Stones around the sun - Lewis Watson (cover) Lyric Animation.

On Wednesday's Process and Production session with Sara, as a group we were learning the same technique that I used last week while creating my animated name sequence. I was so happy to find out I was creating something else using this technique as I really wanted to enhance my skills with this.

As I have quite recently been playing a lot of guitar, and had learnt how to play a new song called "Stones around the sun" by Lewis Watson, I decided I would use a recording of my playing the song as the audio track for my animation and that the animation itself would be a short lyric video for the song.

So here are my three images that I used to create my animation:

I created each scene (if you like) separately, using the same techniques as last weeks experiment:

1. Importing all jpegs into After Effects as jpeg sequences.

2. Looping the footage.

3. Creating a mask with the pen tool on the images.

4. Creating a stroke effect.

I then decided to create a more interesting look to my animation, I imported a textured background to each part and changed the colour of the pen lines on my drawings. 

This is the texture I decided to use, an old, worn looking piece of paper:

Once each "scene" of my animation was complete i edited them together and imported in my audio track to finish off. Overall I am so happy with Wednesdays Process and Production session!

Here is my final animation:

Hand drawn animation from Emma Perrett on Vimeo.

Motion Go Name Sequence.

In motion go today we all had a go at creating our own name in a technique we all enjoy using. I decided to go for something new, something I hadn't done before. My aim was to make it look as though my name was being hand written on the screen.

Name sequence from Emma Perrett on Vimeo.

To create this piece was so simple yet so effective, all that is needed is three copies of the same assets. So i wrote my name and traced over it twice using a light box, the aim is to match them as precise as possible, but the slight difference adds to the "handmade" look I was going for. 

The next step is to import the three images into After Effects as a jpeg sequence. When you play the footage, you will notice it will flicker, you then need to make it loop to create a longer lasting footage.

Then using the pen tool, adding one mask, you draw round each letter or line in whatever is in your assets in the same direction as though you were drawing with a normal pen/pencil. 

Finally, going to effects, stroke, making the stroke larger than the line in your assets, it will playback the image as though it's drawing itself on your screen. 

I'm really impressed with the outcome of this, and will love to use this technique again.