Teo’s Journey with Creative Project Management Software as an Animator
- Adilla
- May 23
- 4 min read
Meet Teo.
He is a freelance animator working independently through his projects, like looking for clients, answering emails and even deciding what animation projects he can do. However, Teo has been struggling to sort through his projects. Suffering with success, one would say.
Here's how Teo’s day typically was:
Table of Contents
Daily Routine of An Artist
Morning Routine
Once I wake up in the morning, I usually check my emails or social media chats to see if my clients or fellow freelance artists that I work with have responded to any of my updates, like sketch confirmation, checking if there are any new commissions, or any finalisation of my work.
This process doesn’t usually take long. However, I tend to lose track of my clients if I have more than three animation projects to do, so I end up losing time trying to keep track of what I forget.
Afternoon Routine
When afternoon rolls in and I have lunch, depending on the day of the week, the afternoon slump is hard to fight back. If I really can’t keep myself awake even with any caffeine in me, I try to take a quick nap before continuing my work, if I don’t have a high-priority project on that day.
Night Routine
Some freelance artists don’t work at night, but I am one of those creatives who thrive working in the wee hours. Once that artistic workflow kicks in, you really can’t stop it until you are satisfied or tired. However, I try not to overdo it. I do still prefer waking up early to finish up my work earlier.
This is also the time of day when I check in with my other freelance friends with whom I do projects together. Sometimes we would share our projects’ progress to keep ourselves accountable.
Discovering Creative Project Management
During one of my daily check-ins with my other freelance artist friends, one of them brought up creative project management. I have heard of project management, but not creative PM. It wasn’t a topic that most of us were willing to listen to, since a few of my friends find structure suffocating or that it stifles their creative flow.
I found out that she has been implementing some PM software into her work to keep her motivated and stay on track with her workload. After doing a bit of research, I considered trying it out for the next few weeks to see if it improves my workflow.
Using Creative Project Management (Did) Changed My Workflow
One of the main changes in my work was being able to keep track of my projects and the progress I made on each one. This gave me more time in the morning to work on my projects.
Even for my animation projects that I work on together with my other freelance friends, we can send feedback to each other with better context and annotations. We didn’t have to wait to jump into a video call with each other to show what we needed to fix, which usually takes a chunk of our time, plus we don’t work at the same time.
Prioritising my projects became easier as well. I usually have to go through my notes while checking the calendar to see if I can squeeze extra tasks in between projects. Plus, seeing an overview of my workload helped in what I should expect on a day-to-day basis without having to guess what I should do next.
Post Creative Project Management Updates
You wouldn’t think that as a freelancer, you would need project management software, but I realised how vital it became in my day-to-day life as a freelance animator.
Before I started my journey with a project management software, my daily schedule was a bit more of a… mess, to put it lightly. Days are unpredictable, and procrastination ends up happening more often.
After trying project management software for myself, I can say it benefitted me more than stifling my artistic flow. Issues that I used to have with my projects were easily solved with a bit of creative project planning. I was even introduced to creative or artistic workflow management, which helped boost my productivity even further.
Conclusion
I used to hesitate to want to try using a project management software, but after my experience, don’t knock it till you try it! You’d be surprised how well you manage your animation or art projects with a bit of management.
If this sounds like you and you want to get hold of a project management software that’s suitable for creative projects, you don’t have to look far! TESSR is made with creatives in mind. We have features that help keep track of your projects and collaborate with your fellow freelance friends. Book a demo with TESSR and try it out!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is there project management for artists specifically?
There is artist project management, which is not so different from creative project management, but the former is more suited for non-corporate art projects.
Are there project management software programmes that are more suitable for independent artists?
This depends on the artists themselves. Some artists might prefer more app integration or prefer simplicity. There is no software made for independent artists. However, know that TESSR is made for creative projects!
Would project management work with artists besides animators?
Yes, project management is made to fit any project, whether it is big or small or artistic or not.
Teo’s Whisperer
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, including parodies of animated shows and plots for board games like Dungeons & Dragons. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. One day, she is eager to publish her book. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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