4 After Effects Creators You Should be Following on YouTube
With so many AE tutorials out there, it’s tough to narrow down your options. Skip the search and up your AE game when you subscribe to these talented content creators.
Finding a good YouTube tutorial is simple enough. A basic keyword search will return an endless list of videos, putting many of the best at the top of the pile. Finding a good channel is a bit harder.
My favorite creators are usually the ones that find a niche in some specific talent or subset of the After Effects world. Let’s take a look at a few creators that tick that box.
Georgie Yana
If you’ve spent any time animating in After Effects, you probably know that bringing text to life is especially difficult. And don’t even get me started with those pesky text animators. This is why you should subscribe to Georgie Yana, a motion designer with a love for kinetic typography.
Her channel is barely a month old and she already has four super helpful videos published. From Animating Font Weight to Creative Kinetic Typography, Georgie can teach you a thing or two about working with text. Be sure to subscribe and check out her weekly videos. Or, if you’d prefer to just gaze on some of her beautiful portfolio, go follow her on Instagram.
Sonja Geracsek
Sonja is a motion designer and animation tutor, and there’s a good chance that you’ve already seen some of her work. For a year she served as a Senior Motion Designer for the Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell channel. In fact, she was the sole animator on the Horror Parasites episode.
Sonja has been busy putting out very interesting and original work on her YouTube channel. These include live streams focusing on design and animation. She has three streaming series: Animation Co-Lab, Shut Up and Draw, and Work Watching.
Animation Co-Lab is especially intriguing. In this series Sonja animates work from other illustrators and designers, exploring new techniques along the way. Check out her streams every Tuesday and Friday.
Emonee LaRussa
Emonee is an incredibly talented motion graphics artist. She’s worked with Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, FKA Twigs, Lil Nas X, Dababy, Jhene Aiko, John Legend, Tory Lanez, ScHoolboy Q, The Internet band, DanceGavinDance, and RKS (Rainbow Kitten Surprise), just to name a few.
Her channel gives great insight into what it’s like working as an industry professional, specifically music videos. The Process of Creating Animated Music Videos – Pre Production is an especially interesting piece. In it, she breaks down her experience pitching ideas to a label, including concept design and preparing animation treatments.
MadMatthies
A transitions master, or #transitioner, MadMatthies has a huge following on TikTok. Several of her videos have gone viral, leading to millions of views in the past few months alone. Her YouTube channel takes viewers behind the scenes and reveals how she creates her most popular videos. She shares her gear setup, as well as how to perform popular transition techniques.
While I had severe neck pain just watching, my favorite part of these videos is her dog’s chill attitude. It’s pure entertainment, and very inspiring to watch her put together amazing transitions with just a phone. VFX artists take note.
And remember TikTokers, the key to a good transition is consistent movement.
Cover image by lemono.
