stop motion

Exploring Animation

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

This year, I’ve started to explore animation. My interest was peaked by some really talented people, especially Rachel Ryle. Definitely check her out (all links below).

I first started playing with hyperlapse video and stop motion video and created videos that were a painting in progress. But keeping the camera steady while working was a challenge. And stopping periodically to film wasn’t any easier.

https://instagram.com/p/4SQ8saH6Rr/?taken-by=mycreativeresolution
https://instagram.com/p/1_O25En6Uk/?taken-by=mycreativeresolution

Next I played with adding motion to my illustrations by creating animated gifs. (Like the tire swing above and my skeleton below.) I was inspired by Illustrator Nancy Liang. (Check out her work in the link below.) I used Photoshop to create the “scenes” (saved as separate gifs) and then would put all the gifs together in imovie. This is a bit tedious because each and every step of a movement has to be a different scene.

https://instagram.com/p/9etNEFn6Yx/?taken-by=mycreativeresolution

I knew their was a better way! I found a talented animator, Emanuele Columbo, on Instagram and asked him what he used to create his animations (link below). How nice of him to share that he used After Effects. And I own After Effects! (It came with a bundle of other Graphic Design software.)

A twenty minute tutorial on youtube by Kriscoart Productions has given me the basics and I’m ready to try After Effects and create a new animation!

But first, as with any animation, you need the artwork to animate. I love the idea of animating my watercolor and ink drawings. My goal is to have an animated turkey by Thanksgiving. Since I’m not cooking this year, I should be able to pull it off!

Below are links to the Animators/Illustrators that have inspired me. What I love about these three is that they all have their own (very different) styles. I’m hoping my animations will be a reflection of me. Animation is definitely going to be a focus of mine in 2016!

Inspiration:
Rachel Ryle
Nancy Liang
Emanuele Columbo

After Effects tutorial by Kriscoart Productions

Stop Motion Animation – See the tire “swing” :)

| Eileen McKenna {my creative resolution}

treeswing
Click here to see the swinging tire swing! I’ve been wanting to create an animation for a while now. I see a lot of them on Instagram. But everytime I come up with a concept – it’s way too complicated. Especially since I wasn’t sure how to go about it, how to animate my illustration – video? animated gif? an app? which app?

The other day on a whim, I painted a tree and thought it could use something else. A quote? A tire swing! I realized I could start simple. My stop motion animation would be of the tire swinging. The background doesn’t change. The tire swing would be the only moving component, so I drew it separately.

But how to make it work? I figured it out using the process of elimation – video too shaky, one app wouldn’t allow me to upload my own pics, animated gifs don’t play on Instagram (I don’t think ), another app left a huge watermark across my animation, etc.

I was ready to give up! I decided to try one more thing and try iMovie on my Mac – which I don’t know well. At first it didn’t seem like it would work. How do I upload my pics? But after some modifications, finally success! My tire swing was swinging! 🙂

A simple thing, but it feels like a milestone. I made my illustration move! Haven’t seen it yet? Click here! I’m already thinking of the next animation. Stay tuned!