Artwork alpha channels created in Ps does not work in After effects

Animation/Motion design-student here.

I am having difficulties importing layered artwork from the Proceate app(iPad) to after effects for animation. The artwork seems to be without a alpha channel. The issue occured when I switched from PC to MacBook. Prior to switching the problem was easily solved by creating a mask for each layer in photoshop and saving the file before importing it as composition(w/retained layers) into After Effects. This means that even though each layer/artworkpiece has a transparent background, it still fills the the screen and makes the process of placing pivot points, selecting layers and animating more cumbersome. The example screenshots show how I mask out each layer and how it turns out in Ae(Carrot nose selected). Is this a question of choosing wrong import/export options? I notice that working on Mac, there seems to me to be more options to chose from when it comes to importing files. (I use PSD file format)

Like I said initially, this approach worked smooth while using my old stationary PC, but the problem resurfaced on my new Mac.