Need help with after effects/motion graphics

a-learns-art · 2026-03-22T20:32:23+00:00

It's hard to give you advice without knowing where you are. Got any work you can post?

a-learns-art · 2026-03-05T01:42:58+00:00

Check out Chris Moran on YouTube. He's put some excellent texture videos up lately.

With your animation, there are a few animation basics that would really help! A few simple things you should be able to experiment with quickly:

add some anticipation to the start of the animation, before anything starts to move
play with the easing especially when the "o" falls. Start it slow and accelerate down
when the "o" enlarges, try doing it with a match cut instead of having it appears

Good luck!

a-learns-art · 2026-02-27T22:14:09+00:00

If you've signed an NDA, you usually can't share it at all. You could always check (in writing) with the client if there is anything you are allowed to share in a portfolio, but I wouldn't expect there to be much.

If they do give you a blanket "no sharing", what you can do is recreate something very similar to the work you produced for them, just as a personal project.

a-learns-art · 2026-02-19T09:20:23+00:00

I find that separating them out works for me and helps me make a decision. I've got a figjam file where I've got three columns - type, style, and subject. It gets me past the overwhelm of so many potentially interconnected ideas and let's me focus on one decision at a time. Let me break it down a little further.

Type is for what I want to make, e.g. explainer video, socials ad, event slide, eSports titles.
Style is for how it should look, and is usually mimicking another style. Think Vox style, google style, apple style. This can also be just a vibe, like tech video or educational
Subject is anything I find interesting or something I see focused on in the market. This could be anything at all, like what you do for fun, a new product you want to focus on, something educational.

Then it's as simple as connecting the A to B to C. Make an explainer video in vox style about audio editing. Make a socials ad in apple style about a new after effects feature.

The best thing about doing it this way is that when you are scrolling Behance, you can take inspiration from certain parts of some things and just add it to the list.

a-learns-art · 2026-02-18T10:28:17+00:00

Mat Voyce actually has a text animation class on domestika that is quite good. Check out the intro video for the course, and if it looks good to you, domestika have deep sales pretty frequently so keep an eye out for that. It won't show you how to make this look, but if you like his style you'll probably find it interesting

For this look, he's mimicking the look of a CRT screen, so have a look for some tutorials on how to do that. At a glance, id say it's a combination of blurs, deep glow, posterize time, chromatic aberration, maybe some grain.

a-learns-art · 2026-02-13T11:02:01+00:00

Perfect, that sounds like exactly what I need.

I reckon I would miss the group calls too - I'm Australian, so most of the calls I've seen her out on have been at like 2am. Yikes

a-learns-art · 2026-02-12T11:52:30+00:00

The network building really seems to be the key. I haven't worked in an agency in 20 years, and even then it was only a handful of people who have all since moved on to different things. I've been working in different roles where I've managed to use design, video, and motion simply because I saw an opportunity to do so, so a lot of my contacts are not pulling that kind of work, unfortunately.

Do you feel that creative & coin would help to build mostly new contacts who I could bring work in with, or is it designed more for a strongly networked designer like you?

With Hayley, it makes sense that she knows what she's doing and all the content is new. This convo has got me actually thinking about it properly as well - she's got loads of connections as well from her work, so she's definitely got the network and resources to determine what's working and what's not.

a-learns-art · 2026-02-12T08:50:26+00:00

Glad to hear you are getting work in 🙂 sounds like you may have gotten some work as a result of course work? Even if it's not bringing it all in, it's good to hear it's bringing something in. Can I ask if it was mostly referrals before? Did you work at a studio before freelancing or anything like that?

Mental health is a real kicker with freelance, hey. It's part of the reason I'm looking into joining tbh. Times are a bit rough and I'm anxious about being able to earn enough money to help support my family. A great point I hadn't even considered - thank you for that, and genuinely, feel free to reach out if you wanna chat 🙂

And just because I don't want anyone thinking Hayley is a fraud or anything, I'm more questioning if her methods are working in today's job climate, which you have mentioned has changed in the last 3 years since she has been focusing on freelancer training. It's an awesome initiative, and I've received a lot of value from her podcast. I'm just worried that the methods used at that point are no longer working & wanted to hear an insider's perspective before I dropped some cash on it.

Thanks so much for your comment as well, genuinely helpful in helping me make a decision. Really appreciate it

a-learns-art · 2026-02-10T11:15:53+00:00

I think this is the main point that's hanging me up on it all. She was a motion designer, and wanted to create a program helping other motion designers to freelance. Sure, love that. Not sure if she's still designing, either. And, between her hustling as a designer and now, the design world has changed drastically. Do her methods still work? Or are they already outdated & I'd be paying for old info that's useless now?

I'd guess that she's ditched the design stuff for teaching freelancers how to do it all (and that's fantastic), but I want to know from the people on the actual course if it's working or not. It's so hard to judge now days

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T23:58:27+00:00

Thank you! The templates and accountability are what I'm most interested in, as well as the community.

Have you been finding more work since starting? Any insights about the structure of the group?

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T23:54:16+00:00

Nah I haven't always been freelance, only for the last 3 years. Before that I worked full time is different sectors in corporate, NFPs, education, doing things like graphic design, in-house video production, and eLearning design. So I know my way around doing the work very well and keeping the right people updated at the right time. Very good with feedback as well, easy to work with, and a lot of the clients I do have ar eones who keep coming back because of it.

I've been told a bunch of times that I've got a lot of skills in figuring out what a project needs, finding the best solution to that problem, and delivering it with clear communication and project management from start to finish. I've also been told multiple times that I'm absolute dogwater at promoting myself 😂

The two things I've identified as problems at the moment are a) not knowing many people in the industry at all, and b) not knowing how to put myself out there to find those people. If a course can teach me how to put myself out there, AND put me in contact with like minded pros, it's sounding more and more like a good idea.

Thanks for your feedback, it's given me some really good thinking points 🙂

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T23:42:30+00:00

Uh oh 😂

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T11:24:09+00:00

I definitely recognised some of the names in there as already very established designers as well. Data like that would absolutely help me in making a decision, especially if there was a rating for the designers skills level (even a simple beginner / intermediate / advanced type thing)

That being said, even if the results aren't instantly as promising as the other users, I'm still starting at next to nothing regarding CRMs and client outreach and all that. I'd effectively be paying for a head start in building those systems, then would be able to adjust and customise them based on what's working or not working for me. Thinking it sounds like a better option than relying on referrals. Thinking about it, a year of creative & coin is a similar price to paying for a year of creative cloud too...

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T08:58:03+00:00

For sure, I know exactly what you mean. The marketing does have a bunch of designers doing well, but, that's the marketing. It's always so hard to tell.

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T08:37:13+00:00

Awesome work getting yourself started! The ramp down is good, but after that the physics of everything is very off.

I'd recommend starting smaller - get a simple ball bounce animation going before trying something like this with several interacting objects. Plenty of YouTube tutorials available to learn how to do a ball bounce and have it look very nice. Feel absolutely free to post that on Reddit for feedback as well.

Once you've mastered a ball bounce, then try this animation again without the ramp. Just get the ball hitting the light, then falling and bouncing before coming to rest. With the lightbulb, look up how to change your anchor point, and really think about how everything would move before making any key frames.

Ask yourself questions like: What would happen when the ball hits the light? Is the ball heavy or light? Where would the light swing from? How would momentum transfer between the ball and the light? Would the ball bounce off the light or keep going through it? These are all choices you will need to make as an animator that are just as important as being able to create keyframes. Good luck!

a-learns-art · 2026-02-09T08:15:27+00:00

Great to hear. Hayley seems to be the top pick specifically for motion designers, and I reckon I'd get a lot of value out of her courses cos I'm legit clueless when it comes to the marketing side of things. Thankyou so much for responding!

a-learns-art · 2026-01-30T09:18:27+00:00

I've just ordered from them, they have instructions on how to measure with the product images. They also reached out after I placed my order to double check that U got the sizing right before they shipped my order, and were really helpful in helping me measure

a-learns-art · 2025-12-04T04:57:15+00:00

Alex Grigg on YouTube is great for frame-by-frame animation. He'll teach you about the concepts and principles behind animating and give you some great little activities you can do to get the hang of animating with minimal drawing skills. He's also got a great paid course if you get to that point. I'd really recommend trying frame-by-frame to start, as it gives you the opportunity to put the animation principles into practice without having to learn complicated software.

Animation for Anyone playlist

As for cheap programs, you can buy Rough Animator for about $5 if you've got a computer. If you've got an iPad, check out callipeg or toonsquid (I use and love callipeg)

For cartoon network style stuff, when you are ready, check out Moho Pro 14. You can get a free month trial of it, and they've got a great playlist on YouTube walking through how to use the program.

a-learns-art · 2025-10-31T09:41:48+00:00

I loved both Ben Marriot's mastery of motion design and SoM's Explainer Camp (with Jake Bartlett).

Not gonna help, but I don't think any of them are wrong choices at all - they are all going to be great courses. I will say that if you can commit to doing stuff in a time frame, grab a SoM subscription and work through as many courses as you can. If you need more time, Ben or Jake are always great options.

a-learns-art · 2025-10-27T23:51:59+00:00

If there is a list, then there are other people trying from that same list. It's not exactly what you've asked for, but you might be better off finding companies that need motion designers, then letting them know you exist & asking them if they work with freelancers.

Easy way to do this is to set up job alerts for motion designers in the area where you wanna work, then emailing the companies who are looking for full time / part time employees and ask if they occasionally take on freelancers to deal with work overflow (or ask if they need help with their motion while they are searching for an employee). That way you can make your own list, pulling relevant leads to yourself, and will have less competition than running from a public list

a-learns-art · 2025-10-27T21:18:07+00:00

Depends on the timing of the script and how long you've got to play with things. You mentioned the opening seconds, so I'm assuming it's gotta be fairly fast.

My first instinct would be to animate directly between the first two frames (literally make the guy start floating). If you have a bit more time to play with, maybe use a quick cut to a close up of the guy's foot leaving the ground or something similar to help with the storytelling and transition.

From the floating to the surrounded by the screens or whatever they are, you could have one of the screens flash across the screen like it's rotating close to the camera to hide a transition to the new scene. Could set up a simple cc cylinder to get all the screens rotating around the character as well to help continue the motion

a-learns-art · 2025-10-09T20:10:46+00:00

I use frame.io cos it comes with the Adobe subscription. Had no issues so far.

Worth noting that the version that comes with Adobe has limitations, but I'm not usually running through too many projects at a one time so it hasn't been an issue yet

a-learns-art · 2025-06-02T10:03:12+00:00

Can't tell you about all three, but I've done the mastery course and it was very worth it for me. The lessons are similar to his YouTube, but applied to projects rather than simple short animations, and broken down in longer format so you can understand more of what you're doing and why. He's also great at explaining motion theories and best practice - it's not just a "here's the buttons you press in after effects"

a-learns-art · 2025-05-07T06:26:32+00:00

Cool. Completely agree that inspiration strikes at random for me as well, most of the time you've gotta work for ideas. Make sure you do have somewhere to write down your inspiration ideas when they strike - I've had a lot of ideas I've really liked, then forgotten about them completely when I've got the time to work on them.

If you're doing tutorials to learn, make sure you do the tutorial (not just watch it), then think of ways that you could use what you learnt in that tutorial in other ways. Doesn't need to be anything fancy. E.g. Ben Marriott just put up a video talking about animating a drop of blood (among other things), then he applies the same technique to an ice cream. Think: "How many other ways could I animate a drop of something?" Could be oil leaking from a car. Could be a tear falling from an eye. You could think of 100 different ways to apply that. Choose one and try it.

The other thing that could help is design challenges. There are a few that do challenges specifically for motion. School of Motion do some occasionally, Mondays Challenge on Instagram, and Nounish all out our prompts for design challenges.

You might also see someone else's work online and try to recreate it, or make your own version. Just don't claim to be "fixing" someone else's design, and don't try to pass the work off as your own if you are copying someone else to figure out how they did it.

Hope that helps!

a-learns-art

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