How I Learned Animation Without a Single Course

I first tried animation in 2021. At the time, I was creating PowerPoint presentations when I came across the opening sequence of Desperate Housewives. I was fascinated by how still images could tell a story through movement. I wanted to create something similar myself.

My first animation was a simple Halloween project made with Photoshop and PowerPoint. It was far from perfect, but it was enough to make me curious about animation.

Later, a friend on Instagram introduced me to Alight Motion. It became my main tool for exploring 2D animation, collage videos and visual storytelling. I spent countless hours experimenting, searching for answers, and learning through trial and error.

Like many beginners, I started by recreating other people's work. It helped me understand timing, movement and technique. But after a while I realized something was missing.

There were no personal ideas in them. No emotions. No point of view. I was learning how to animate, but I wasn't creating anything that felt like mine. That was the first time I seriously thought about giving up.

Then a request came in for a birthday animation. Soon there was another project, and then another. Real people trusted me with their stories, and animation stopped being just an experiment.

One of the first projects I was truly proud of was an animation for an organization helping homeless cats. Later I created work for a women's business forum and other clients. With every project I learned a little more about storytelling through motion.

The biggest change happened when I stopped looking for someone else's style and started looking for my own.

Today my work combines 2D animation, collage animation and motion design. Cosmic imagery, surreal compositions and visual metaphors appear again and again in my projects. They became part of a language that feels natural to me.

I still consider myself self-taught. Every project teaches me something new.

Looking back, the hardest part was not learning the software. The hardest part was finding my own voice.

— WACD.ART · June 2026