I've had to turn down quite a few job offers recently simply because they couldn't guarantee that I would be paid for my work. I can understand animation jobs being hesitant to have me working even an unpaid internship, since I have zero connections, would have to move to Burbank, and need to be trained to use software that my computer can't seem to be able to download (although I have tried my absolute hardest to prove my experience in similar cheap/open source software is easily transferrable to the likes of ZBrush, Maya and 3DS Max), but recently a lot of interviewers have seemingly stringed me along into dead-end volunteer (aka "slave") work, even if I made it clear from the start that I need a job to pay the bills and cannot work for free, even if it's a minimum-wage job that most wouldn't even consider outside of getting paid.

Basically what I'm saying is that I need a way to make SOME money while I continue to work on a freelance animation and find a job where the interviewer doesn't forget along the way that I am a 27-year-old grown man with lots of retail/customer service experience in particular and thus can't afford to work at a job that isn't willing to pay me enough for gas, water, electricity, etc.

Until that mythical "job that values your work enough to pay money for your efforts" finally comes along, I will do small, quick 2D art projects for as little as $2:

...or 3D sculpts (in Nomad or Blender, since I'm only allowed to use ZBrushCoreMini for non-commercial practice) for as low as $3:

These prices may seem excessively cheap for some, but the point is that I need ANY money, regardless of amount, to maintain some level of adult independence, and until minimum-wage opportunities stop taking all this time away from my animation and making me prepare for multiple interviews only to pull the "we can't pay you, but we'll give you EXPOSURE" card, even at jobs that I have worked at in the past and have solid proof that I can be trusted to work for a salary, I do need a little extra help to avoid running out of money entirely. Sorry if this seems more like a vent, I just would be EXTREMELY grateful if you take me up on this offer and while I can't do big projects at this time I would work very hard to make these little projects live up to your standards. You would think having worked in some form of retail and customer service for 10 years of my life, most recently at a grocery store until June of this past year, I would have at least a little bit of an easier time finding another minimum-wage job, but for whatever reason so far many of my interviews have been dead-ends simply because the employers want me to do free work and "internships" like they're a gateway to a big-shot studio like Disney or Naughty Dog. Okay, okay, I'm done. Just pay me as little as $2 for some work from me, and I'll at least not be homeless before I finally find a job willing to pay me and be more grateful than you can possibly imagine...

I’ve made a game! Well, sort of…

I’ve been spending some of my weekends dabbling with an app called Struckd, and I personally think it’s the closest thing to a 3D RPG Maker, among other genres—they even have a template for Sonic-style platformer! It’s really easy to use for someone like me who does NOT enjoy coding/programming, but does enjoy level design and writing bonkers dialogue for characters. You can play the fruits of my labors, entitled “ButtChrono Chapter 1,” right now if you download the app on your phone. You don’t even need to sign up for an account unless you want to make games yourself, and you can save your progress!

Play ButtChrono Chapter 1 Now

I even quickly put together an overwrought Hollywood-style trailer on YouTube for it!

Enjoy!

I don't want celebrate TOO early yet, but I am proud to announce that I have been accepted for an internship at a start-up company! Not a horrid job in retail or groceries like my previous job, but a remote Blender animation job that actually uses my skills in computer art! This is an ideal situation for me!

It will last 5 months, but potentially lead to a job at the company. I am still committed to uploading some small art here, on Ko-fi and Linkedin, for every Saturday for the rest of 2021 and I have all of the pieces finished and ready--meaning I shouldn't miss any Saturday even if something comes up, other than maybe uploading a day early on a Friday on occasion. However, I will focus all of my artistic energy for the next 5 months solely on that internship and hopefully turning it into a long-term, paid job, so my uploads may dry up quite a bit in early 2022. Also, I will not be accepting commission and animation requests for a while and possibly even longer if I finally achieve my dream of being paid a (relatively) stable income doing art at a studio, because I will spend most of my remaining free time chipping away at big personal projects and not really worry about maintaining my social media presence anymore.

Rest assured, though, that I may go quiet for the best possible reason of being paid to do what I love, and that when I do upload here or elsewhere again, it will only be highly-polished and weird independent art that will be worth the incredibly long wait!

Also, in the short term I've been avoiding social media simply because I don't want to see any spoilers for Deltarune Chapter 2 until I finish the game myself. You understand, right?

UPDATE: Finished Deltarune Chapter 2. Go ahead and draw your sick Susie fanart like a real BIG SHOT!

Hello, my name is Jeffrey Thrash and I am an animator that specializes in traditional frame-by-frame animation and 3D modeling. I am available for work and my main tools of the trade include my iPad Pro (for 2D art) and a RTX 3060 laptop with Blender, B4Artists, Cycles/Eevee, Paint.net, SculptGL, and any other tools that will help me produce quality 3D art in the most efficient manner possible! My art tends to be stylized and I have a preference for drawing or sculpting hideous creatures similar to the ones you would see in "gross-ups" from Ren and Stimpy or SpongeBob SquarePants. I also have experience with writing comedy, sound design, and voice acting. Here are my prices:

2D (Single Character, Simplistic BG):

Sketch: $7

Black and White (B&W) Line Art Only: $15

Line Art + B&W Sketchy Shading: $25

Basic Color (No Shading or B&W Sketchy Shading): $35

Color + Cel Shading: $45

Painterly/Fully Rendered: $75

2D Animation (frame by frame): Contact me

3D (Character in Public Domain Sketchfab BG):

iPad/SculptGL sculpt (no rigging-friendly topology, but can be completed quickly): $50

Animation-ready 3D model: $100

3D Model with basic skeleton rig: $200

3D Model with basic skeleton rig/shape keys (.blend file format only): $300

3D Animation: Contact me

I generally only feel comfortable doing SFW art (outside of comedic Adult-Swim-like violence), so if you want NSFW art, I am not the one you want. I am at least comfortable doing characters that are sexy in a mainstream way (think Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit), including female BBWs and body-building men (although I am not gay or bi, I have far more experience with male anatomy).

I hope I can be of service and I will be more than happy to work with you!

My Portfolio Site

My Ko-fi

I’m going to upload this week’s piece on Monday instead of Saturday, because as you know, September 11th, 2021 is the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and as someone who still vividly remembers the attacks and the ensuing disillusioning political division, which happened when I was just 7, I don’t feel comfortable uploading anything this Saturday or looking at the Internet at all.

Thus, Monday is when you should expect to see new art from me. I’ll upload one of my funnier drawings or 3D art so you can have something more lighthearted to look forward to that Monday, and my plan to make and upload stuff for every following Saturday for the rest of 2021 has not changed.

I’m going to post ink-like drawings and the occasional 3D sculpt from my iPad while I work on bigger projects starting with today’s “Stinkums and Stunnmoney” every Saturday for the rest of 2021 (and possibly beyond). I already have all the pieces for this month and October lined up and they don’t take too long to make, meaning I won’t suddenly go back on this or go eerily quiet if these comes up or I manage to get a job that pays way better than uploading free content on the Internets does—I’m fully prepared.

My goal with all these smaller projects is to practice and develop good habits at a faster rate than if I just worked on long projects, plus to promote my Ko-fi and potentially make a tiny income there.

My Ko-fi

Sadly (or happily, depending on your views on weebs), I have lost interest in the VTuber community and have unsubscribed from almost all of them so they don't crowd out all the stuff I do enjoy these days. The only exception is this one underappreciated VTuber called OkaRuko, who I can never understand because all but a couple of her videos are in Japanese, but I still adore for two hefty reasons (four if you count the bottom and belly, six if you count her all-important sweet smile and "beauty queen" handwave)...

https://youtu.be/9qqUFq_fCe4

...Also, I'm working on art things, I guess. I'm always working on art things. This is just an excuse to simp for OkaRuko and hopefully turn you into simps for the Fairest VTuber of All, too. Just remember that she prefers to be called "chubby," not a "BBW."

Please don't hurt me, but I've been watching clips of Kamp Koral from time to time and regardless of what you think of its mere existence or of reboots in general, I think it should be praised for raising the standards of TV-quality, cartoony 3D Animation and rendering. I imagine it only looks this stretchy and fun (but in THREEEEE-DEEEEEEE!!) because it's SpongeBob (sort of) and therefore gets a bigger-than-usual animation budget, but I think anyone struggling with rigging and blend shapes should at least give clips of this show a chance to see what can be done with modern CG animation, even without a massive "Disney" budget.

https://youtu.be/0go7s4iaxE8

I’m currently working very hard on an animation and it’s going to be a while before I post anything, so I thought I’d share some sketches I’ve been doing to unwind and vent.

As you can probably tell by the Ongo Bongonglio sketch, I REEEAAALLY need to vent through sketching these days…

Out of curiosity, how would I go about asking coders for help? Don’t get too excited yet, I have to get a high-paying job before I can even think about hiring people, but for future reference, I am an artist looking for a programmer who is good at using open-source engines like Godot specifically to make nostalgic N64-era 3D platformers and hopefully eventually make a large-scale RPG (turn-based). My art style (for 3D) uses hand-painted/baked/unlit textures as much as possible, plus the most basic rigs I can get away with (if the asset in question needs rigs and animation) and so hopefully it wouldn’t be a huge hassle optimizing my created assets for low-end laptops or mobile/Switch and 60 FPS.

Let me know if you know a guy who knows this guy who knows this guy who knows this guy who knows this guy who knows this guy who knows this guy’s COUSIN…

Also give to my Ko-fi whenever you can. If you know a guy who—(oh no, not again!). Um, if you know someone that can donate monthly, even if it is just the bare minimum, that would be ideal and get me significantly closer to actually hiring someone instead of just thinking about it.