I don't know if it's addiction or adoration, but one way or the other, I'm hooked on motion graphics. The signs are all there: the obsession with After Effects, the inability to function without After Effects. Is it any wonder that I found myself knee deep in the digital world of keyframes and compositions by choice and indirectly drowning in a pool of time-consuming mishaps and still I enjoyed every sleepless torment brought forth by After Effects.
My story begins when I was hired at Markets Online as a graphic designer and I was requested to at least know the basic fundamentals of motion graphics. Motion Graphics forms a key service the company offers, and Markets Online believes that video and multimedia design is the future of online marketing. As a graphic designer who solely focuses on making the digital world beautiful, I found it difficult to make my designs convert to motion graphics but as an individual who prides himself as a winner, I started to conduct extensive research on motion graphics with Lynda.com and YouTube tutorials. Bit by bit I began to learn the essentials, and on to some more advanced techniques. The first few weeks were difficult as the whole and the After Effects interface seemed intimidating and discouraging but I soldiered on like a veteran in this army of creativity, I was given a task to create a search engine optimisation video and that’s where all hell broke loose and Satan vacated his premises… As a novice the first step was understanding:
- Workspaces
- Compositions
- Layers
- Animation key frames
- Effects
- Renderings
All of this seemed like deciphering hieroglyphics or comprehending alien dialects but as I went through this step-by-step I began to grasp the fundamentals and one thing led to another until I went in-depth with animation and syncing audio. The learning task was made all the more difficult because at the same time I was performing my daily tasks as a graphic designer - so this was on the job training in actuality which was clouded with countless errors and persistent failures that demoralized me
and tormented me in my sleep. As smashed as I was I found myself falling in love with After Effects, the transitions, key frames, text effects etc. I learnt in 3 weeks what others conjure up in years and that made me realise that what if I give myself a year? Perhaps two years to perfect this craft, I would create legendary stuff! My name is Abram Tshivhinda and I do Motion Graphics. Have a look at my video...
