TheOdd1sOut via YouTube
Animation has long been deemed dead on YouTube thanks to YouTube’s algorithm changes favoring long yet quickly produced videos rather than the short, slowly produced animations that once dominated the YouTube landscape. However, animation on YouTube has seen a Renaissance in recent years thanks to the vlog-style animations featured by YouTubers like TheOdd1sOut.
TheOdd1sOut, also known as James Rallison, 22, is earning between $218,300 and $3,500,000 a year from his main channel at the time of writing, according to Social Blade. His second channel, TheOdd2sOut, is earning him another $15,300 to $244,000 a year according to the website. He’s close to earning 10 million subscribers.
Here’s everything you need to know about Rallison’s net worth.
1. He Started Out as a Webcomic Artist on Tumblr
Rallison spent much of his childhood drawing his own comics thanks to his fondness for Garfield, according to Rallison. Then on June 14, 2012, he posted the very first comic of his newly created “TheOdd1sOut” series on Tumblr. TheOdd1sOut followed the antics of three brothers known as Jake, Justin and Kevin.
Rallison struggled to find a readership in the beginning, according to YouTuber FootofaFerret. While he experimented with improving his art style, his motivation dropped by the time 2012 ended. Then in April 2013, he ditched the original TheOdd1sOut cast and replaced them with the generic bubble characters that would come to define his art style today. As his comics improved, so did his follower count according to FootofaFerret.
2. His Popularity Skyrocketed When He Posted a Video About ASMR on YouTube
Having watched a lot of YouTube videos while making his comics, Rallison decided to try his own hand at making videos according to FootofaFerret. He created his YouTube channel on August 30, 2014. His first YouTube video, where he talks about a story he wrote as a child, came to establish his style of telling a life story through animation.
His following of 50,000 on Tumblr at the time helped him earn steady growth on the channel, according to FootofaFerret. However, his growth skyrocketed when he published a video on ASMR in February 2016, earning Rallison 100,000 subscribers according to FootofaFerret. Between March and August of 2016, Rallison went from 100,000 to 1,000,000 subscribers according to FootofaFerret.
At the time of writing, TheOdd1sOut has over 9,995,000 subscribers and over 1,720,000,000 video views, according to Social Blade.
Rallison doesn’t earn money from just making YouTube videos. He also runs an online merchandise shop selling T-shirts, plush toys, pins and more based on his videos.
Rallison along with fellow YouTube Animator SomethingElseYT appeared in a charity livestream by GTLive, the livestreaming channel for popular gaming channel The Game Theorists. The livestream raised over $206,000 for The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, which awards grants to research on mental health.
Rallison also partnered with Make-A-Wish, who gave children the opportunity to meet their favorite YouTubers at VidCon 2017.
3. He Wrote His Own Book
On July 31, 2018, Rallison released The Odd 1s Out: How to Be Cool and Other Things I Definitely Learned from Growing Up. The book includes written versions of Rallison’s most popular videos such as his stories about Harry the Moth and the Science Fair, but with more in-depth writing and new drawings. The book also contains brand new stories such as how his dog became arch enemies with a chihuahua and the time he and his older brother ate a whole bag of Skittles.
Rallison signed the copies of the book pre-ordered at Vidcon that year as well as the first 1,000 books ordered on his online store, according to the announcement video for the book.
4. He Made His Own Card Game, Which Was Fully Funded in 10 Minutes
On Oct. 5, 2018, Rallison released the Kickstarter campaign for his new card game, Can’t Catch Harry. According to the campaign page, the card game raised its funding goal of $10,000 after 10 minutes of the campaign beling live. The campaign ended on November 4, 2018 with 4,777 backers raising $314,229 towards the project.
The card game is based off of one of his most popular videos, “Harry the Moth,” where he tells the story of how he caught a moth as a child and how it was eaten by a bird in front of his entire kindergarten class.
The game has you rapidly drawing and discarding cards. If you collect four of the same kind of card, you get to grab one of the moth figurines on the game mat to earn points. However, some cards will cause you to lose points.
The card game is planned for release sometime in February 2019.
5. He Dropped Out of College to Pursue His YouTube Career
In his book, Rallison said that he went to college to become a math teacher. However, he dropped out to pursue his YouTube career.
He talked about one time while he was a teenager where he posted a reminder above his desk to get a comic written by next week. His mother then crossed out the note and wrote “Do Jobs. Save up for college.” Then his sister crossed out that message and wrote “Follow your dreams!” Rallison said that they were both right.
“I give a lot of tongue-and-cheek advice, but my honest advice after all of this is to follow your dreams, but do it in a smart way,” Rallison wrote. “Aim big, but have a back up plan. Take risks, but don’t risk your life savings. Don’t listen to the haters. You can achieve great things if you work hard enough.”
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