It’s been a good few weeks for collecting animated gems on Youtube.
There are so many different ways to animate! My favorite at the moment is known as rotoscoping (which, before anyone decides to get all technical, has several related meanings). Back in the days before computers and such, animators would sometimes trace the frames of live-action motion by hand in order to produce more realistic animated motion (for things like dancing). Now we can do the same thing by splitting video clips into their separate frames and tracing the outlines with a digital tablet – still a time-consuming process, but one that produces pretty neat effects.
One of my favorites, by bentarthur:
Here is a most amazing stop-motion in which the 2D and 3D worlds collide by BLU.
Of course, I’ve always been blown away by those with the patience for claymation, like the masterful David Daniels whose work you’ve probably seen but never recognized. Here is a montage of his vast repertoire of animations (though I’ll be honest, I think it’s a little creepy):
If you’re still interested, here is a great blog called Pencil Test Depot where animators share their preliminary animation processes.
I’m excited about the prospect of using animation to bring imaginary worlds to life that wouldn’t be easy to do by myself using a combination of live action footage and special effects… (Digitally) drawn animation is relatively inexpensive and so versatile. I have a few experiments going right now which will take a few months. Hopefully the results will be worth the effort!