Build something real this weekend.

Make a hundred AI images, then prove you can pick the twelve that belong together. You'll settle on one look and hold every image to it, so tightly that a stranger can tell at a glance they're all one set. Making images is easy now, and choosing the right twelve is the whole skill. That part is yours.

Write a short comic and let AI draw it: 4 to 6 pages where the story and the characters are yours and AI draws the boxes, which comics call panels. The fun, maddening part: keeping one character's face the same in every panel, and making the story actually work. AI can draw all day, but it can't make a character feel like a person or a story end well. That's on you, and it's the part worth doing.

You're going to make a 15 to 30 second animation: something that loops (it plays over and over with no visible break), a tiny story, or one thing turning into another. Working in seconds forces something hard: every second has to carry something (story, movement, or meaning) or it gets cut. That's the same decision real animators make about what to keep and what to throw out. You'll end with a finished animation posted wherever you want it.