gif evaluation

In the beginning of this project I spent a lot of time testing out lots of scrappy ideas didn't really have anything concrete, it was good to have the space to just play around, I liked the 'pressure' and freedom of being told to fill the sketchbook in a week

Never made a gif really (other than crappy ones using gif making apps on my phone) so I was unsure what would work / what wouldn't which made me quite weary in my testing, held back from concepts I thought would be too difficult / time consuming.

I ended up with a battle between choosing something mundane and working out how to make it interesting? or choosing a more ambiguous concept.

After the crit I decided to go down the ambiguous route, didn't feel any of my more mundane concepts could be made interesting /unique enough?

Finally settled on the idea of illustrating how ideas worked. I liked the visual style I was experimenting with. Seemed like it would be quite simple to draw but would remain effective?

important to keep these scrappy testing sheets

Hand drawing out each frame was actually pretty therapeutic, if not v v time consuming, especially because of the textures I was trying to make with pencil marks. Once I had all the frames done and scanned and all that jazz the actual photoshop animation was easier than expected!

The first of my gifs is my favourite, I put most time into it and I think it shows, seems most polished/professional of them all

PROS

- play/variety of ideas in the beginning stages

- realised how beneficial / simple making gifs from scanned in images could be. good to know for future ideas

- I've always seen gifs as something unattainable / too technical? proud of myself for creating gifs I'm happy with and understanding how to make them!

- crafting, especially of first gif. like the textures, pattern, can see the hand of the maker

- concept, ambiguity, can be read in different ways, this is interesting.

- could i try and make more ambiguous gifs?

CONS

- push yourself more - stop being intimidated by computers and try digital !!

- time management - too long testing too many scrappy ideas - try and get one solid idea earlier and run with it?

- i guess this is easier said than done? part of the process?

- unequal time devotion - it shows, first vs last gif

- try different media, how would I tackle a cut paper gif? almost stop frame animation? could be interesting to test ?

loved seeing everyones approaches

MAKE MORE

experiment with the possibilities of gif making

could easily make very simple gifs with subtle movement, bring illustrations to life, especially characters!!

FULL CIRCLE

I posted a collage I made on my personal blog I made when I was going through a little rut back in january. I referred back to this visual style when making my gifs

interesting how a collage made in response to a lack of ideas then morphed into a set of gifs about how ideas work ! spook.