Nice Moves Monthly Meetup: State of Freelance Panel

Freelance life: Glamorous? Chaotic? A little bit of both? Let’s talk about it!

Nice Moves is hosting a State of Freelance Panel, and you’re invited! We’re gathering a crew of art directors, motion designers, illustrators, 3D artists, creative veterans of all kinds to spill the tea on all things freelance. IT WILL NOT BE STREAMED, so the conversation can be client and NDA-worry free.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to level up, you’ll get practical advice and real-world stories from people who’ve been there.This panel will be moderated by Nice Moves with some prepped questions to lay the ground floor before ample time opens up to YOUR Q&A!

Here’s the deal:

📅 Date: May 15th, 2025

🕡 Time: 6:00 PM CT (Panel officially starts at 6:30 sharp, with pizza mingle time before and after)

📍 Where: Canadian Pacific Plaza, First Floor Lounge and Presentation Room

🔗 Join the community online here: https://discord.gg/9TBzjRR

RSVP here, so we know how much pizza to get! 

Come with questions, leave with freelance wisdom (and probably some new friends too).

MORE ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:

We’re bringing together a stellar group of artists with decades of experience between them navigating their freelance careers: Anna Taberko, Maddy Haynes, Katherine Pryor, Kyle Franke, Alicia Allen, and Derek Buettner.

ANNA TABERKO

Anna Taberko is a freelance animation generalist based in Minneapolis. Her work is focused primarily on 2D motion design, with past clients including Duolingo, Meta, Youtube, Apple, and more. When not at her desk, she enjoys turtle watching at the park and playing video games. 🐢

ALICIA ALLEN

Alicia Allen breathes life into ideas for agencies and brands, backed by a 17+ year deep dive into the world of motion design. She's been a veteran of both the freelance and studio worlds as the cofounder of Neighbor, Foreign Fauna, and her newest venture, Modular, while also working independently.

KATHERINE PRYOR

Katherine Pryor is a 2D cel animator based out of St Paul, MN with almost 10 years of experience working with clients such as Youtube, Cartoon Network, and Adobe. Her favorite thing about animation is how it combines all of her interests- technical thinking and problem solving, acting and storytelling, and of course, art and creativity!

MADDY HAYNES

Maddy is an animator and illustrator based in the twin cities. She's been in motion design for almost ten years and illustration since she was a teenager. She likes small dogs, big lakes, and medium sandwiches. Also big and medium dogs to be honest.

DEREK BUETTNER

I am a LLC-based home freelancer specializing in Industrial Design, operating on weekends from 12-6pm. My client work includes prototyping new products and enhancing visual assets through CGI, helping bring the clients ideas to market. Common services I provide to each client often include 3D scanning, 3D printing, CAD modeling, and CGI.

KYLE FRANKE

Kyle Franke is a VFX Director, DP, and full-time keyframe wrangler who’s spent over 20 years bringing pixels to life through animation, motion graphics, live-action visual effects, and the occasional late-night server meltdown. If you’ve ever lost a day to a stubborn spline or a rogue particle sim, Kyle’s been there — and he probably still has the project file.

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