#stuffcase

benoit blanc. thats it this is him

and here's harrow and gideon. they started talking and gideon instantly got bored, which weridly prompted harrow to fall for her . this game must KNOW smth istg

ALSO THIS WAS THE FIRST THING HARROW SAID WHAT

so. this month my contract with what might've been the best opportunity I ever had in animation ends. I don't even mean it just in a financial way (even though the pay is REALLY good even though they're on a "tight budget"), but in a general Quality Of Life way.

for context: working conditions here in Brazil are Terrible, and even though people have gotten used to it, they're somehow getting worse.

well -- the creative industry here in Brazil, for its part, has been freelance or contract-based for most of its existence (even though some studios had full-time artists like 15 years ago), and now this kind of unstable, constantly tiring work is being pushed across basically every industry. Not even doctors (who are this huge elite here, and I always find it crazy how it isn't like that in other parts of the world) are free from it, though they compensate through their strong government articulation and generally great pay.

Most professional categories don't have strong unions (except those affiliated with the government), and even if they had, a great part of the population now works by informal means and many companies exploit this breach in working regulations to basically make "eternal freelancers". that means people have no benefits, no insurance, nothing -- you get that pay at the end of the month and that's exactly the return you get from your labour (which is, by the way, heavily controlled with no flexibility even though you're payed less and work informally). adding to that, we have huge corporate lobbies in the government, and millionaire companies are taking up the space that was once occupied by small business owners. I feel that every day living with my mom -- she's a vet, and huge companies and pet health insurances that pay scraps to the actual workers are taking more space day by day. she's only up because she doesn't have to pay rent.

I say this because the freelance and contract-based work that dominates our creative industries here is being pushed in other countries. I mean, I'm not so sure how it is in the EU, but I've been seeing this happen to many artists in the US. In late stage capitalism, it's only logical -- why would you pay a creative worker when 1) there's AI, already meaning less jobs and 2) creative products (i. e. animated shows) don't produce guaranteed and immediate profit, so why invest in this kind of project when we Need Line To Go Up? so this means -- yeah, you guessed it -- even less jobs. and the jobs that appear aren't really jobs, they're just gigs. and that's how it's always been for most of us creatives here in Brazil, so we get by.

that doesn't take into account the general decrease in quality of life, though. I'm also a freelance illustrator for Brazil's probably most prominent comics trademark, and they pay less than a minimum wage. even worse -- they don't even compromise on answering, giving feedback, or distributing a fixed number of work per artist per month, so there's no way to work around them to pay the bills. we have to work other jobs to maintain ourselves, while this huge company sells its comics and builds this public image of comradery, friendship and tradition on our backs. many of us who aren't fooled by this false image have tried talking about organizing -- but they brought in so many people. people with no experience; young people who still have their parents pay the bills, so they don't really "need" the job; people whose eyes shine by just remembering they're part of something bigger, they're working for X company now! and people who have other jobs, so this is just a silly side gig. so why would they risk it? why would they go against their beloved company, the one that was part of so many of our childhoods, when they don't really need their respect or their money to survive?

on the other hand, we have fathers of 2; veteran artists who are tired of not being paid for their experience; or even just people with a bare minimun of empathy that can see that what they're doing is wrong. but you can't organize with just a handful of people. we're trying to bridge the gap between those who are indignant and those who are passive, but it's honestly really hard.

I'll just keep using it as a side hustle (I'm not even in the comics industry anyway) like is having to do, but I just wish people would understand that there are artists struggling to feed their families while they gorge on some empty pride provided by an even more empty promise of work from this company.

And that brings me back to my current contract, which is ending soon, and I seem to be grieving for it already. Tbh, I've been grieving for it since it started. I have a hard time not thinking about the future and about how Everything is impacting the life of those around me, and I knew it would be a temporary contract. Leaving behind my full-time job in animated advertising, that turned fully to AI, was the best decision I've ever made. And tbh, it wasn't even a guaranteed full-time job: as I mentioned earlier, every profession is being treated as "irregular workers", and it was no different there. Even so, it was a huge leap for me. I got better pay, my art and professionalism had never evolved so much in so little time, and I made amazing friends and contacts. Honestly, I can't even begin to thank the director and my storyboard supervisor (who's also an amazing friend now <3), who trusted me so much and held onto me even though I'm basically junior. I can't wait for the movie (it's a feature film) to come out so we can all watch it in cinemas together.

but anyways -- I feel like that was such a spurt of good luck. I need to update my portfolio, but I'm almost burnt out (I'd been working 12-16 hours a day for the first four months of the year), and honestly I need a break. I'm taking July to sort things out and put out some new projects.

And then my aunt -- who immigrated to Dublin thanks to her husband getting a job at a major animation studio there -- came to visit. and she was shocked by how we live here. I mean, not necessarily me and my family, because by all means we have a pretty ok place besides the high bills, can get food and stuff. but since she emmigrated things have gotten so much worse. and she says it's visible in the ways prices and public policies progress here in Brazil vs in Ireland.

This innequality in lifestyle is visible not only through her telling us how they live there, and how their neighbours and coworkers live there. Every time I see, lets say, a USAmerican artist that's been unemployed in animation and had to get a job in retail I'm reminded of it. workers in retail in "developed" countries can still drive a car, get groceries, pay rent, live a life. workers in retail here in Brazil can barely pay rent and work a 10-hour shift. that, and the whole Working Conditions Progressively Deteriorating, no matter the category. More and more people being forced to do the equivalent to doordash; more and more people having to live to work, and just work. It's a reminder that if anything goes south for me or my mom, we're next.

I've been told multiple times that "you should work to live, and not live to work!". But I cannot believe that saying unless our material conditions let us do otherwise. How can anyone just work to live when they can barely meet ends? I know I'm in a very privileged situation, but the only thing that's maintaining me here is my own ability to work a specific job. Same goes for my mother, and multiple others. And what if the job doesn't come? If it were in the global north, we could do literally any other "unqualified job" (hate the term, but you see what I'm getting at) and still pay the bills; but we know the jobs are scarce and the pay is low.

That, and it can still get even worse if the far-right wins again in the elections this year. And we all know the second far-right mandate is always worse. If that happens, I know it'll be shitty in general for everyone, but the creative industry here will be basically dead. We already faced it one time and it was terrible.