Telling Stories With Animation and Motion
FOOD
When I learned the Procreate app could generate animation the creative juices started flowing. I began with animated graphics about food because everyone loves food.
Stories of my favorite foods had to be represented - dessert, donuts, coffee, pizza. I made expressive line art with ink and a ruling pen on watercolor paper. I imported the photos of his line art into Procreate. To remove random pixels and dots I used an Apple Pencil. I kept imperfections in the line art then I added color. I duplicated the art then modified the duplications. Finally I compiled the art and rendered the file. Boom! Animated art. The commitment needed to make the animation was worth the payoff.
HOLIDAYS
For Christmas I looked around his house and city for objects I could use as inspiration for animated graphics. Any holiday can be the good time to flex creative muscles. So many great sources of inspiration are waiting to be translated into motion graphics.
PROCESS
One of my favorite reality competition shows was the Great Pottery Throwdown. It’s a British show that aired on HBO (let’s hope it returns). Every week the artists were presented with a project to challenge their skills and imagination. Every week an artist was eliminated for not meeting the challenge. I gave himself a few animation challenges based on the projects from the show. I learned how to distill my storytelling into distinct moments.
EXERCISE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS
I was a personal trainer and group exercise instructor. I wore an Apple Watch while I led classes and exercised in my personal time. In my watch are activity apps which track different types of exercise. The design of these apps were based on his activity apps. My apps tracked exercise from daily tasks like lifting groceries and standing up from a chair. Other exercises to explore are pushing a lawnmower, carrying a full laundry basket and raking leaves.
Want custom animation for your next project? Talk to Alex, alex@alexsavakis.com