#joce rambles

1. start with a blank canvas, any size you like.

2. make your background and add your “subject” (render) to your edit.

3. make any sort of edits you want to your graphic (that you want to remain as is (non-moving)).

4.0. the next step is to make your moving outline: go to the shape tool (keyboard shortcut: u), select the line tool, and make the line width whatever you want it to be (i usually keep it between 1-3px). then just draw lines around the outline of your subject until you’ve completely outlined him! + make sure you put this outline on a separate layer.

outline progress:

final outline:

4.1. make another outline, just a little bit different than the first outline you made. + make sure you put this outline on a separate layer. below i’ve shown the two different outlines i drew with the line tool.

4.2. (optional) you don’t have to, but if you want to make more outlines for more variation, you can.

5. open up your animation timeline to make your gif (i.e. the moving parts). you should have one frame at the bottom. you can open up the timeline (window > animation) 

6. make a new frame (by pressing on the little paper with a corner folded back at the bottom of the timeline)

7. select both frames and click on the little down arrow by the ‘0 sec’ part and change the time to however long you want your moving parts to alternate from. i chose 0.5 sec.

8. click on frame 1 and make sure the ‘propagate frame 1′ in the layers section is selected. hide one of your outlines and show the other one.

9. click on frame 2. hide the outline you showed in the first frame and vice versa.

10. go through the regular actions of making a gif.

select all frames > convert to timeline animation (button on bottom right of animation panel) select all layers > right click ‘convert to smart object’

10.1. if at this point you still want to make any changes (for the non-moving parts of your graphic) you can. (e.x. sharpening, adding any other minor details, etc.)

11. save your edit as a gif (file > save for web & devices), looping options: forever, and save.