ClicksyPicsWiggle animations and more!

1864 - Aiken's Landing, Virginia (vicinity). Young girl at Aiken house

I fell in love with this image when I found it about 6 months ago.  Since then, I’ve struggled to imagine what to do with it.  She’s too stern to smile, her hands are fixed and her dress is too complex.  Then I noticed a bit of a wind blur where the ribbon on her dress is, and it occurred to me - the movement can be made primarily in the environment.  I focus too much on the subject when, sometimes, manipulating the environment can give it more of a real feeling.

Some details struck me when working with the full sized image.  She was married, and she was a very hard worker.  She’s young, yet her hands are scarred.  One nail appears to be just growing back in.  Her face shows a hard life, yet her hair and dress are immaculate, despite the windy day.  So I guess because of all these details, it was important to me to get her right.  Seeing things like that make the person more real to me and, hopefully, more real to you as well.

UPDATE - You can now save this TIFF file and open it up in Photoshop (or comparable product), if you would like to pick it apart to see how it works!  Click here to download.

Check out the original here. Find out how these are created here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.

Between 1898 and 1914 - Arab woman wearing embroidered coat

One of the problems that comes with animating between two panels is the likelihood of these animations turning out looking like cut out dolls.  Monty Python comes to mind.  So I made this image to practice integrating more fluid movement between the two panels.  So movement in the mouth becomes more realistic with movement of the cheeks.  The eyes were challenging because the light being reflected in her eyes, if not altered between frames, just looks like a big… oh gawd I’m going to say it… eyesore.  Literally like a bump on the eye.  Not pretty, and one of the reasons I chose her was her beautiful eyes.

Have a great weekend everyone, I should have another up Friday or Saturday evening.

Find out how these are created here.  View the original image here.  Get page updates on Facebook here.