Joey sat down with Guido and Luigi Rosso—the brother founders behind Rive—to dig into what makes this platform different, where it's headed, and why teams at Spotify, Duolingo, and LinkedIn are building entire interactive experiences with it! Get more deets in the blog post: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/rive-podcast

It's that time of year again—the School of Motion End of Year Podcast is here, and this one is our longest yet... by a lot. Buckle up for an in-depth look at everything that shaped motion design in 2025, and a look ahead to 2026!

🗒️ SHOW NOTES https://schoolofmotion.com/eoy2025

This year, we're joined by 17 industry veterans and special guests to break down what "motion design" even means anymore, how AI is actually being used in production, and the real state of the motion design economy. We cover major software updates from Adobe, Maxon, Unreal Engine, and more, discuss the recovery of the VFX industry, and explore how motion designers are expanding into UX, real-time graphics, and interactive experiences.

This podcast represents our commitment to helping motion designers understand the bigger picture and make informed decisions about their careers. Thanks for being part of the School of Motion community this year!

THANK YOU to this year's contributors:

John LePore - Co-Founder, Blackbox Infinite Ivan Witteborg - UX Motion Designer, @Google Justin Cone - Executive Director of Communication, Buck & Residence @SternFX - Motion Designer & Educator Kyle Hamrick - Motion Designer, Editor & Educator Bekki Leahy - Motion Designer & Illustrator Greg Stewart - Lead Animator, @bibleproject @JJMotionStudio - Director & High Torchbearer, We Ride at Dawn @sweetboy.motion - 3D Artist & Educator Urban Bradesko - Founder, @DoubleJumpAcademy & Crispy Chicken VFX Dan Maurer - Co-founder, @cartandhorse Kris Bargen - Co-founder, @cartandhorse Erin Sarofsky - Owner & Creative Director, Sarofsky PJ Richardson - ECD, Director & Co-founder, Laundry @thejoelpilger - Founder, Forum Hayley Akins - Founder, @MotionHatch Caleb Ward - Founder, @curiousrefuge

👉 CHAPTERS 👈

00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:15 Motion Design Present & Future 00:17:54 School of Motion Roundup 00:31:10 Our Favorite Work from 2025 00:52:26 Artists & Studios We Loved in 2025 01:20:24 The State of Adobe 01:32:42 Photoshop & Illustrator 01:43:10 After Effects 01:53:13 Premiere 02:06:12 Substance Painter 02:14:43 Figma on Our Minds 02:26:53 Descript FTW 02:28:43 Affinity: Adobe Killer? 02:38:22 Here Comes the Cavalry 02:54:00 The Rive Lovefest 03:27:51 Lottifiles Update 03:32:22 Greyscalegorilla Merger & More 03:36:05 Maxon's Moves 03:51:56 The Autograph Curveball 03:58:41 Will Blender Blend? 04:22:09 Houdini Happenings 04:29:17 Unreal is Unreal 04:55:14 Lottielab 04:57:27 Simulon 05:00:34 Spline & Hana 05:04:18 Womp Womp 05:09:09 Nomad Sculpt 05:13:22 Zbrush 05:16:00 Ad Industry Consolidation 05:25:49 Marketing Budgets Spread Thin 05:32:19 The Great Bifurcation 05:51:14 Pour One Out for The Mill 05:52:28 National Design Studio 05:53:00 Ben Fryc Makes a Keyboard 05:58:47 Contra is Cool 06:00:31 A New Vimeo? 06:05:42 The Motion Economy 06:16:18 Macroeconomic Trends 06:21:28 Return to Office 06:26:11 The Two Races 06:32:33 The Lost Art of Communication 06:54:21 The Race to the Top 07:21:17 The AI Conversation 07:23:22 Adobe's AI Play 07:37:11 Weavy & ComfyUI 07:49:52 MoveAI 07:53:51 Cascadeur 07:59:46 AI Image Generator Roundup 08:10:53 Firefly & Boards 08:17:41 AI Video Models 08:32:05 The AI Financial Bubble 08:39:16 The AI Vibe Shift 09:04:55 AI's Utility 09:26:01 THAT Coke Ad 09:31:42 How Artists Actually Use AI 09:41:38 The AI Ethics Question 09:49:29 2026 Predictions

🎓 SCHOOL OF MOTION COURSES MENTIONED

School of Motion All-Access: https://schoolofmotion.com/all-access School of Motion Team Training: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/training-for-teams Courses & workshops coming soon: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/coming-soon

What if the things that make you anxious are actually pointing you toward your greatest strengths? School of Motion Creative Director EJ Hassenfratz shares his talk from the Motion Plus Design conference in New York City, exploring how the anxieties we face as creatives—imposter syndrome, the proliferation of AI, creative blocks, and staying relevant in a fast-changing industry—can actually become our biggest competitive advantages. EJ reveals practical ways to transform nervous energy into creative fuel and reframe professional anxiety as a guide toward growth and opportunity.

Recorded live at Motion Plus Design 2024 in NYC. Big shourt out to the Motion Plus Design team for allowing us to share this footage! Want to get more insights into the Motion Design industry? Check out our blog at schoolofmotion.com/blog

We got Ben Marriott on the podcast, and honestly, it's about time...Ben's one of the best tutorial creators out there for After Effects and motion design, and his journey from freelance illustrator to full-time YouTuber happened faster than anyone expected (including him). Check out the corresponding blog post with key takeaways here: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/b...

From pouring drinks to lighting shots at Blue Sky to leading Adobe's Substance 3D team, Michael Tanzillo's professional path is anything but typical and his story is packed with lessons motion designers need to hear. Check out the corresponding blog post here: www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/adobe-michael-tanzillo In this episode of the School of Motion Podcast, EJ Hassenfratz sits down with Michael to talk about the state of 3D, why motion designers are impressing major animation studios, and how foundational skills (like lighting and storytelling) will outlast any software trend.

🗒️ SHOW NOTES

Michael Tanzillo https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeltanzillo/

The 3D Artist Newesletter https://3dartist.substack.com/

Jasmine Katadakarn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-katatikarn/

Alwyn Hunt https://www.therookies.co/about/team/alwyn-hunt

Andrew Kramer https://www.videocopilot.net/contact/company/

Sebastian Deguy https://x.com/sebdeguy?lang=en

Nick Campbell https://nickvegas.com/

Connor Henkle https://vimeo.com/996490291?fl=pl&fe=ti&pgroup=plv

Connor Henkle on SOM podcast https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/connor-henkle-sports-design

Patrick Foley https://www.instagram.com/patrick_4d/

Colosseum https://colosseum.co/

Winbush https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmzWP6o2cw73moEF7LO_KvA

PJ Richardson https://www.pj-richardson.com/

Victoria Nece https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-nece

Sora https://openai.com/sora/

Midjourney https://www.midjourney.com

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/

Substance 3D stager https://www.adobe.com/products/substance3d/apps/stager.html

Omniverse https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/omniverse/

Structure reference tool https://www.adobe.com/learn/firefly/web/generative-ai-structure-reference-image?learnIn=1&locale=en

USD (Universal Scene Description) https://3dartist.substack.com/p/demystifying-usd

Blue Sky App https://bsky.app/

NAB Conference https://www.nabshow.com/

Safe Space LA https://www.safe-space-la.com/

Camp Mograph https://www.campmograph.com/

Blue Sky Studios https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Sky_Studios

Pixar https://www.pixar.com/

20th Century Studios https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/

Disney https://www.disney.com/

The Mill https://www.themill.com/

Frame Store https://www.framestore.com/

Buck http://buck.tv/

Finding Nemo https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/

Ice Age Three https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1080016/

Rio https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1436562/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

Peanuts Movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2452042/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

Nimona https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19500164/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1

Spider-Verse https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4633694/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_spider-man

Game of Thrones https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/

Severance https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11280740/

Flow https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4772188/

Wild Robot https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29623480/

The Whale https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13833688/

SCAD https://www.scad.edu/

Cinema 4D https://www.maxon.net/en/cinema-4d?srsltid=AfmBOoqj346c50q5PODG-_HTeZ017JdipbkaQRt_XDIX0NBHsGV7Mu-z

Maya https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview

V-ray https://www.chaos.com/vray?srsltid=AfmBOoogC_jTWraDUnBTjNhG0pkAZ9csF4CO_mtNstdVflJtvuZ4zWju

Redshift https://www.maxon.net/en/redshift?srsltid=AfmBOoo_siCAT_UUp0clTp4nqupkBj5b8zl9tVbL_q_9s4rSApkihGbo

ZBrush https://www.maxon.net/en/zbrush?srsltid=AfmBOoo3KatuGEWJE2rr4ztpt3_DJlV7Wbz0dxzl1sY2pzACcpzxdeMI

Blender https://www.blender.org/

Lightroom https://lightroom.adobe.com/

Substance Painter https://www.adobe.com/products/substance3d.html

Substance Viewer https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-viewer.html

Project Neo https://helpx.adobe.com/project-neo/help/overview.html

Mixamo https://www.mixamo.com/

Firefly https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly.html

Unreal Engine https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US

Mega Scans https://quixel.com/megascans

In the sea of surface-level chatter about AI and filmmaking, Nikola Todorovic is saying the quiet part out loud—and it's the stuff creative pros actually need to hear. Check out the corresponding blog post with our key takeaways here: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/wonder-dynamics As Co-Founder and CEO of Wonder Dynamics, Nikola helped build Flow Studio, an AI-powered platform that lets small teams create VFX-rich productions without VFX-rich budgets. The work was so forward-thinking that Autodesk acquired Wonder Dynamics in 2024, folding it into their growing cloud-based creative suite. But this conversation goes way deeper than "AI saves time." It's about what happens to artistry when the tools start doing more than just accelerating workflows—and how indie filmmakers, animators, and motion designers can harness that shift without getting swept away by hype.

Most AI video companies are gambling with copyright law. Moonvalley made a different bet. Check out the corresponding blog post with highlights here: http://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/mo...

Real talk: Most AI video companies are doing it wrong.They scrape everything they can get their hands on – YouTube, Vimeo, whatever – and feed it into their models. The results? Tools like Sora and Gemini are genuinely impressive. The quality is getting scary good. But here's the rub: Video producers are using these tools to create content that's trained on copyrighted work, while the original artists who made it all possible get zero credit or compensation. It's basically profiting off someone else's creativity without asking permission. But what if there was a better way? What if AI could actually make creators more powerful instead of making them obsolete?That's exactly what Naeem Talukdar, founder of Moonvalley, is betting on. And after listening to him break down his approach on the latest School of Motion podcast, we're convinced he might be onto something big.

Sarah Beth Morgan, illustrator and School of Motion instructor, joins Joey to dish about the real stuff: moving across the country, having a baby, and navigating the ever-changing animation industry. See the corresponding blog post here: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/sarah-beth-morgan Since her last appearance on the SOM Podcast, she's moved across the country, had a baby (a delightful two-year-old egg enthusiast named Arty), and launched a narrative podcast called Ghost Frame while navigating what she describes as a "career crisis" in today's evolving animation landscape.In this conversation with Joey, Sarah Beth opens up about how parenthood has surprisingly benefited her creative work, her experiments with murals and local art, taking social media breaks, and her thoughts on the current "malaise" affecting the 2D animation industry. -- Check out Sarah Beth's SOM course, Illustration for Motion https://www.schoolofmotion.com/courses/illustration-for-motion In Illustration for Motion you'll learn the foundations of modern illustration from Sarah Beth Morgan. You'll discover a range of illustrative styles through mock client briefs meant to mimic jobs found in the real world. By the end of the course, you'll be equipped to create incredible illustrated works of art that you can use in your animation projects right away.

Joey recently caught up with the main dude behind Dash Studio, Mack Garrison, for an episode of the School of Motion podcast that's creative rocket fuel. These two industry veterans dive into everything from bizarre career plot twists to throwing killer community events and surviving the AI apocalypse. It's a dive into how to thrive as a creative when the entire industry seems to be transforming at warp speed. Check out the corresponding blog post here: www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/mack-garrison-dash-studio

EJ jams with Barton Damer, the creative muscle behind Already Been Chewed (ABC)...basically the Tony Hawk of motion design. This dude turned his skateboarding obsession into a full-blown 3D animation studio that now cranks out mind-blowing work for Nike, Adidas, Star Wars, and Marvel.

Check out the corresponding blog post with key takeaways: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/already-been-chewed

Artists

Barton Damer https://www.linkedin.com/in/barton-damer-92a32918 EJ Hassenfratz https://www.youtube.com/@eyedesyn/videos Nick Campbell https://greyscalegorilla.com/about-us/ Paul Babb https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulbabb/ Rob Dyrdek https://robdyrdek.com/ Mark Fancher https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkFancherFX Dan Arsham https://www.danielarsham.com/ PJ Richardson https://www.laundry.studio/ Jonathan Winbush https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmzWP6o2cw73moEF7LO_KvA

Studios

Already Been Chewed (ABC) https://www.alreadybeenchewed.tv/ Greyscale Gorilla https://greyscalegorilla.com/ Maxon https://www.maxon.net/en LRG https://l-r-g.com/ Nike https://www.nike.com/ Adidas https://www.adidas.com/ Under Armour https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ Street League Skateboarding https://www.streetleague.com/ MTV https://www.mtv.com/ ESPN https://www.espn.com/ Discovery Channel https://www.discovery.com/ New Balance https://www.newbalance.com/ Louis Vuitton https://www.alreadybeenchewed.tv/louisvuitton Tiffany and Co. https://www.tiffany.com/stories/collaborations/daniel-arsham-pokemon/ Legwork https://legworkstudio.com/animation/ Laundry Studio https://www.laundry.studio/ SoFi Stadium https://www.laundry.studio/ooh/project-four-l3zw3-jecsr-hr7em-6yptl

Work

Fantasy Factory https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/rob-dyrdeks-fantasy-factory/ Rob & Big https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_%26_Big Snack Off https://tv.apple.com/us/show/snack-off/umc.cmc.3cjzt6066id3jq5koxur3vx9p Ridiculousness https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ridiculousness/umc.cmc.234le4y5rrb4satzsf28ix6yx Digital Artist of the Year https://www.behance.net/gallery/12189735/COMPUTER-ARTS-MAGAZINE-Digital-Artist-of-the-Year?locale=en_US

Resources

NAB https://www.nabshow.com/ Cinema 4D https://www.maxon.net/en/cinema-4d After Effects https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects.html Computer Arts Magazine https://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts Adobe Photoshop https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html Adobe Illustrator https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html Final Cut Pro https://www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/ iMovie https://support.apple.com/imovie Houdini https://www.sidefx.com/products/houdini/ Unreal Engine https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US Behance https://www.behance.net/onboarding/hirerCreative Nixon https://www.nixon.com/ Rob & Bart Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frJ4rcpyFvI