The Joys of Animation

Those who are amateur animators like myself or even the professionals will know that there is nothing as thrilling as the process of creating an animation. There's nothing as satisfying as pouring blood, sweat and tears into a project and then standing back to watch the whole beautiful production unfold. Like a composer with his musical composition at a piano, like a painter in front of his easel, like a master chef accepting the compliments of his customers - the final product is everything and when it comes out exactly right or better then expected, there are no words to describe the thrill.

I was first introduced to animation when I took a class entitled "Intro to Motion Graphics" as part of my Graphic Design course. It was exciting moving into a new area of the program but nothing could have prepared me for the absolute obsession that possessed me once I began learning different techniques and the step by step process to reach the goal of a completed animation. Its hard work but its enjoyable and satisfying work. The lecturer of the course, Seon Thompson, was an excellent teacher. I would recommend him to anyone who wants to learn all things animation. He also writes a blog which you can find by clicking here. 

Of all the animation techniques, I love the stop motion animation the best. If you've ever seen the popular "Wallace and Gromit" films "Chicken Run"or even "Flushed Away" which is a blend of computer animation and claymation, you've seen stop motion animation at its best. For those of you who have never done animation and are interested (or at least curious) to see how stop motion animations are made, click here.






















The video below reveals the outcome of the first animation I worked on as part of a group for the same course. I used the image sequence option from Quicktime Player 7 to put the images together and I used imovie for the final editing of this 30 second film. The assignment was to somehow advertise products distributed among the groups in the class through the use of an animation technique. The product we were given were Fruity Gel Cups.The story behind the animation is that of a kindergarten teacher doing her best to cheer up her sad little kindergarten class.

This second video is one I did on my own and combines traditional animation with stopmotion animation. No claymation was involved.

Here are a two more projects I worked on. These aren't completed animations but can be referred to as animatics which is more like a moving storyboard or something that let's you know what your animation can look like as a series pictures.

I really enjoyed working on these projects! Let me know what you think of the videos and also if you think animation is something that annoys or something to enjoy!