Issue #91 | March 22th, 2026
Hey Reader ๐
I want to talk about AI today. Not in a hype way โ in a real, honest, here's-where-I'm-at kind of way.
I've been working with AI tools for months now, and I feel like I've reached a certain level of maturity with it. Enough to actually make a clear statement about how I use it.
So here it is:
I don't use AI to create in my place. I use AI to create better and faster.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
I'm really not interested in generating random, generic AI slop โ whether it's text or images. I actually do almost zero generative AI. What I use it for is writing, analysis, planning, strategy, thinking through problems. It's a brain extension, not a replacement.
And right now, I'm going deep with Claude.
I cancelled my ChatGPT subscription. Moved everything over. Upgraded to the Max plan because once you start operating at a certain level โ using Opus 4.6, building real workflows โ you burn through your daily quota fast, and constantly watching your usage is justโฆ exhausting. So I jumped on Max, and honestly? It's probably the single best subscription in my entire stack right now. Not even close.
But here's the thing that blew my mind this week.
For years, I never had the time or energy to properly gather all the animation tools I use into one clean setup. And at some point, I just defaulted to using a certain popular toolbar plugin โ you probably know the one ๐. But the subscription model on that thing is weird and honestly overpriced.
So I thought โ what if I justโฆ vibe code my own?
I sat down with Claude and described what I needed in plain English. A simple Python toolbar for Maya. Nothing crazy โ a tweener, a spline/stepped switch, and something I've loved ever since working on ONI and even back in stop-motion-style productions โ a bake tool that bakes keys on twos, threes, or fours. You animate everything in spline, hit bake, and it gives you that beautiful stop-motion look. So good.
And Claude justโฆ built it. Fast. Like, shockingly fast.
It's a v0.1 โ super early. But already I can see exactly where this is going. And that's the real point here:
If you're a CG animator, you can create custom tools for Maya right now. Without writing a single line of code yourself.
You don't even need to "prompt" in any fancy way. The best prompt is just English. Just explain what you want. There are tricks to make it even better, sure โ but fundamentally, Claude is becoming my personal tool engineer, and I love it.
Think about it. We've all used tools that were great but never quite perfect. You always thought โ this is amazing, but I wish it could do this one thing differently. Well, now you can make that happen. Just by talking.
Go check it out. Seriously.
Quick update on Freelancing for Animators โ Module 1 is up on the community right now. The community hasn't officially launched yet, but I'm recording everything as we go. This week was Module 1, next week I'm recording Modules 2 and 3, and we're launching the community with those first three modules ready. After that, you'll get a new module every week until we hit Module 12.
If that sounds like something you need โ get on the list. Link's below. ๐
โSubscribe to the Freelancing for Animators List HEREโ
Alright. Let's get into this week's issue. ๐ฅ
The Spotlight
Conversations with a Whale (2020) โ Anna Samo
โ
๐ Watch the full film on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/annasamo (find "Conversations With a Whale" on Anna's Vimeo page)
๐ Official film website: http://www.whale-conversations.com/โ
A filmmaker sends her work out into the world. Paper airplanes carry submissions to festivals. Paper airplanes carry rejections back. One after another after another. Until, unexpectedly, all those rejections grow into something beautiful โ a fig tree that bears sweet, real fruit.
That's the premise of Anna Samo's Conversations with a Whale, and it's one of those films that hits differently depending on where you are in your creative journey.
What struck me first is how this film brought me right back to the earliest discovery of animation. The very first scene โ you see drawings, just drawings, and then they start moving. And that's the magic. That's always been the magic. After 25 years in this industry, it still amazes me that at some point, a pile of drawings becomes a living character. Something that tells you a story. There's a moment โ a spark โ where it stops being just a succession of images and becomes something else. Motion. Emotion. Life.
It's on the level of a magic trick. Nothing really "happens." You don't push a button. The drawings just go fast enough, and suddenly you don't see drawings anymore โ you see a character breathing. I know it sounds almost naive to talk like this as a senior in the industry, but honestly? I still remember the first moment where animation truly amazed me. And this film brought that feeling right back.
Technically, it's a beautiful blend of 2D hand-drawn animation โ pencil on paper โ and stop-motion, sometimes within the same shot. The whole film was created directly under the camera lens using various analogue techniques: stop-motion, cut-out, pixilation, charcoal, dry pastel drawing. That mix of media gives it this raw, handmade energy that feels deeply personal.
And then the final sequence. Anna paints the animation directly onto her own hands. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's intimate, it's inventive, and it closes the film in a way that feels earned.
But beyond craft, this film talks about something every creative person needs to hear. Rejection is not failure. I wouldn't even call it failure โ it's a non-validation from outside people of your work. That's all. And those rejections? They are the path. They're not obstacles on the path โ they are the ingredients.
I really live with this philosophy: try to fail quickly so you can move on. I genuinely believe nothing meaningful can be achieved without some form of rejection or failure along the way. It just doesn't exist in the creative process. And when you're starting out as a creator, that's the thing you tend to forget โ that failure, mistakes, and rejection are the fuel. You've got to learn to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. You've got to trust the process.
This film is a love letter to anyone trying to build a life and a career around their art. Go watch it. It's beautiful.
๐ฌ Credits
โ
โDirector, Art & Animation: Anna Samo (now Anna Bergmann) Producer: Tom Bergmann โ Tiger Unterwegs Filmproduktion Music & Sound Design: Merche Blasco
โSound Re-Recording Mixer: Benjamin Beladi
โAdditional Sound Design, Foley & Mix: David Jalbert
โColorist: Will Cox
โOnline Editor: Kevin Caby
โPost-Production: Final Frame
โVoices: Lisa Labracio, Merche Blasco, Jason Patience, Biljana Labovich, Jeremiah Dickey, Abdallah Ewis, Bethany Cutmore-Scott
โDistribution: Magnetfilmโ
Selected at Annecy, Berlinale, Stuttgart (ITFS), Sundance, Animafest Zagreb, and many more. Winner of Best German Animation at the 2021 Festival of Animation Berlin.
The Job Fair
- โ2D/3D Cartoon Animator - Collabera ยท Hybrid (USA)
โContract role (3โ6 months with strong potential for extension or conversion), paying $46โ47/hr on a hybrid schedule. Collabera is a staffing firm that frequently places animators at major studios. This one asks for both 2D and 3D cartoon-style animation skills โ likely for a branded entertainment or children's media client.
โ
- โ2D Animator - TransPerfect ContentLabs ยท Remote (Subang Jaya, Malaysia)โ
TransPerfect ContentLabs is a full-service creative agency within TransPerfect, seeking a 2D Animator to help execute content creation projects. The role covers the full pipeline โ illustration, design, animation, and post-production โ with a focus on motion graphics, 2D animation, and video content across diverse media. Requires strong After Effects, Premiere, and Adobe Creative Suite skills. Freelance position.
โ
- โRemote Lead 2D/3D Animator - Daring House (Narrative VR) ยท Remoteโ
A lead animator role at Daring House, a studio working on narrative VR projects. This is a more senior position combining 2D and 3D animation for immersive storytelling โ a less common listing that blends traditional animation skills with emerging VR formats. Remote position.
The Random Stuff
๐ต James Blake โ Trying Times
I've been listening to this album on repeat all week. The title track alone โ 10 to 15 times a day. It's a problem.
If you know James Blake, you'll hear the evolution. More soul, more real instruments โ guitar, warmth โ and less pure electronics. The production magic is still there, but something more organic runs through the whole thing. It breathes differently.
And here's the kicker โ he went fully independent about a year and a half ago, and right now he's sitting just behind Harry Styles on the charts. An independent artist. In 2026. In the middle of all the AI slop flooding music and Suno bullshit, here's someone going the opposite direction and winning. Beautiful signal for every creator out there. Go listen. ๐
๐ฌ The Story Before Toy Story โ Pixar
Pixar just dropped this on their YouTube channel and it's a gem. For the studio's 40th anniversary, they've opened up their massive archives to show the short films they made in the decade before Toy Story โ the experimental work that developed the CG animation technology we all take for granted now.
โYou get to go inside the actual Pixar archive with the people in charge of preserving this history. Hearing them walk through the early footage and the thinking behind it is pretty amazing. If you're an animation nerd, this is your kind of rabbit hole.
๐ ๏ธ Overlord 2 โ The Illustrator-to-After Effects Bridge You Need
I've been using Overlord for almost 10 years and just updated to version 2 for a new production I'm working on. If you work with vector graphics going from Illustrator to After Effects, you know the pain โ naming layers, importing files, things breaking.
Overlord just skips all of that. It creates a direct bridge between the two apps and transfers your shapes beautifully โ gradients included, which is what pushed me to finally update. It also connects with Figma now. If you're doing any motion design work with vector assets, this is one of those tools that once you try it, you can't go back. Go check it out.
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 โ one animator at a time. ๐ฅฐ
Philippe Duvinโ
Founder, Animator NOW
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