Issue #105 | June 28th, 2026
Hey Reader 👋
First things first.
Last week I told you it was a rough one. And then my inbox filled up with your emails. People I've never met, taking time out of their day to send kind words, telling me to keep pushing…
I haven't replied to all of them yet. But I will. I reply to every single email I get, that's a promise. So if you wrote to me, thank you. Truly. It meant more than you know. 😊
And maybe it's connected, maybe it's just timing, but this week was so much better.
I think I hit the point where the pressure just… drops. You know that feeling? You grind and grind and then something releases. I slowed down a bit on the client work, gave myself room to get my strength back. That small decision changed everything.
But here's the real story this week.
The thing I've been vibe coding
I might have mentioned it before. I've been building a graph editor for After Effects. Maya style.
If you're a motion designer, you already feel the pain. Adobe has updated After Effects for years and somehow never touched the graph editor. Years. And nobody built a real third party fix either. Sure, there's Flow, there's Ease, little easing tools… but a real graph editor? Never happened.
I'm not a developer. Let me be clear about that.
But for 20 years I've been quietly obsessed with UX and UI. Watching how apps work, why some plugins feel good and others feel like fighting a wall. It was never my job. Just something I love.
And now, with Claude Code and vibe coding next to me, I can finally take everything I've absorbed about design and build it into a real product.
Here's where it got interesting
I used Claude to check one thing first - was this just my pain, or a real one?
Turns out people have been screaming about this on Reddit, on LinkedIn, everywhere, for years. So I started building. Just for me at first. Using it on my own film. Having a blast.
Then I read something about entrepreneurship that flipped a switch. The idea you already half-know but keep ignoring - don't build the perfect thing in a vacuum and then pray people want it. Build a little, then go ask. Fast.
So that's what I did.
I've never been big on Reddit. Never. But I posted about the tool on two subreddits…
And the response was phenomenal.
So many people wanting to know more. Throwing feature ideas at me. People literally writing "take my money." 👀
I wasn't ready for that. The waiting list filled up faster than I expected.
So now? This is one of the first things I'm shipping in the coming weeks.
No subscription. One time payment. Probably a launch discount, I'm still figuring that part out.
And honestly, this is the first time I'm doing something by the book. Going out, asking real people, listening to what they want, then building it for them. Not in the dark. Not guessing.
It's all under the Animator Now! umbrella, because that's exactly what this is about - building tools and helping animators build a freelance career. And I've got a whole list of other tools I want to make. Maya stuff too. This one's just the first.
If you want in on the updates, the link's below. Drop your name and email and you'll hear about it the second it's ready.
👉 Subscribe me to hear about the AE Graph Editor!
Alright. Let's get into this week's issue. 🔥
The Spotlight
This week I'm doing something a little different.
The Ogre isn't the kind of story I usually put here. The feeling of it, the tone… it's not my normal pick. But I don't care, because the look of this thing stopped me cold.
The setup is simple. An ogre walks into a restaurant. And as he eats, he grows. And grows. And grows… from a normal-sized guy into a giant, into something the size of the Earth, until he's basically out in space. Everything about him is over the top. The way he eats, the way he moves, the way he just exists in the frame. It's grotesque and beautiful at the same time.
But let's talk about what really got me. The graphic style.
It's a mix of techniques and I love that. There's painting in there. Probably markers. Probably digital pencil too, because look closely and you'll catch these tiny, tiny hairline strokes sitting right next to broad, heavy ones. That contrast is the whole thing. Super fine lines, then suddenly a thick brushy stroke. It keeps your eye moving and it never lets the image go flat.
And the colors… something about the palette and the linework kept pulling me back to Art Deco. Paris, early 20th century. I don't fully know why. It just lives in that world for me.
Now the animation, because I sat on that too long.
Watch the waiters. The way they carry the food to the ogre. It's this super stretched walk, like they're being shot through a crazy wide lens, everything distorting and pulling as they move. I'm a huge sucker for that in 2D. When animators play with a lens that aggressive and let the bodies warp through space… it's just gorgeous. It's craft you can feel.
The music fits perfectly too. Very French. It kept reminding me of Ravel and Debussy. Of course.
And here's the part that made me smile. It's produced by Papy3D, and I've been a fan of them forever. That's the house Jérémy Clapin is a partner in, the guy who made I Lost My Body and Palmipédarium. So you already know the level of taste behind it.
Watch it for the visuals alone. Then watch it again and just study the waiters. 👀
🎬 Credits
Director: Laurène Braibant (written & directed)
Production: Papy3D Productions
Studio:Train-Train - Pictanovo
Music: Pierre Caillet
Technique: Made essentially in TVPaint
The Job Fair
- 2D Animator - Magnanimous Group
A 2D animator / motion role at a luxury digital and events agency, building animated content for brand films, LED screens, projection mapping and immersive installations. Strong After Effects, Illustrator and Photoshop, 2-4 years, good sense of timing and visual storytelling. Posted: this week
-
Remote 2D Animator - Twine
This role is for a skilled 2D animator to produce a high-quality, anime-style proof of concept for a manga project. The focus is on delivering a cinematic teaser inspired by contemporary anime, emphasizing dynamic camera work, expressive character acting, and polished visual effects. The project requires a professional who can bring a unique artistic vision and deliver a visually compelling teaser that captures the essence of the manga. The ideal candidate will have a strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in anime-style animation and a passion for storytelling through motion.
Posted: this week
The Random Stuff
🛠️ Figma Motion just showed up in my toolbar
So this happened completely by accident.
Figma is my go-to for everything design. The entire Animator Now! branding lives in there. I open it daily. And this week I noticed a new little icon sitting in my toolbar that wasn't there before…
Turns out Figma now has an animation tool. Built right in. It's called Figma Motion.
I gave it a super quick spin and… honestly? It feels good. There's easing and ease-out that reminded me instantly of Flow in After Effects. The timeline is clean and genuinely user-friendly. I've paid for "real" animation software that was less intuitive than this.
Here's the kicker. It just launched at Figma's Config conference two days ago, so if you blinked you missed it. It's in open beta and free to try inside Figma right now.
I'm not saying ditch After Effects. But the fact that a timeline now lives inside the tool where I already do branding, mockups and design systems… that's a big deal for anyone doing UI motion or quick animated assets. Go poke at it before everyone else does. 👀
🧠 The 96 million black balls video
If you don't know Veritasium yet, fix that today.
It's a YouTube channel run by Derek Muller, around 20 million subscribers, and the whole thing is science explained in a way that's actually entertaining. Not dry. Not lecture-y. Just genuinely fascinating rabbit holes.
I haven't had time to watch nearly enough of them, but there's one I keep coming back to in my head. It's about a reservoir in Los Angeles that's completely covered in 96 million black plastic balls. He literally takes a boat out into this sea of spheres to find out why they're there. And the answer is not what you'd guess.
If you're a curious nerd like me, this is the perfect Sunday watch. It's the kind of thing that makes you go "wait, what?" and then you've lost an hour to the channel. No regrets.
🎻 Max Richter recomposed Vivaldi, and then did it again
Letting you into one of my longest-running musical obsessions here.
I've been a huge Max Richter fan for well over a decade. I think I came in through The Blue Notebooks, or maybe it was hearing his work on The Leftovers… either way, I was hooked for life.
But the one I keep going back to is Recomposed. It's Vivaldi's Four Seasons, taken apart and rebuilt by Richter into something completely modern. He keeps Vivaldi's DNA but phases it, loops it, reshapes it. If you think you're sick of The Four Seasons from hearing it in every elevator on earth, this will make you fall in love with it again.
Then here's the cool part. He released that in 2012… and a decade later, in 2022, he did another version called The New Four Seasons. Same recomposition, but recorded on period instruments with gut strings, the kind Vivaldi himself would've actually heard, plus old 70s Moog synths. Grittier. Earthier. A whole different texture.
You don't need to be a classical person for this. You just need to love music. It's one of those pieces that does something to your chest. Put it on, do nothing else, and just let it move through you. Perfect for a slow Sunday.
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
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