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Issue #87 | February 22th, 2026

Hey Reader 👋
​
​This week feels… loud.

My oldest son is visiting ❤️
The house is getting hammered by storms here in France. And on top of that: work, clients, renovation chaos, family logistics… all at once.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it — I'm carrying an insane mental weight right now.

And the funny thing? I know everything will be fine in the end. I always do. But weeks like this remind me of something we don't talk about enough:

Mental strength isn't a personality trait. It's a muscle. And life will happily add plates to the bar whether you asked for it or not. 😅

So yeah… right now I'm just keeping moving. One problem at a time. One decision at a time. One small win at a time. Hoping the fog clears soon.

Big news: Freelancing for Animators (FFA) is becoming the focus 🚀

I've been getting emails lately — and honestly, some of them hit hard.

Studios slowing down. Contracts disappearing. Families to feed. Pressure building.

As a dad of three — two teenagers and a little tornado who's almost two 😄 — I feel that. Deeply. When the industry lets you down, it's not just career stress. It's life stress. It's identity. It's stability.

So I made a big decision.

The Animator Now! community is closing next month.

In its place, I'm opening something smaller, tighter, more focused — on the Skool platform.

Not a giant "everything for everyone" place. Just one mission:

Teach animators how to freelance so well they never look back.

So they can build something for themselves. For their family. For their freedom.

What's inside FFA

Full access to the course — the cohort content, packaged clearly. The community — focused, practical, no noise. A weekly live call with me.

And the price? ✅ $29/month.

Here's the truth — the internet is drowning in animation tutorials. YouTube, courses, breakdowns… you can learn to animate for free in 2025.

But make a living as a freelance animator? Build real clients, real income, real freedom? That's where the resources disappear. That's the gap. That's where I'm planting my flag.

I have 15 years teaching animation. But I have 25 years living as a freelance animator.

25 years of clients, deadlines, invoices, dry spells, and breakthroughs — outside the studio system, every single day.

I'm not teaching theory. I'm teaching my last 25 years.

I'll reopen Animator Now! at some point — animation education is something I genuinely love. But right now? That's not where I can make the biggest difference. This is.

If you want updates on the launch, subscribe to the Freelancing for Animators list below. 👇👇👇

​👉 Join the Freelancing for Animators (FFA) list ​

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The Spotlight

A Tiny Man (Un Petit Homme) — Aude David & Mikaël Gaudin, France, 2022, 10 min

A small, insecure man. A wife who takes up more space than he'd like. A mysterious serum. And a plan that's going to backfire spectacularly.

You probably see where this is heading. The film gets you anyway. 😊

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Click the thumbnail above to watch the trailer — and click here to watch the full film on Vimeo. (I can't embed the full Vimeo video directly in this newsletter or it'll end up in your spam folder. Damn Vimeo!

A Tiny Man is adapted from a short story by Russian symbolist writer Fyodor Sologoub — and it has that classic moral fable energy. Dark, a little absurd, inevitable. But the story isn't really the point. The craft is.

The animation is hand-drawn, pencil-heavy, black and white. No colour. Deliberately flat. And it works beautifully — because it puts all the weight on the drawing itself. On expression. On character design. And those designs are sharp. You always know exactly what these people are feeling, even when the line is scratchy and rough. Especially when it's scratchy and rough. It reminds you of Joanna Quinn's work — bodies that feel physical, present, alive.

The composition is consistently strong. Insert shots dropped into the action to build rhythm and pressure. A real sense of when to hold and when to move.

What surprised me most was the sound design. When your visual world is this stripped back — no colour, no texture, pure 2D drawing — the foley has to carry the world. Here it does. Every creak, every gulp, every footstep feels specific. Intentional. That level of craft on a short film this size? Impressive.

The story itself is simple. Petty man. Petty plan. Deserved outcome. There's a wicked little smile running through the whole thing — not mean-spirited, just precise. The kind of moral tale that trusts you to get it without spelling it out.

Not the flashiest film. But one of the most assured. If you care about character animation and smart short-form storytelling — this one's worth ten minutes of your Sunday.😊

🎬 Credits

Director: Aude David, Mikaël Gaudin
​Production: Jérôme Blesson — La Belle Affaire Productions
​Script: Mikaël Gaudin, Aude David — adapted from a short story by Fyodor Sologoub
​Animation: Aude David, Augustin Guichot
​Cinematography: Aude David Editor: Sercan Sezgin, Aude David Music: Wissam Hojeij
​Sound Design & Mix: Pierre Oberkampf, Fred Bielle
​

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The Job Fair

• ​2D/3D Animator - Collabera
  ​Remote/onsite/hybrid: Hybrid - Hybrid with the possibility of coming to meetings in person once a week when we have events, etc.) People who exclusively do 2D animations. We are looking for people who can do animations with human characters (patients) to demonstrate little situations. Typically, these are digital cutout/puppet animators who create characters from separate digital pieces and rigging them to move parts (like limbs) without redrawing everything.​
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• ​Motion Animator - Social Gurus​
  This is a full-time on-site role for a Motion Animator. The Motion Animator will be responsible for designing high-quality animated content, utilizing motion capture technology, and creating compelling motion graphics. Key responsibilities include developing storyboards, implementing animations that align with project goals, and collaborating effectively with team members to bring creative ideas to life. The role provides an exciting opportunity to contribute innovative animations and visuals for various media projects.
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• ​Senior Motion Designer - SeatGeek​
  SeatGeek believes live events are powerful experiences that unite humans. With our technological savvy and fan-first attitude we’re simplifying and modernizing the ticketing industry. We believe live events make life better — and great design brings that magic to life. We’re looking for a Senior Motion Designer who can turn ideas into energetic, scroll-stopping stories that excite fans, showcase our brand, and highlight the best live experiences on earth.
  ​
• ​2D Animator – Character Animatics/Assistant - JR Entertainment · Remote​
  JR Entertainment is crewing up for 2026 animation projects and looking for a 2D Animator with experience in character animatics and assistant animation work. Great opportunity for animators looking to break into or grow within production pipelines. Posted this week.

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The Random Stuff

👀 Alex Honnold on Diary of a CEO

I talked about Honnold last week. Still not done with him.🤣

This interview with Steven Bartlett is long — and I haven't even finished it yet. But the first 20 minutes alone are worth your time. The way this guy thinks about fear, preparation, and pushing limits is genuinely unlike anything else. You don't have to care about climbing. You just have to be curious about what a human brain looks like when it's been trained to operate at the absolute edge of what's possible.

​

One of those conversations that makes you sit up a little straighter and rethink your own excuses. Go watch it.

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🎬 Punch-Drunk Love (2002) — Paul Thomas Anderson

I don't know how I missed this one for so long. But I finally watched it and… wow.

Adam Sandler is an incredible actor. There. I said it. This film is proof. PTA takes everything you expect from a Sandler movie and quietly dismantles it — what's left is this strange, tender, anxious little love story that feels like nothing else. The cinematography, the sound design, the pacing… it's a masterclass in controlled chaos.

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If you haven't seen it, fix that this week. One of those films that makes you remember why cinema is special.

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🤖 Higgsfield AI — "Vibe Coding for Motion Design"

Okay. I need to vent for a second.

There's a new AI tool called Higgsfield AI that just dropped a video claiming it's basically vibe coding for motion design. The implication being — you don't need a motion designer anymore. Just type a prompt and boom.

😡😡😡😡 I'm genuinely getting tired of this. 😡😡😡😡😡

​

AI is a real advancement. I use it. I LOVE it. I think it's genuinely useful. But this rush to sell you the idea that animators and motion designers are already replaceable? That's not innovation — that's marketing. And it's lazy marketing at that.

A motion designer/animator isn't just someone who pushes buttons. They're someone who understands timing, composition, emotion, storytelling. That's not something a prompt replaces. Not today. Not anytime soon.

Watch the video. Form your own opinion. But go in with your eyes open. 😤

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Philippe Duvin​
Founder, Animator NOW

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