain further in an upcoming video. This pause is not forever. I will be coming back.

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7 months ago | [YT] | 161