(via Cartoon Brew) Cartoon Brew shared a video that has since been all over the place on Blogs and Facebook since it’s really really good. Below is a really well done one-minute of traditional drawn animation with a retro classic Superman by Robb Pratt that (I hope) should be a proof-of-concept for a bigger project someday.
Category Archive: 2D
Feb
17
2011
Feb
17
2011
Link: Fuddles animated book trailer
re-purposing comics and illustrations into animation
(via Cartoon Brew) Check out this wonderfully animated trailer for an upcoming picture book by veteran animator Frans Vischer, Fuddles the Cat. While the animation is not like some book trailers since it does not use artwork directly from the book like some do, this one has animation by the author that tops any computer manipulation. It seems there have been quite a few gems of 2D animation in the last few weeks HERE and HERE.
Feb
07
2011
Nosy Bear, a sketch book film by Fran Krause
a post on Motion Comic Magic
Cartoon Brew today posted a really neat short animated film by Fran Krause (Moonraker, Utica Cartoon). I wanted to share it here because it ties into my interest at the possibilities of using techniques to re-purpose art in other forms for animation. In this case the art has not been published in some form, but since it was drawn entirely in a sketchbook first that made it fit for me. I am excited since I also thought of doing the same thing years ago after visiting Muir Woods here in the Bay Area. The film is really simple an nicely done. Maybe this would be a great weekend art project or even for a larger event similar to 24 Hour Comic Book Day. I love how technology makes it possible to do something that is very analog to start with. Of course the bear is a favorite animal of mine too so that makes it all the better.
Just so cool.
Here is the short and a making of video too…
Nov
05
2010
videos: Motion Illustration and Motion Comics samples pt 2
Well, here is my second post of sample Motion Comics and Motion Illustration videos I have found on-line. Motion Comics and Motion Illustration is the art of taking art from a book, comic or other source and animating it. It’s becoming more and more visible as entertainment and entertainment. It’s really an exciting way to take one medium into another.
I would love to know on both this post and the one from Wen Nov 3 which videos you like. I have made a few animations with comic art and am curious what works for you.
Where the videos on part 1 was more about charm and whimsy, today’s videos are Action and Adventure!
Leviathan trailer (Simon & Schuster)
From a young adult novel. Very dynamic.
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Batman – Black & White Motion Comics – 2 – Broken Nose by Paul Pope (DC Comics)
DC comics really has done some of the best motion comics. They work with the art and not try to take it too far (which some others have done in the past).
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Spiderwomen motion-comic trailer (marvel)
Marvel’s trailer for the motion graphic created by artist Neil Adam’s studio. A lot of the effects you see in these started with animatics (animated storyboards) for Commercials and Movies which Mr. Adam’s company also does.
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‘The Walking Dead’ motion comic
OK, this one is kind of more PG13-R, but with some really nice animation done on the comic art.
also, an animator who is a fan has made his own opening credits for the new Walking Dead TV show using comic art that fits in here. He even has a making of discription on-line! Really great stuff.
THE WALKING DEAD “Opening Titles” from Daniel Kanemoto on Vimeo.
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Murena #8 from Dargaud. (france) Dramatic.
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Barracuda from Dargaud. (france) Looks interesting!
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Blacksad teaser Dargaud. (france)
A trailer for one of the best french comics out there. The art is so awesome.
Don’t forget to check out the video I did with comic creator Alexis E. Farjardo for a trailer for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland.
Nov
03
2010
videos: Motion Illustration and Motion Comics pt 1
As some of you might know, I am very interested in not only animation and comics, but combining them together into Motion Illustration and Motion Comics. Motion Comics and Motion Illustration are where artwork used for different medium or format (usually an analog one) is adapted to tell a story with motion and sound. Some of these trailers and shorts use new material that was created specifically for the video that goes beyond just touching up some images in Photoshop, but they are included here as part of the same “family.”
Just a bit of disclosure is that I have made some videos like these myself. In fact I just posted some work two weeks ago that I did with comic creator Alexis E. Farjardo for a trailer for Kid Beowulf and the Song of Roland.
This is part 1 or 2 with these videos having more charm, humor, fantasy and whimsy.
First up we have Chris Ware’s poem, Falling. This goes to show how it does not take a lot of bells and whistles to add life to a video version of a comic. One thing that seems to run through all of these is having the right music though.
Luis Grane’s contribution to the Totoro Forest Project (www.totoroforestproject.org)
Some nice simple animation that works with the music to really give you a little treat.
Tim Sievert’s ‘That Salty Air’ Trailer (Top Shelf)
Here the folks at Top Shelf have actually created new animation based on the comic for this moody piece.
Jeffrey Brown’s INCREDIBLE CHANGE-BOTS (Top Shelf)
Lost Colony Trailer (FirstSecond books)
Diana Thung’s Captain Long Ears
Suzy Lee’s Wave (Chronicle books)
This is another nice simply done piece from a childrens book.
It’s A Book by Lane Smith (Macmillan)
This is just funny and charming and really well done.
Zits: Drive Her Crazy (Jantze Studio)
Not sure if Mike and his crew did new art or used art from the actual comic strip, but it’s really fun and well done. I am guessing we will see more of these coming in the near future.
Look for part 2 on Friday Nov 5 for a little Action and Adventure!
Jul
04
2010
Cartoon Boot Camp(week 3): Animation to Motion Comics notes
updated 7-4-10
Well, my students this past week were really doing some amazing things, and they wanted me to let them know of the tools and software that was used in class and I want to share with all of you in webland what they achieved.
First off we did some Pixalation and Stop Motion. Those are both the same thing, the moving of objects filmed one frame at a time. For Stop Motion we were using and older version of iStopmotion (version 1). It’s Macintosh based and very simple to use which is why I like it. I have not really had a chance to work with version 2 yet, but would like to try in the future. www.boinx.com/istopmotion.
The program was used with just a DV camcorder on a tripod pointing down at a table surface and connected to the computer with a firewire cable. We animated clip art from Dover: http://store.doverpublications.com/0486995666.html which I printed out from the files that came with the book. There was also a battle of Fish vs. Birds with the students drawing their own art.
iStopmotion was also used to film some classic style drawn animation pencil tests of a ball bouncing. The students also went off and drew some new stuff on their own which made me really pleased.
Next off we enter the digital realm with a demonstration of Adobe After Effects CS4. http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/ The program is used for special effects, animation and motion graphics. One strength of the computer is that it can manipulate and re-purpose artwork. Below is a video sample of some Dancing Bears done with one drawing that was first scanned in and had it’s background removed in Photoshop (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/)and then using the puppet tool in After Effects. Then there is a Mysterious Man walking and Spaceships done with the digital version of cut-out animation.
Many of the same effects can be done in other programs like Adobe Flash, but After Effects handles the bitmaps better and is a lot more powerful even with a bit more of a learning curve. I also love the manipulation of flat layers in 3D space to get a ‘multiplane’ effect.
This is the same way they do the Motion Comics, which was one of my inspirations for this class. Artwork being re-purposed for animation.
AFX character animation tests from Brian Kolm on Vimeo.
Last we needed to come up with a simple idea for a short piece of animation in which the students would draw the art which would be brought into the computer and manipulated creating a whole story. After the class agreed to some story elements, everyone sat down to work on some drawings of what characters would look like. The drawings were placed up on the board and assistant artist Chris Conroy and I combined ideas into final designs.
The final result was always planned to be more of a motion comic, but with the art being created specifically for animating. To speed things up I roughed out a simple storyboard and the students worked on making the art which was scanned after class and prepared to be structured into an animation. A big thank to Graham Wong for his help on Friday working in After Effects to animate the drawings and having some of the students assist him.
The voice of the Nanny Ninja is Heather Plunkett and the lip assignments were done in JLipSync, and older java script based program. It’s a bummer since it only uses 8bit mono .WAV files which are very outdated by today’s standards, but it did still get the job done.
The student really did an amazing job of creating some fantastic art that helped tell our story. GOOD WORK GUYS!
Sadly time and technical difficulties have prevented the finished video to appear yet, but it will be finished up in the early part of July with the missing art and missing music, but a close to finished version is presented here as a Work in Progress.
Note: I also found a few drawings did not get scanned in the last rush to finish on Friday and so they will have to be replaced with something else. No art was left out except for that reason. A final version will be on-line in the next week or two with a few missing drawings, music and sound effects — but will look close to the video below.
STAY TOONED FOR THE FINAL VIDEO!
Mar
14
2010
Blender 3D and some After Effects too!
I have been learning to use the open-source free program Blender 3D and have found the experience to be pretty great. Such powerful piece software that won’t cost you a thing. Plus there are lots of tutorials and help on-line to get you out of a tight squeeze. I also broke down and upgraded my Adobe After Effects to CS4 so the experiments below do contain some elements that were composites on top of the Blender 3D renderings.
I have always loved to find ways to combine traditional art and new media and this is one way to do more of that. Expect to see some more interesting projects this year including a dark ride simulation and some motion comics. I could also see some of these techniques for documentary films and music videos.
Below are a few of my experiments I did in the program.
This clip uses the Blender to After Effects export plug-in which allows the camera data for a 3d scene to be used to add additional elements out side of the 3D program. The plug-in by Paolo Ciccone’s is here: http://library.creativecow.net/articles/ciccone_paolo/ae-exporter-blender.php
This clip uses 3D shapes mapped with watercolor paintings that I scanned in and elements added in After Effects CS4.
This is another attempt at mapping traditional art on 3d shapes. The art is by my friend Linda Carothers. (here is my previous test with the same artwork HERE)
Feb
19
2010
First look at Sylvain Chomet’s ‘Illusionist’.
I am a big fan of the film, The Triplets of Belville. The film was really great to watch, especially since the animation is really well done. Here is some of the first clips from director Sylvain Chomet’s new movie, the Illusionist. It’s part of a German interview, so I am not sure what is being said. But the visuals are really beautiful. This clip comes from animator Victor Ens who worked on the film.
As a bounus, here is the music video from The Triplets of Belville. Note that the singer has been animated into footage from the movie. Great song.
