#drawingishard

Participating in the Arts (pixel animation workshops):

GIF 1 - My Final Animated Character

The creative pixel animation workshops at UCA (through KaMCOP) are an amazing opportunity for young people, who do not have access to good facilities; or may have poor future prospects, especially in terms of quality education. As a youth with aspirations, I wanted to take part in this activity because I hoped to learn how to create animation and GIFs in Adobe Photoshop. I personally cannot afford to buy Photoshop and have not been privileged enough to attend a school where it was available to use -- ACCESS DENIED! ⛔

So, I really hoped, that by partaking in the pixel animation workshops, that I would get the chance to learn how to animate and how to develop animated characters using the latest software, and to have access to University facilities. I hoped to learn how to navigate and use Photoshop to create pixelated GIFs, and therefore, improve my skill-set and knowledge, so that I could improve my chances of further education. I also wanted to get my Bronze Arts Award to add to my qualifications.

The Pixel Art/Animation workshops were extremely enjoyable and entertaining. Our brief was to create a 2D animated character in Adobe Photoshop. First, we practiced and drafted our characters on card and acetate. Then we uploaded into Photoshop and edited until we had the desired effect. We used layers and all the necessary tools available in Photoshop.

Using Photoshop is really hard. This was my first experience using Photoshop and I must say that I did learn a lot. I know that it isn’t much, but trying to make a person walk is very difficult, to try and move the arms and the legs in the right way to make them look like they are actually walking was so much harder than I thought it would be. However, I did learn to create a walk-cycle (thank goodness!). There are so many different Photoshop tools to use, and to fully utilise them would take forever to master. I hoped to learn as much as possible about animating, creating characters and to get a good grip on using Photoshop.  

To pull off an accurate walking-cycle, you need to draw the person (or being) in the ‘Contrast and Passing’ poses, where their legs are apart and their arms are up to where their legs meet and their arms are down. I tried really hard, using the brush-tool, to draw a person walking and I could only manage the blurry silhouette in the second GIF (see GIF at the bottom of this section). I thought that if I created the walking cycle first, then, I could create a character around that frame; but soon after doing that, I realised that it was very hard. So, I stuck with a silhouette and I thought that (with some help) if I put in a drawing that I already had at hand into Photoshop, I could draw around them and animate them and it would look pretty cool. After tracing around the buff-man in the second GIF, I once again realised that animation is difficult and decided not to move him, but instead use the the silhouetted character to walk up to him (kinda).

With the Ghost GIF (at the top of this post), the idea came to me through advice, and that advice was to keep it simple with designs that I am used to drawing. They suggested that I draw a ghost, similar to the ghost that I drew and used for a very simple animation thingy that we did on the first day here at UCA. The idea to have the ghost stay still and have that hover effect was also suggested to me through advice; and I have to say that it worked out really well. I thought of using a ‘Scooby Doo’ type backdrop picture for the background behind my ghost character, because I thought that it went well with everything. Although I was fairly frustrated with using Photoshop, I still feel like it was really cool. I loved the software, I just wish that I knew how to use it better.

I very much enjoyed seeing my final animated characters and the GIFs that everyone else created; because it was an achievement for someone like me, and I was able to share the experience with other learners. I learned so much, I am so happy to have gained some Photoshop knowledge and skills, as I had never used it before, I hoped to learn how to use it, and I believe that I did. I also improved my drawing skills, by learning how to develop characters specifically for animation, using sequencing and storyboards. In the future, I would love to further develop my animating skills and I can’t wait to have access to Photoshop again. Attending the pixel animation workshops has raised my aspirations to continue with my education.

Summary: so, what did I learn from the pixel animation workshops?

I learned to navigate around Adobe Photoshop.

I learned how to use editing tools in Photoshop.

How to develop animated characters.

How to create, upload or select an image for editing.

I learned about sequencing and storyboards.

How to use ‘Layers’ in Photoshop to create frames.

How to use tabs in Photoshop.

How to use drop-down selection menus in Photoshop.

I learned about concepts and how to create walk-cycles.

How to save and export created pixel animation GIFs.

GIF 2 - My First Silhouette and Standing Man GIF 

Previous Animation Experience:

When I was 10-11 years old, I was a member of the ‘Stop Frame LEGO® Animation Club’ 🐱‍🏍 -- this involved Stop Motion manipulation techniques of LEGO® pieces, using a digital camera with Windows based software to create animated films. This was my only previous experience of animation (other than watching it). So, I really wanted to partake in this activity (pixel animation workshops), because I hoped to learn more about new (new to me) animation techniques and how to use Photoshop. I wanted to gain experience of creating 2D GIF animation, improving on my current knowledge-base of stop motion animation.

In addition, I also wanted to learn Photoshop, so that I would be ready for UCA, as I am starting there in September for pre-degree studies. I am also an amateur photographer and learning how to navigate around Photoshop is the ‘Holy Grail’ of image manipulation, as I have only used MS Paint and GIMP at home and school. I feel that learning how to create animation in Photoshop, and having previous knowledge of stop motion animation will put me in good stead for my future studies. I am also interested in the BA (Hons) Illustration & Animation undergraduate degree course for the future.