Grab It On Sale $17 $37
Xavier & Joel
The Polanco Brothers
Indie Animation
Xavier & Joel
The Polanco Brothers
Indie Animation
🪫Finish Your First Animated Short on 15 Percent Battery
🪫Finish Your First Animated Short on 15 Percent Battery
Steal the exact indie animation pipeline we used to finish our short film when we had every reason to quit. Exhaustion is real, but the tools inside this kit kept us moving forward. Whether you have an abandoned project on your hard drive or just a rough idea in your head, this survival kit gives you the roadmap to the finish line. It works even if you don't have expensive tools/software or a fully figured out story.
Steal the exact indie animation pipeline we used to finish our short film when we had every reason to quit. Exhaustion is real, but the tools inside this kit kept us moving forward. Whether you have an abandoned project on your hard drive or just a rough idea in your head, this survival kit gives you the roadmap to the finish line. It works even if you don't have expensive tools/software or a fully figured out story.
90 day money back guarantee. Lifetime access. Including free updates!
Purchase gets you access to The Polanco Brothers community, our Discord community.
90 day money back guarantee. Lifetime access. Including free updates!
Purchase gets you access to The Polanco Brothers community, our Discord community.
If you work 32-40 hours a week, know how to animate and are trying to make your own independent animated short film, but you are struggling to make actual progress, the "Indie Animator’s Survival Kit" was built for you.
We built this kit using our 10+ years of combined experience making independent shorts. Your future self will thank you for getting rid of overwhelm and starting with a system that actually works.
We see incredibly talented but exhausted animators trapped in this exact same cycle all the time:
You get home with only 15% energy left
You expect your work to look like it was made by 500 people
You get completely paralyzed trying to do it all, so you just let your project sit in your head or in your harddrive
Many haven't even finished a personal project in years. If this is you, it’s time to try something different.
For years, animation gatekeepers have sold you a lie.
They teach you that your work is worthless unless you land a prestigious studio internship, master complex software, and produce flawless, frame-by-frame perfection.
But nobody is talking about the reality of being an exhausted army of one. Nobody is teaching you how to make a movie when you are working 40 hours a week just to pay rent and live your life.
With the Indie Animator’s Survival Kit, we took the exact system that got us across the finish line and turned it into a repeatable roadmap built specifically for and by exhausted indie animators.
You can use it to start your next short immediately, or bring your existing project back from the dead. You will make progress faster than ever before because you will finally have a clear plan for your 15% battery days.
And the best part? It's ONLY $17, and backed by a 100% 90-day refund guarantee. If you don’t see value, you don’t pay. Period.
Just so you know:
We aren’t ex-Disney directors or CalArts grads or freelancers making 200K a year. We aren't "animation influencers" preaching about the fundamentals, either. We have been making indie animated shorts since 2013, working a handful of different, draining day jobs just to support ourselves as adults.
We built this kit because the internet is full of harmful advice that actively costs independent animators their time, money, and energy. Things like:
Following a massive studio pipeline: Trying to force a workflow designed for hundreds of people and hundreds of thousands of dollars onto a solo, zero-budget project.
Preparing to prepare: Believing you need to master every animation fundamental and buy expensive software before you are "allowed" to start your short film.
Waiting for permission: Putting your own stories on hold to build "safe" portfolio pieces, praying a studio will eventually hire you and validate your talent.
The problem is not your work ethic. The problem is your pipeline.
The industry is changing. It is time to play a new game.
Right now, the animation industry is shrinking. AI is infecting major studios like a virus, and incredibly talented people are struggling to find work.
Instead of chasing perfection for a studio job that might not even exist soon, we believe it is time for indie animators to rise up and save the art form themselves. We may not have hundreds of thousands of dollars or huge teams, but armed with the right tools and mindset, we can make a massive difference.
Three years ago, after we realized we were done begging the animation industry to pick us. We were unemployed, deep in debt, and needed money fast. We took whatever regular jobs we could get. But we refused to stop making art.
While working 32 to 40 hours a week, one of us living in America and the other in the Netherlands, we built a scrappy system to force ourselves to make progress no matter what. And it worked. We finished our short film "NDF" and premiered it right on our Instagram (@thepolancobrothers) in February 2026.
We built this kit on one simple rule: A finished short film is always better than a perfect concept that never leaves your hard drive.
Like you, we are indie animators working long hours who just want to tell our own stories. Everything inside this kit was battle-tested in our own lives first.
Throughout the entire production of our latest short film, we had:
Zero major studio backing
No viral GoFundMe campaign
No wealthy investors or art grants
And here is the truth: you do not need any of those things. In fact, they can actually hold you back.
Going down the rabbit hole of seeking funding drains the exact time and 15% energy you should be using to actually make your movie. And studio backing just means executives second-guessing your vision and handing you notes you didn't ask for.
Instead, we treated our draining day jobs as our angel investors. We self-funded the entire production and built the film frame by frame. Over two and a half years, no matter what life threw at us, we used this system to guarantee we made progress every single month.
That consistency started and ended with the exact tools inside the Indie Animator's Survival Kit. It is the only reason our film is out in the world today instead of rotting on a hard drive.
Here’s the reality.
There are plenty of animation and art influencers out there teaching skill and style.
They aren’t lying to you about how to improve your craft. But learning how to draw a perfect walk cycle does not teach you how to finish a movie. If your goal is to actually produce your own animated short, the answer is not another course on animation fundamentals or character design.
Those courses leave you without a clear production path, trapping you in a cycle where you never make consistent progress on your own stories.
First, we are proving this system works by actually using it. You can go to our Instagram right now (@thepolancobrothers) and watch the short film we just premiered. We didn't just make this workflow up; we built our film frame by frame using this exact survival kit while working full-time day jobs.
Second, this is more than just a folder structure. We aren't just teaching you how to organize files. We are teaching you the fundamentals of animation filmmaking on a tight schedule, and on a tight budget. These strategies can be applied to any story or format you want to make, whether that is a short film or a web series. We show you how to act like a Showrunner, make strategic cuts, and push a project to the finish line. These are high-level skills that apply to any creative project you will ever tackle.
Need more proof?
We’ve been making and finishing indie animated shorts since 2013, entirely self-funded by our jobs. Using these exact indie production methods, we have:
(left to right: Us photographed with "King of Indie Animation" independent animator Bill Plympton; with founder of Frederator Studios and former president of Hanna-Barbera, Fred Seibert, known for jumpstarting careers of animators including Genndy Tartakovsky with Dexter's Laboratory, and Pendleton Ward with Adventure Time; at The People's Film Festival premiere of our indie short Tommy The Hamster, And with former Disney Director of Original Programming, Leah Hoyer, who worked as creative director on Phineas & Ferb and other animated series).
Pitched original concepts to executives from Cartoon Network and Fox (semi-finalists at MIA Animation Conference 2016)
Become Semi-Finalists in major film festivals (ANNY New York)
Premiered our short films in festivals across NYC and Argentina
Maintained consistency in our latest animated short and finished despite being in separate countries and time zones and while at 15% energy after work.
We did all of this without hundreds of thousands of dollars, and without waiting for a massive studio to give us permission.
All of our hard-earned production strategies, shortcuts, and survival tactics are now rolled into one complete toolkit so you can do exactly the same.
// Why Pre-Order Now?
💸 Special Pre-Order Price: $13.97 (goes up to $18.97 at full launch)
🕒 Exclusive Early Delivery! Pre-order from May 26th and be the first to receive the full guide on June 13th before anyone else!
🏅 Founding Artist Credit: Your name featured in a special 'Thank You' section!
💬Bonus #1: Exclusive "Founding Artist Thread": Never feel stuck alone again! Join our private community to get direct help from us, share your breakthroughs, and connect with a supportive crew of fellow Fearless Artists.
🎤 Bonus #2: Invite to "Background Mastery" Live Q&A: Get your personal background questions answered directly by us! An exclusive live session to troubleshoot your specific challenges and deepen your learning after you've gone through the guide.
🎬 Bonus #3: The Fearless Backgrounds Kickstart Blueprint (video training): Get clear insight on how to start any background scene and go from 0 to 100 FAST! With our 3-step background kickstart process!
Here’s What Happens After You Order:
1
You’ll get a confirmation + welcome email right away
📩
2
You’ll get exclusive access to a private thread inside our Free Artist Community — Only for people who’ve preordered or purchased the Guide
Inside that private thread:
Bonus content drops
Behind-the-scenes peeks into our art process
Deeper convos about creative blocks and momentum
First dibs on future workshops and resources
This isn’t just a bonus.
This is your invitation into the room where serious creators grow together.
🥳
3
Sneak peeks and preview lessons start hitting your inbox
💫
4
The full guide will arrive in early May
📖
When You Pre-Order Today, Here’s
What You’ll Get & When:
1
Instant Confirmation
You'll receive an email immediately confirming your pre-order and welcoming you as a Fearless Artist!
⏱️
2
Founding Artist Credit
We'll reach out closer to the final publication date (before June 13th) to confirm the name you'd like featured in our special 'Thank You' section!
❤️
3
Founding Artist Thread Access
You'll receive an email immediately confirming your pre-order and welcoming you as a Founding Artist!
⏱️
4
"Background Mastery" Q&A Invite
Details and your exclusive invite for the 'Background Mastery' Live Q&A will be sent out after the eBook is released.
🎤
5
The Fearless Backgrounds Kickstart Blueprint (video training) Access
All 'Fearless Backgrounds' pre-order Founding Artists will receive exclusive access to the 'Kickstart Blueprint' video training on Monday, June 9th!
🎟️
6
Full eBook Delivery
The complete 'Fearless Backgrounds: Find Your Confidence. Finish Your Art.' eBook will be delivered directly to your email on Friday, June 13th, 2025!
📖
The Indie Animator's Survival Kit To Make A Short On 15% Battery
What you get:
The Indie Filmmaker Roadmap (PDF) - We took our 10+ years of making indie shorts together and put them in this roadmap, to get you from start to finish, even if you’re dead tired.
The Indie Production Spreadsheet - Use the exact indie pipeline we created to manage and finish our recent short despite being in two different countries. You’ll learn to think like a producer, without getting overwhelmed by all the moving parts in this plug and play spreadsheet.
The Golden Folder Structure - Get our custom folder structure that we use to keep our shorts organized, so nothing is ever lost, and you’ll never have to think about where to save your files.
Plus: You'll get these included for free as part of the kit
Background Art Guide - We break down background art in a step by step 120+ page guide we wrote "Fearless Backgrounds", so you can elevate the storytelling in your shorts.
Direct Support from Two Indie Filmmakers - We’re two filmmakers who want nothing more than seeing you succeed. We’re here to help you if you hit any roadblocks and help you implement as you go along.
Access to The Polanco Brothers community (our free Discord community) - We'll be sharing a ton of additional resources in here, free courses, Q&A & content review threads, free templates, and a lot more - free for a limited time! This offer won't be around forever.
REGULAR PRICE: $37
SALE PRICE: $17
Making a short film is hard. We get it.
Especially when you are exhausted and feel like the odds are stacked against you.
If you have read this far, you’re probably hesitating for one of three reasons. First, you might be thinking, "What kind of hell are these two guys signing me up for? I’m already dead after work!" We know that exact feeling.
That's exactly why we built this kit for tired indie animators just like us. We didn't design this system for people with endless free time and thousands of dollars lying around.
Second, you might be worried that working 20-30 minutes a day means you will end up with a cheap-looking animatic. Let us stop you right there: you are going to make a real movie. We will teach you how to manage your shots and strategically budget your limited energy, ensuring the most important scenes in your film look absolutely incredible.
Finally, you might be telling yourself you just don't have the time right now, and you would rather wait for life to slow down a bit. Trust us, life doesn't slow down. It speeds up. That magical, totally free weekend where you swear you will finally work on your short? It’s not coming.
And even if it does, you will only work for a few hours at most because you'll be so drained you just want to enjoy your day off. Then you are right back to square one, abandoning your short for weeks or months.
Our kit is designed to help you make actual, compounding progress in just 20 to 30 minutes a day until you finally finish your film. Consistent momentum beats a rare weekend marathon every single time.
If you are still not sure if this kit is the right fit for your specific project, just shoot us a DM on Instagram (@thepolancobrothers) and we will chat one-on-one.
Our Story
We’re Xavier and Joel. And just like a lot of you, we sacrificed five years of our lives chasing the traditional animation industry dream.
We thought if we just built the perfect portfolio, mastered the right software, and grinded hard enough trying to build a freelance motion design career, we would eventually "make it." We were desperate for a studio to give us permission to be filmmakers.
The plan was to land "safe" animation jobs to fund our true passion for indie filmmaking, and eventually get our own show on TV.
But the reality? That chase left us completely burnt out and deep in debt.
Things got so hard that Joel had to sell his car just so we could survive. We even moved to Colombia to lower our cost of living.
Eventually, we had to move back in with our parents until we found regular, full-time day jobs just to pay the rent. We found ourselves exhausted, with absolutely zero energy left for our own stories.
So, we made a choice: we stopped waiting for permission.
We stopped caring about getting hired by studios to make commercial work. We stopped believing we needed to master every industry-standard software or raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to make a movie.
Armed with just one piece of animation software, two cheap tablets, and whatever was left of our 15% battery at the end of the day, we got to work.
By embracing a scrappy, zero-budget mindset, we finally finished our own animated short film, after an 8 year hiatus from filmmaking, while working 32 to 40 hours a week. We proved to ourselves that we didn't need the industry's validation to be real filmmakers. We just needed a production system that actually worked for exhausted indie artists.
That is exactly the system we want to hand over to you today. Let's make shorts and fire up the indie animation revolution, together.
-Xavier & Joel Polanco
Your 90-Day Risk-Free Guarantee
⭐ Your 90-Day Risk-Free Guarantee
Join our community. Read through the roadmap, set up the Golden Folder Structure, and plug your project into the production spreadsheet.
If, after 90 days, you feel you aren't making consistent progress, and your project is still dead, just email [email protected] and we’ll refund you in full.
No forms.
No hoops.
No hard feelings.
We built this to help you cross the finish line. So we only want customers who feel good about their progress.
Still Got Questions?
Do I need an expensive tablet or industry-standard software?
Absolutely not. You can execute this entire roadmap using cheap hardware and free or low-cost software. If your tablet turns on and lets you draw, you have everything you need to make a movie.
Is this just another drawing tutorial or animation class?
No. This is a production survival kit. We aren't teaching you how to animate. We are teaching you the project management, file organization, and filmmaking strategies to actually get your movie across the finish line when you are running on 15% battery.
Will this help me get a job at a major animation studio?
If your goal is to mold your art to perfectly fit a massive, 500-person studio pipeline, this kit is not for you. The traditional industry is shrinking. This system is specifically designed to help you finish your own indie films and build your own audience, so you never have to beg a studio gatekeeper for a job again.
I am a total beginner, will this work for me?
To be completely honest: no. You shouldn't get this kit if you have never animated a single frame in your life. This system assumes you already have a basic understanding of animation principles and know how to use your preferred software on your own. We are here to teach you how to produce and finish a film, not how to learn the basics of drawing or animation.
How quickly will I see results?
If you are starting a brand new short from scratch, you will start seeing real, measurable progress within the first two weeks as you move along the roadmap. If you are bringing a dead project back to life, you will feel the relief immediately as you see where you're at in the roadmap. The second you plug all of your messy, scattered shots into the Golden Folder Structure and the Production Spreadsheet, you'll be exactly where you need to be to start making progress after work.
What if it doesn't work for me?
Then you don't pay. That’s why we offer a 90-day, risk-free guarantee. Test the roadmap, use the spreadsheet, and set up your folders. If you feel you are right back where you started before you bought the kit, just email [email protected] and we will refund your $37 in full.
REGULAR PRICE: $37
SALE PRICE: $17
DISCLAIMER: Our Digital Products are provided for educational and informational purposes only. We teach creatives the end-to-end process of making an independent animated short film. We make no guarantees regarding specific results, studio hiring, funding success, or festival acceptance. Results vary based on your effort, experience, and execution. Any examples or frameworks shared are illustrative only and do not constitute a promise of success. You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for your actions and results arising from the use of our Offerings.