Hi, it's Omar!
I’m a full-time freelance motion designer. I consider myself an animator. but I also design from time to time (usually “taking inspiration” from other people’s work on Pinterest and occasionally stealing their color palettes LOL). I have a background in programming and VFX (which probably explains why I use motion blur… well.. slightly more often than the average motion designer).
I’m located in Egypt (it’s an amazing country. If you give it a visit one day, we can hang out. Seriously, I know some amazing food shops)
I work in real-time with the team across US time zones, preferably Eastern Time (ET). Also, the cost of living in Egypt is a lot lower than in, say, NYC. So, I’m able to get away with charging only half or a third of what a US-based freelancer would charge. See Cross Border FAQs for more on this. And, thank you for being here!
I LOVE BOOKS!
Some of the stuff I read is very interesting and I wish I could share it with other artists on social media. But Honestly, spending hours scrolling just leaves me feeling drained. So I switched it up for reading (and occasional Reddit dives). I even deleted my accounts recently. (made new ones LMAO. find the links below).
I’ll share my philosophy on freelance by exploring some ideas from my favorite books here:
The freelance manifesto
Overview
This may be my favorite book ever. Joey was originally a freelancer but later, as a creative director, he probably hired more freelancers than he has ever been hired. So, he talks about all aspects of freelance from the prespictive of both the freelancer and the client. It’s an amazing book and I’ll share some of my favorite ideas from the book bellow.
The hold system
It’s no secret, the hold system is not perfect. But, it’s probably the only reason freelance is possible in the first place. And, apart from the few clients that abuse the system. it’s actually a solid system. Maybe it’s easy for me to say that because I’m lucky all my past clients were super nice. I know it sucks sometimes, but remember that if it weren’t for the hold system, freelance would not be possible in the first place.
Reliability beats talent two to one
Think of a studio as an engine, each member a cog. Now, a freelancer, they’re like a gear. Even if that gear is of the highest quality, if it doesn’t mesh well with the rest of the machinery, the engine WILL sputter and stall.
That’s why reliability and communication are crucial; as a freelancer, you shouldn’t be a burden on the team. And that’s also one of the reasons I like to blend in and work during the team’s work hours.
The Illusion of Life. (12 principles of animations)
This book is the main reference for, I think, all of the animation courses I’ve taken!
I made this quick GIF to show an example of how much different applying the concepts in this book can make. Click it to see the whole process and a Timelapse. My treat!
here’s my take: Animation principles can indeed transform a piece to the next level level. But, if the idea or design of a piece is not great, you’ll only get so far with good animation. Good design with basic animation is much better than bad design with good animation.