Tag Archive: animation

May
18
2012

Motion Comic Magic- ‘HellBoy: the Fury’ motion comic

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

I just saw this posted at BackFromTheDepths.com and had to post it here at MotionComicMagic.com. It’s a Motion Comic using art of Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo.

War ensues between the forces of good and evil as Hellboy finally confronts the Queen of Blood one on one, setting the stage for a new chapter in Hellboy’s life! Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo conclude an epic collaboration that began in Hellboy: Darkness Calls!

I am really impressed with the animation in “HellBoy: the Fury” (from Dark Horse Comics) the motion is very believable and fluid and still is true to the original art it is created from. They also do some neat work with translating the art into 3D to have the drawing shift in perspective. The voices are fine, but I suspect that they might disappoint some especially compared to other HellBoy animation that uses the actors from the live-action movies to reprieve their roles.

One thing I have been thinking about in motion comics is what source artwork seems to work the best for them. The best examples of Motion Comics to me are still the ‘Watchmen’ and ‘Batman: Black and White’ titles that were released from DC Comics and work really well AND use fairly stylized flat comic art. My feeling (at the time of this writing) is that more flat and/or stylize work allows for more opportunities at creating motion from existing artwork. That is not to say it can’t be done with more realistic/3D looking artwork, but might be harder to make it work it move with out using 3D mapping and other tricks that might take it too far from the core of what a Motion Comic is: taking existing comic artwork and bringing it to life.

It will be interesting to see how the fan community reacts to the HellBoy Motion Comic. I find some people are very negative about Motion Comics, comparing them with other types of animation and expecting them to be what they are not. Motion Comics’ strength lies in the fact that it uses the original comic stories and art making it the Comic Book equivalent to Audio Books. It does not replace the actual comic, but allows you a new way to enjoy it.

May
09
2012

Cartoon Boot Camp 2012 – into to Stop-Motion Animation artwork

8_5x11-2012-BOOTposters-2

Promotional illustration for my Cartoon Boot Camp class at the Cartoon Art Museum- Intro to Stop-Motion Animation.

The class runs the week of June 11 to 15, 2012.

Sign up at: cartoonart.org/2012/04/cartoon-boot-camp-summer-2012

Apr
27
2012

2012-7-09 Comic Book Creation – Cartoon Boot Camp – ages 10-14

Cartoon Boot Camp 2012 logo

I will be returning to the Cartoon Art Museum to teach another summer of Cartoon Boot Camp. Our third week is July 9th to 13th, 2012 – Comic Book Creation.

You can sign up for all 3 of the Cartoon Boot Camps at our GUEST LIST PAGE << click here 

 July 9–13, 2012: Comic Book Creation Time: 11am – 1pm – Ages: Intermediate Artists ages 10-14 This boot camp features the process of making a short comic book story (2 pages) through the classic technique of page layouts, character design, penciling, and inking. Skills featured: Basic drawing techniques, storytelling

Time: All sessions run Monday through Friday from 11:00AM to 1:00 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.

Please also fill out and submit the waiver and emergency contact form. This will be emailed to you when you sign up.
Mail, email, fax 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.

Apr
27
2012

2012-6-11 Introduction to Stop-Motion Animation – Cartoon Boot Camp – ages 10-14

Cartoon Boot Camp 2012 logo

I will be returning to the Cartoon Art Museum to teach another summer of Cartoon Boot Camp. Our second week is June 11-15, 2012 – Introduction to Stop-Motion Animation.

You can sign up for all 3 of the Cartoon Boot Camps at our GUEST LIST PAGE << click here 

 June 11-15, 2012 – Introduction to Stop-Motion Animation Time: 11am – 1pm – Ages: Intermediate Artists ages 10-14 Stop-motion Animation is the technique in which objects are brought to life by filming them in a different position for each frame of film or video as seen in films like ‘Wallace and Grommet’ and the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’. This boot camp will explore different variations of the technique as teams: live action/time-lapse, cut-outs, puppets/objects as well as the basics of telling a simple story. Skills featured: Teamwork, Frame by Frame Animation, Digital Video Editing, Storytelling.

Time: All sessions run Monday through Friday from 11:00AM to 1:00 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.

Please also fill out and submit the waiver and emergency contact form. This will be emailed to you when you sign up.
Mail, email, fax 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.

Apr
27
2012

2012-6-04 Character Creation: Superheroes – Cartoon Boot Camp ages 10-14

Cartoon Boot Camp 2012 logo

I will be returning to the Cartoon Art Museum to teach another summer of Cartoon Boot Camp. Our first week is June 4-8, 2012 – Character Creation: Superheroes.

You can sign up for all 3 of the Cartoon Boot Camps at our GUEST LIST PAGE << click here 

 June 4-8, 2012 – Character Creation: Superheroes Time: 11am – 1pm – Ages: Intermediate Artists ages 10-14 POW! BOOM! WOW! Learn how to create and draw your own superheroes. Includes: instruction on anatomy, action, costume, personality, back story, and rendering and finishing with a final illustration. Skills featured: character design, basic drawing techniques, storytelling.

Time: All sessions run Monday through Friday from 11:00AM to 1:00 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.

Please also fill out and submit the waiver and emergency contact form. This will be emailed to you when you sign up.
Mail, email, fax 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.

Apr
21
2012

Motion Comic Magic- the Blue Dog

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

Time for a little “Practice-what-I-preach.” I have been posting examples of re-purpose artwork (comics, illustrations, photos) for animation for a while, but I have not posted much in the ways of my own animation. I do cartoons and illustrations, but also do some work with motion graphics and animation as well. In fact I am teaching a motion-graphics/animation workshop at a youth center in San Francisco currently.

My latests project was a promo for my workshop starting a Blue Dog I drew while teaching a cartooning workshop the youth center I work at. Here is a sample of the final animation…

Blue Dog test animation from Brian Kolm on Vimeo.

The animation above is a mixture of different techniques in Adobe After Effects (I am using CS4).
- Puppet Tool
- Liquefier
- Parented Objects
- Nested Compositions
- gg_puppet tools script to help automate coding the null layers to control the puppet pins on the figure.

And here is the original art…
3-2012 blue dog (link to animation too)

I would be happy to post more description on how I achieved it if anyone is interested. Just let me know.

Mar
02
2012

Motion Comic Magic – Animating children’s drawings “evolution”

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

(via http://blog.sciencefictionbiology.com tweet) My posts here at MotionComicMagic.com are all about re-purposing art created for different purposes into animation. For example: Motion Comics take the art from comic books and repurpose it into animated. Well, this cool example that I am sharing with you today is the same idea, but taking the art of children and animating it to help tell a tale of Evolution. Animator Tyler Rhodes did this with some young artist to great effect.

From scientificamerican.com

How do you make an authentic evolution animation? Quite simply: you allow it to evolve. Tyler Rhodes, a student in the animation program at Virginia Commonwealth University, wanted to create an animation that wasn’t simply linear, but instead represented the true ‘tree-like’ process of evolution. So he enlisted the help of elementary school students from William Fox Elementary School and the Patrick Henry School of Science & Art, and involved them in a type of game.

“Much like the whispered game “telephone” where one person whispers a message down the line until it’s very different by the end due to small “mutations” along the way, I would create a game of telephone using visual imagery.”

He then had various groups of students make copies of this sketch, knowing that the copies would contain subtle differences. The natural variation in the ‘progeny’ created from the first salamander sketch was used to determine the survival of the fittest. Tyler would ‘kill off’ 98% of the organisms and start the process again…

The video below is the final result which is lively and very fresh. The animation is the kids drawings brought into after effects and animated with the puppet tool to great effect. It’s a great example of the animator repurposing the kids art into animation. You can see the kids drawings on the official blog HERE.

Feb
20
2012

Motion Comics Magic – RigIt character animation script for AFX

A post on re-purposing comics and illustration into animation

I have been busy on some projects, but I took a break to try a new script for Adobe After Effects … RigIt. I am always looking for tools that can help an artist animate their artwork whether the artwork is from their comic/illustration or created specifically for a protect. RigIt is a script that can take a bunch of parts  that build up a character and use coding to rig them together to allow you to animate it with inverse kinematic. The script is in a Beta Tdest right now so there still might be some bugs, but all-in-all it worked very well. Here is a sample I created in about 2 hours last night (including some trial and error on setting up the figure).

Download the script HERE

RigIt After Effects script test from Brian Kolm on Vimeo.

The script features a window to set the art layers and buttons to set each step of the process. For the final product the script will actually set null objects to control the limbs, but will hide the clutter with the ‘shy’ function which makes the animation space really pleasant to use.

The main hurdle I had was figuring out that you have to place a null object for any parts you don’t want to have as a segment of your figure (for me that was the finger on the hands). Another element that is a bit weird was that you only set the arm and leg on the Left side and then it flips the images and code in the ‘Build’ phase to create the right side. So if your figure has different art for limbs on both sides of the body this could be a problem, but I am guessing you can simply replace/adjust those layers with different artwork before the last step.

In the future I would love to see support for layers that use the Puppet Tool as well as being able to switch which direction the bones work in the middle of an animation.

All in all this has been the easiest character rigging script I have used so far, and it’s only in Beta so it’s not even official done yet. There is a good chance I will be using it on some future projects and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

Here is the official video…

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