Animated project



Multi-Disciplinary Innovation Grant
I received a grant in the Spring of 2011 from the University of the Arts to create an experimental animated short based on my current drawings and collages.
This project will allow me to explore the implications of time/movement and transformation implied in my current drawings and paintings. Also I intent to explore integrating hand drawn, stop motion and computer base animation techniques as I try to translate my intuitive, working process into animated images.
Like my current work, I will draw from fragments of dreams and personal experience and observations to suggest fragmentary narratives, and unconscious content.


The grant money will be used to purchase a copy stand with light kit, animation software (Digi Flipbook studio 6), Animation Disc and table, and animation paper.





Equipment Purchase
In the Spring of 2011, with funds provided by the grant provided by UArts I purchased the following equipment:

Animation easel and light box and camera stand with light kit




Inspiration/Conception
I have always had a long-standing interest in animation techniques, recently I have become very interested in the animated works of masters like Jan Svankmajer, the Quay Brothers, Stan Vanderbeck, and William Kentridge.  The common element that appeals so much to me is the psychological and emotional intensity and surrealist influences permeating their work. In general dreams and personal experiences inspire my drawings, paintings and collages, so I feel a natural affinity with their work.


My idea for this project revolves around two desires. First I intend to create a narrative that is only suggestive and fragmentary of actually events in my life. It will have multiple meanings and go beyond  autobiographical content to evoke psychological themes that will resonate with others who experiences are very different from mine. I will draw upon the various themes that are evident in my current work as a starting point, but what I will discover during the journey of making will be more important to the outcome than where I start as it is with all my work.


Secondly in my creative process laying and collaging are important ways I develop my ideas,  and so not only am I seeking a way to evolve my graphic ideas and imagery visually through movement and time, but also I am trying to find a way to layer and collage various animation techniques as well. I want to bring together hand drawn, computer-manipulated, collaged and perhaps stop-motion techniques together some how to create a multifaceted, dreamworld of strange juxtapositions and layered experiences.


Sketchbook/Scrapbook/Journal
During the Summer of 2011, I decided to assemble many of the images and drawings that had inspire me to do this project. I also continued to sketch out variations of ideas around these drawings. I also collaged ideas from a variety of sources that seem relevant in some way to this project. The purpose of this phase was to spatially and visually bring together my ideas to help me formulate a more clear idea of how I wanted to proceed with the animated project.



































Image sequences
To get an idea how the various images might work together in time, I photographed images directly from the sketchbook-journal. Afterwards I printed each image as small 2 x 3" thumb nails that I cut out and rephotographed into a sequence of images in a timeline in Flipbook. I then duplicated and layered the file in Adobe After Effects searching for interesting juxtapositions and accidental collisions. Although the clips are simple image swops, I thought of them as possible informal storyboard/animatics that could suggest possible sequencing and timing.











 










The next series of videos were slideshows layered in After Effects. Again I was searching for combination of layered images, framing, and juxtapositions.