“I’ve always liked watching animation. I just think it’s more visually interesting than live action most of the time. You can also tell a story in a short amount of time, which is what I love about it. That’s why I tend to work on five- or ten-second pieces. They feel manageable, but still expressive.

To bring those stories to life, I work primarily with digital tools. I use programs such as Adobe Animate. I like the convenience because traditional 2D animation requires so many materials, like paper, ink, and paint. It’s expensive and time-consuming to set up. On a computer, it’s just me, my ideas, and the program. For me, digital 2D felt more accessible than something like stop motion or 3D.

Of course, convenience doesn’t mean easy. The frustrating part is the time commitment. I mainly animate at 24 frames per second, so even my short animations (which are typically five to ten seconds) still take me five or six hours to finish.

Despite the workload, there hasn’t been a time where I completely gave up on animation. It’s more like I’ll work on projects for a couple months, then lose motivation for a while. But I always get back into it. Part of what makes it fun is that I create for myself, not an audience. I think that takes pressure off, because I’m not animating for likes or views. It’s just something I keep coming back to, even if I stop for a while.

I always start with a plan. The first step after I have an idea is storyboarding, or sketching out the rough timeline with all the poses and events. I usually work alone. Sometimes I’ll reuse backgrounds, but most of the time I start fresh.

Looking ahead, I don’t think AI can really match the quality of high-budget animation made by a human. I could see it helping for things like interpolation to make the process more efficient, but I don’t think it looks as good as hand-drawn frames.

For anyone starting out, I would suggest using real-life footage as reference. Not tracing, but working from life helps you understand the basic principles of animation.”