In case you weren't aware of how bad the VFX and game industry are right now, here's a list of the *thousands* of job lost in the LAST FEW MONTHS: : vfx. Motionographer | Digital Filmmaking, Animation, Motion Graphics, Design, Film, Visual Effects and Experimental Moving Image Storytelling. Cost of Living and the CG artist:Tell us your opinion. The cost of living in big cities, expensive health insurance, cost of raising family, etc, applies to everyone, no matter which field they are working, and probably, many get paid less than cg, more overtime, worse working condition, and they complain less than people in the cg/vfx(again, probably). Hmmm.... I'm not sure how to answer this. On the one hand, you're absolutely right. Many people do more with a lot less.
I don't deny that we should pay our educators more. It sucks that waitresses have to sometimes work double shifts just to barely survive. There's no reason why some newbie police officers should have to also collect public assistance because their base salaries are so low. However, let's not simply label these complaints as whining. You say that long hours are common in other industries and you're right. More over, if you're a cop, teacher, or waitress, you can get a job just about anywhere.
However, if you're a CG artist, you have to go where the work is. Yeah. Again.... Stephen Silver: “Stop Working For Free!” Character designer Stephen Silver is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore. Silver, who is the designer of shows like Kim Possible and Danny Phantom, posted an impassioned YouTube video a few days ago urging young artists not to give their work away for free. Silver’s message is simple but priceless: if you don’t respect your own creative skills, others won’t either. This has always been a difficult idea for creative people to grasp—myself included—because we enjoy what we do for a living. Most young artists don’t enter the animation field because they want to become rich; they do it because they love the art form.
But not everyone shares that idealism. Almost every creative person eventually comes around to the concept that Silver is advocating in his video. Cartoon Brew | Animation News, Animated Cartoons. Animations Online - Index · puppetcentre.org.uk.