I would like to share with you something new I am doing for 2012, a Motion Art Moment. These will be short monthly videos that take a recent piece of my artwork/illustration/comics and animate them using digital tools. The first video above is from my drawing Gorry Bug in which I first showed a sample of the animation.
The term ‘Motion Art’ is a term I am basing on ‘Motion Comics’ (animated comic art such as DC’s Watchmen videos) which is Art of any sort re-purposed for animation. I might also use the term ‘Motion Illustration’ too.
I have been interested for quite a while in how you can use technology to re-purpose existing art from comic books, comic strips, illustrations and other forms into animation. In fact I have posts right here on the AtomicBearPress.com blog labeled Motion Comic Magic in which I have been sharing samples of internet videos using similar techniques and the tools artist use to create it. I hope these small videos allow me to explore new animation techniques and to share my artwork in a new way.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment here on the blog or on my twitter feed.
A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation
Last week I taught two classes at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. The above video is the final result of the one day stop-motion class which we call “Stop and Go”.
A very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday to everyone no matter how/what/where you celebrate.
Every year I have illustrated an original Christmas card for my family to send to family and friends. The earliest Christmas cards we would make were silk screened and my father took my art and cut it by hand into the screen. Latter we would xerox the cards in black and white and hand color a few small elements to enhance them. And now I can scan, edit, color and prep the files on the computer and have them printed in vivid color, but no matter what form the cards take they are a continuing tradition I am proud to be part of. This year I decided to show you the illustrations I have created since 2000 in the video above.
I hope you enjoy the video and have a wonderful season.
note: Music “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″
I just started a new workshop at the youth center I work at featuring one of my favorite applications, Adobe After Effects (as well as Photoshop and Illustrator too). I love After Effects since there is so much versatility in what you can do. The program is also great since it can accommodate huge differences in artistic styles and accepts lots of different digital media (even flash movies) which is perfect for a wide range of young artists.
The goal is for the students to plan short scenes or sequences and work towards having them in some final form. But I feel it’s important to take on the same challenges I give the students myself, so I gave myself the goal of doing a short project in the last few weeks. It’s important to do since it can help me to understand what they are attempting better and I can trouble shoot better ways to teach different techniques.
So the first week we learned the very basics of the software and drew short sequences as storyboards. We then scanned and placed the art in After Effects as an animatic (can also be called a story reel). A lot of our techniques are very low tech in part due to the equipment is not always available to the students. For my project I decided to do a sort of an animated holiday card.
Here is the first test with some minimal animation in it. This test is the first pass to see if it will actually work as a story in real time. I could have added some sound on top of it too, but decided that could wait for now due to a tight schedule.
After letting this Animatic sit in my mind for a while, I decided to add some rough animation in the ‘Sketchbook’ style into my animatic that I experimented earlier this year. The style is really fun to do and can be very expressive and fast to do. I scanned in the drawings and timed it out, mixing it into the original Animatic to get a stronger look of what it might look like. Here is what I came up with.
Here are some of the animation drawings I used for the test in the animatic.
While the drawings are less then perfect, it’s amazing how much life you can easily throw into your project. But now I had to decided what techniques to use for the final animation. I could create sequences of drawings like classic ‘cel’ animation or I could use less art and just manipulate the drawings in more of a limited cut out style or even do a mix of both.
I decided that I would explore how I could use a fairly new feature of After Effects, the Puppet Tool. The tool allows you to take an image and add ‘pins’ to it and then bend the figures where those are placed.
Here you can see above the yellow ‘pins’ on the neck of the bear. The empty square are null objects that control each pin and allow them to be parented to each other.
Here is my first attempt with the bear character in the story, mind you I was only testing technique and not going for giving an actual animated performance. To help set-up the animation I used a great After Effects script called GG_PuppetTools, which saved me a lot of time.
The character is made up of 3 layers of art, the neck, head and arm/hand. There is also two different faces to give the bear a change in expression.
Below is my second attempt at the technique with 4 layers of art, but no changes in the bears expressions. Here I attempted to give the bear a ‘bone’ structure and set up ways for the different parts to move together. Here the body, neck and arm are all using the Puppet Tool and the head is static for now.
The head is a bit off, but I decided to leave it as-is for now.
I have a feeling that I might use the ‘sketchbook’ technique that I mentioned above since it’s actually a bit more fun for me to do and very expressive, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to see the final results in the next two weeks!
This short animation was created as part of the 3rd year of CAM-JAM artist events at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco CA. Produced on Sun May 22, 2011 in 6 hours for the art and then composited in After Effects later. Each event is an art jam with a different theme, from comics about tiki’s to tarot cards to paper toy monsters.
- The event started with some warm-up animation drawn on a white board (purchased at Daiso America store) and filmed with a iStopMotion.
- Then each artist started drawing a sequence of animation which were then were strung together thanks to some storyboarding by Rick Lucey. The mini animation drawings were composited in Adobe After Effects.
Take a look…
You can see an announcement and find out what our goals were HERE
I will be representing the Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco in organizing a third year of CAM-JAM events with the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore. The event is on Sunday May 22, 2011 from 11am to 5pm and the theme will be ANIMATION.
Yes, you heard that right! Our challenge will be to produce 30 seconds of DIY animation goodness that will use technology and old school art skills together to make something cool. We will have stations to do: Flipbooks, Wipe Board Animation and Sketchbook Animation.
The technique I am most looking forward too working with is the Sketchbook Animation which I blogged about HERE and HERE. The technique is to draw all the art for a couple seconds of animation in your sketchbook which is then composited on the computer into a short video.
In fact I created this sample the other night by drawing about 4 pages of art on 8.5″x11″ card stock (I need a new sketchbook, sigh) in about 2.5 hours and then spent about 2 to 2.5 hours scanning and compositing the work together. I am very pleased with the results.
So come on out and join a bunch of crazy cartoonist and make some animation. Artist of all levels are welcome.
The final work will be posted here on my blog after the event.
On May 22, 2011 the Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco and the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore will be kicking off the third year of CAM-JAM’s, cartoonist collaboration events. The CAM-JAM’s have tried different themes in the past such as Tikis and Samurais, but this time we will go with something a bit more challenging…Animation. With a mix of old school drawing goodness and desk top video technology we will attempt to collaborate and create 30 seconds of animation within the length of the event from 11am to 5pm.
Will you come and join us?
When: Sunday May 22, 2011
11am to 5pm
Where: Cartoon Art Museum – 655 Mission St San Francisco CA
Cost: FREE for participating artists
What to bring: Sketchbook and any drawing tools that you like. There will be materials available to use at the event, but it’s always fun to share how you like to draw with your fellow artists.
The event will feature…
- Wipe Board animation – filmed with a digital camera and stop motion software artist will create animation by drawing on that office favorite the wipe board.
- Flipbooks
- “sketchbook” animation – inspired by the technique used on the short film animated “Nosy Bear” created with small drawings on a few pages of a sketchbook that are then composite digitally.
- Samples of animation by local artists
- Prizes
- Networking
- Treats
- Fun
Our hope is that cartoonist and artist of all caliber will join in the fun and help create animation on-the-spot.
To sign-up ahead of time, email the Cartoon Art Museum bookstore at bookstore@cartoonart.org or sign-in the day of the event at the front desk
BONUS: ANY ARTIST who shows their sketchbook on the day of the event will receive 10% off their purchase in the museum bookstore. Note: a few items are not applicable for discount.
For more information or questions contact:
Brian Kolm from the Cartoonist Conpiracy – staff@atomicbearpress.com
Heather at the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore – bookstore@cartoonart.org
Cartoon Art Museum Classes:
Cartoon BOOT Camp – Summer 2011
June Cartooning Classes: Monday through Friday, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Cost: $100 per week for Cartoon Art Museum members, $135 for non-members
It’s time for our sixth annual Summer Cartooning Classes! Cartoonist Brian Kolm will teach students how to storyboard, the basics of traditional animation and stop motion, and how to create their own cartoon characters, super heroes and more!
Ages: Intermediate level artists from 10-14 years old.
Time: All sessions run Monday through Friday from 2:00PM to 4:00 PM at the Cartoon Art Museum
(For past students: please note the time of these classes is different.)
Number of students: The class size is limited to no more than 14 students. The class is filled on a first come, first served basis.
Cost*: $100 per week for CAM members, $135 non-members – per student for each session. Fees must be paid in full to secure a seat in the class.
Sign up as a member and save! ( http://cartoonart.org/join-support/membership/ )
Supplies: Basic Drawing Materials will be provided. Students are welcome to bring in their personal sketchbooks and materials.
To enroll: click on the links below for each class you are signing up for. Online reservations are sponsored by Guestlist.
Please also fill out and submit the waiver and emergency contact form. Mail or hand-deliver the completed waiver and emergency form to: Cartoon Art Museum; 655 Mission Street; San Francisco, CA 94105 attn: Cartoon Boot Camp, email to: office@cartoonart.org or fax to: 415-243-8666. For any questions, please call: 415-227-8666 x300.
*Cancellation: All participants must be pre-paid prior to the first day of the session. Full refunds given with 2 weeks cancellation notice prior to the first day of the session. 50% refund given within 7 to 13 days of the first day of the session. No refunds given within 6 days prior to the first day of the session.
Stop motion is one of the earliest animation techniques, but it remains one of the most vibrant and challenging forms of animation. Films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, Wallace and Gromit, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Chicken Run and James and the Giant Peach have led to a resurgence in this amazing genre. This class will explore the basics of stop motion films, and teams of students will create their own short animation as a final project.
Skills featured: Teamwork, Frame by Frame Animation, Digital Video Editing, Storytelling
Samples created by previous classes can be seen here:
Great stories begin with great characters! Through storytelling and design techniques, students will create their own original characters, developing the character’s personality and appearance, resulting in a final piece of presentation-ready artwork.
Skills featured: Drawing, Basic Anatomy, 3d Visualization, Storytelling, Penciling, Inking
Storyboards have been used since the early days of animation, evolving into a way to pre-visualize a film before time and money was spent on a project. Animatics combine storyboards with sound to create a “real time” film.
This class will teach the art of pre-visualizing a film project through the storyboard stage. Teams of students will visualize a short scene with pre-recorded audio.
Samples created by last year’s class can be seen here:
Skills featured: Teamwork, Storytelling, Digital Video Editing
