✏️ Still waiting for 'the right time' to practice?
Start animating this week
So, you've bookmarked the tutorial. You've saved the post. You've told yourself, "this weekend, I'll finally learn that thing in After Effects."
But the weekend comes and goes, and the software stays closed. The list of saved videos just gets bigger (I have like above 1500+ videos to watch later on YouTube, know that).
If this feels familiar, it’s not necessarily because you lack discipline.
It’s because we often confuse watching with learning. Watching feels productive, but the real learning starts when we touch the tools.
The gap between information and practice is where procrastination lives.
So, what if we flipped the process?
Instead of starting with information, let's start with action. A tiny one.
A practice-first approach
Start with what you already have. Pick a poster, a logo, or a UI screen you’ve already designed. Something you know well. You don’t need a new idea. You just need a canvas.
Ask one simple question. Before you even think about software, ask yourself:
how would this move? Would the title slide in? Would a shape bounce? Sketch it on paper. The goal isn't to find the "right" answer, but to get your mind thinking in motion.Open the tool with a tiny goal. Now, open After Effects. Your only goal is to make one thing move. Not the whole poster, just the title. Or just one shape. Work with the most basic tools: position and scale. You’ll learn more in 30 minutes of trying than in two hours of watching.
This shift from consuming to doing is how you break the cycle. It lowers the pressure and makes starting feel possible.
With this idea of small exercises, less theory, and more practice is exactly why I'm creating more structured resources to help you start.
And today, I have something new for that.
So, again, you don’t actually need this. But if it is helpful…
My new short-course Motion Basics for Designers is out!
This is a short-course aimed for those designers that want to stop that procrastination and actually start animating today.
It's based on 5 exercises that I explain in my... quite raw way. To try to make it the most approachable I can.
Being 10000% honest with you, it’s a short-course based for designers that don’t have experience with motion/after effects and want to get their first exercises.
So I don’t know if that would fit you, because I know most of you have experience with motion.
If anyways you want to get it, I’m giving special first week discount subscription.
*The first 15 who get the course will be also getting a month free of the Practice Group: a special subscription of the newsletter where you get a monthly challenge, access to the Slack group where we share our exercises, feedback and group calls, and a mid-month check in to know how you are and adding some resources.
**This is a free month reward and you won't get charged afterwards for it.
More info about the subscription here.
If you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to reach out at hey@estebangonzalez.co