---

Issue #118 | September 27th, 2026

Hey Reader 👋

Confession: I've been thinking about YouTube way more than I've been doing YouTube.

I'm buried in productions right now. A third Unreal film for a client, a new explainer video for another. Home renovation. Citron updates. No time for anything. But every day on my commute, my brain drifts back to the same idea. Start a real channel. Post every week. Actually have a strategy.

I have about a dozen videos online already. Scattered, random, zero plan. The digital equivalent of a junk drawer.

I want to do it properly this time. And I can't wait.

Then my son called.

He just started a 2-year program, and he keeps asking me the same question. "Dad, I want to build something online. A business, whatever. But I don't know where to start. I don't know what to learn."

I think a lot of animators are asking themselves that exact question right now.

The industry is in a rough spot. Plenty of talented people are quietly wondering what's next. And reinventing yourself is terrifying. The imposter syndrome shows up uninvited. Every option feels like it might be the wrong one.

That's normal. I've been walking this path for years. I've lost, failed, and embarrassed myself more times than I'd like to admit. Lately, I'm finally stacking up some wins.

Here's the most useful thing I've learned along the way.

Most people think they need to be ready before they start.

They're wrong. Nobody is ready. Ready is something you become by doing the thing badly for a while.

Imagine two people. One spends a year learning about a thing. The other spends a year doing it, badly, and learning as they go.

At the end of the year, the first person has a head full of theory and nothing to show for it.

The second person has the theory, the scars, and a body of work.

Learning feels productive because it's safe. You never fail when you're only studying. That's exactly the problem.

If you want to start YouTube, pull out your phone today. Film something. Upload it. Congratulations, you have a YouTube channel.

Whatever you're thinking of building, set a deadline and start before you feel ready. You won't feel ready. Nobody does.

And be honest about why you haven't started yet.

It's usually not "I need more time" or "I'm thinking of pivoting." It's fear. Fear of looking stupid. Fear of failing in public.

I've watched people come up with an almost infinite supply of excuses to avoid doing the thing. I've done it myself. The only real opponent is the voice in your own head telling you to wait.

Knowledge without action is just a very expensive hobby.

(Yes, I'm aware I'm writing this while my own YouTube channel sits in a drawer. I'm working on it.)

For now, I'm typing this from the guest room upstairs. My temporary studio, because I start painting the real one this week 🔨 The desk is set up, my 49" Samsung is back on it, and I'm weirdly emotional about being reunited with a monitor.

Things are moving.

If you want to watch me build a studio from scratch, mistakes and all, I share the whole process every Wednesday in the Freelancing for Animators newsletter.​

Alright. Let's get into this week's issue. 🔥

This week's sponsor

The Spotlight

A data engineer racing through his day. Notifications piling up, breakfast burning, the apartment a mess, work overflowing. He tries to do everything at once… and nothing gets done.

Then time itself starts to break.

It slows down to a crawl. It speeds up like crazy. It jumps back thousands of years. It freezes. It reverses, ping-pongs back and forth. And our guy just has to deal with it while trying to live his normal life.

​

Off-Time by Nata Metlukh isn't a story in the classic sense. There's no three-act structure here. It's more like you're just… witnessing a life. Watching this very funny character go through one absurd situation after another. Answering way too many notifications. Going for a jog. Making breakfast. Planting seeds, watering his plants. All while time is completely losing its mind around him.

And it's long for a short, 11 minutes. But you don't feel it. You just dive in.

Raw on purpose

The drawing style is super simple. Quick, raw lines. No polish for the sake of polish.

And here's the thing - this entire film was made by one person. Nata directed it, animated it, drew every single frame herself. 11 minutes, solo. If she'd tried to craft it to a super-polished level, it would've taken ten years.

Instead, the rawness is the beauty. And honestly, you stop noticing the drawing style within a minute, because the idea is so strong it carries everything.

That's a lesson for every animator sitting on a personal project waiting to make it "perfect." Your idea matters way more than your line quality.

Listen closely

The sound design by Maksym Andrukh is a huge part of this film. It's what really sells time breaking apart. The slowdowns, the reversals, the freezes… you hear reality glitching before you even process what you're seeing.

And there are so many jokes if you know where to look. My favorite? The supermarket line. The one place on Earth where you never want time to slow down… and of course, that's exactly where it goes into full slow motion. Except for him. He stays in real time and just has to stand there and live through it. I laughed out loud.

The multitasking myth

I think a lot of people will recognize themselves in this character. Trying to do ten things at once, all day long.

But let's be real about something. Multitasking is a myth.

What you call multitasking is just switching between tasks really fast. Actually doing two things at the same time? Not possible. Your brain doesn't work that way.

And maybe that's what this film is really about. The moment time stops cooperating is the moment he finally slows down enough to enjoy his life.

A beautiful, funny, very human little film. Go watch it.

Bonus: the making-of

And once you've watched it, don't skip this one. Nata put together a making-of video, and it's a real treat. You get to see her process, but more importantly her thought process… how she approached the film, the choices behind it, how one person pulls off 11 minutes of animation.

​

If you've ever wondered how solo filmmakers actually get it done, this is a great peek behind the curtain.

🎬 Credits​
​Director: Nata Metlukh
​Production: Nata Metlukh - Self-produced, with the support of the Hiroshima Artist-in-Residence 2022
​Animation: Nata Metlukh
​Music: Maksym Andrukh
​Sound: Maksym Andrukh

SHARE this film with your animator friends ❤️

---

The Job Fair

• ​Remote 3D Animator & Generalist​
  Kaas Media AB · Remote (based in Stockholm, Sweden)​
  Kaas Media is looking for a Blender artist to produce emotional 3D Shorts for Miles Motivation, a YouTube channel telling stories about athletes, underdogs and comebacks. Scripts, voice-overs and storyboards are provided, and you handle the full production (characters, scenes, animation, lighting, rendering) for at least 6 Shorts of 30 to 50 seconds per month. Long-term contract with a flexible schedule, paid $1,000 to $2,000/month, with room to grow into a Team Lead role.​
  ​Posted: September 23, 2026.
  ​
• ​Remote Storyboard Artist​
  Skybound Entertainment · Remote (California, United States)​
  The studio behind Invincible is hiring a storyboard artist to handle episode visual storytelling scene by scene, working closely with the episode director from thumbnails to polished boards. They want someone strong on shot composition, action sequences and storytelling through motion, with 1 to 3 years of experience and solid Storyboard Pro skills. Contract role, listed at around $2,987/week.
  ​Posted: September 23, 2026.
  ​
• ​Storyboard Artist for Animated TV Series​
  Alter Learning · Remote (United States)
  ​Alter Learning is developing an animated pilot based on a teen and young adult book series, and needs a storyboard artist to turn the script into a full visual story. You'll take sequences from rough thumbnails to finished panels, pitch to the director, and revise based on creative notes. Full-time and remote, a nice chance to shape a show from the very beginning.
  ​Posted: September 22, 2026.

---

The Random Stuff

🛠️ Giving Brave a Shot

I'm a browser nerd. Always have been. I'm always up for trying a new one.

For a long time, Arc was my home. Really good ride with that one… but they stopped developing it, so I moved on to Dia. It's great, but honestly? I never fully made the switch. My bookmarks, my habits… half of me is still somewhere else 😅

Then last week I was watching one of my favorite YouTubers, and there it was on his screen. Brave. With vertical tabs. I'd used Brave years ago, and seeing that sidebar was enough. Downloaded it on the spot.

First impressions after a few days - it's fast. Really fast. There's a built-in VPN (premium, you have to pay), a bunch of privacy stuff, and it's supposed to be more secure. We'll see about that.

But the thing that sold me is simple. It's exactly the same on Mac and Windows. I work on both at the same time every single day, so that alone is huge for me.

Now, vertical tabs are everywhere these days. Even Chrome finally added them. What I really miss from Arc is Spaces, separate workspaces for different projects. Brave doesn't have that yet… but they're actually testing a Workspaces feature in their early builds right now 👀

So I'm giving it a couple of weeks. I'll let you know if it sticks, or if I crawl back to Chrome.

---

🎬 Ray Gunn: Brad Bird Is Back

I've been waiting for this one for a very long time. Not this specific film… just the next Brad Bird film. Any Brad Bird film.

And Netflix just dropped the official trailer for Ray Gunn.

It's a sci-fi noir set in a giant retro-futuristic city called Metropia. Art Deco everywhere. Flying cars. Aliens and humans living side by side. Sam Rockwell voices a private detective pulled into a murder case. It has all the bells and whistles and flavor of The Incredibles… and a few shots straight out of The Fifth Element.

​

And the sidekick. A green one-eyed alien cyclops. The second I saw him, I thought of Victor Navone's Alien Song, that little alien singing "I Will Survive" back in 1999. The short that got Victor hired at Pixar. If you've never seen it, go watch it right now, it's a piece of animation history 😊

​

Brad Bird is one of the best directors in the world, period. In animation, even more so. I've seen every single one of his films, and Ratatouille is probably one of my all-time favorite Pixar movies. What I expect from him is a story that's just… on point. Every beat.

I don't watch that many animated features anymore. But this one? I'll be watching on day one.

It hits Netflix on December 18. Mark it.

---

👀 Corridor Crew x Richard Taylor

If you've never fallen down the Corridor Crew rabbit hole… this is your sign.

Their "VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGi" series is a classic. And in this one, they sit down with Sir Richard Taylor, co-founder of Weta Workshop, the legend behind the practical effects of The Lord of the Rings. They've had him on the couch before, and every single time, it's gold.

​

Richard talks about look development, how they learn, how they approach things… a few real insights, as always. And then he gets to Blade Runner 2049, probably one of the last big miniature jobs they did. And it's painful to hear. Nobody really asks for miniatures anymore. Sure, Christopher Nolan still goes practical, but for most productions, it's just too costly to justify. A whole craft, quietly fading out.

Honestly, I could spend my entire day with these guys. Every time I watch Corridor, I want to dive deeper into the technical side, get better at my craft, learn something new. That's the best compliment I can give any content… it makes you want to work.

---

Like what you're reading? Don't keep it to yourself.
​Forward this to one person who'd love it.
That's how we grow this thing. One animator at a time. 🥰

Philippe Duvin​
Founder, Animator NOW

Follow Me

PS. Some links in the newsletter are affiliate links.
PSS. Hit reply any time. I reply to every single email.