I have this love-hate relationship with After Effects. On the one hand, it gives you an incredible amount of creative power. But at the same time, all that freedom, all that choice and possibility can feel paralyzing.

So much about art-making now feels like this. Standing in front of the abyss of seemingly infinite possibilities, how do you know what to do?

Most will choose some well-worn industry-prescribed route. And most will struggle to have their work be seen and engaged with.

For everyone else - those with a burning desire to create and the chutzpa to blaze their own paths - the options are much more nebulous.

So where to begin?

Invent some restrictions for yourself. If you are a writer, allow yourself only 500 words. A filmmaker? Give yourself only an iPhone camera and a final running time of 2 minutes. Your juices are flowing already, aren't they?

Creativity thrives in the presence of constructive constraint.

In fact, with fewer opportunities to hide behind gloss and technical skill, with less of the baggage that comes with predictable forms, what comes through the work instead is the warmth of the hand that made it.

This isn't to urge you against ambition.

But there can't be an "outside-of-the-box" without a box. And these days, especially if you find yourself stuck in place, you just might yourself have to create that box for yourself.