Moho Forum

A friend of mine is taking a university diploma about illustration and he needed to create an animated gif from one of his illustrations.
I helped and guided him in the process and we are very happy with the result, so I want to share with you part of the process.

First he sent me a sketch and told me how he would like to move it:

He wanted to move a little the head and the gun and have the clock blinking.

I took this image, fastly traced it with the freehand in AS and proposed him to add some 3d to the scene:


I trace each part on a different layer and translate each layer position in Z, using Shift+Alt to maintain the visual size. That way it was extremely easy to create the depth effect


My friend loved the idea, so he sent me a psd with each part in a different layer. I asked him to complete some parts of the illustration, even when they could not be visible (because they could be seen while the camera moved)



So we took that psd and organize it in 3d. To give it more movement we created a rig (and it worked very well, even when the layers had different Z positions)


After playing a little with the character and the camera, this is the final gif:

I exported the animation as Mov and then transform it to gif using Corel Photopaint.

And since it was in "3d", I thought it would be nice to have a 3d version of the gif (you will need to cross your eyes):


Well, that's all. I hope you like this and find it informative. It was a fun process.
Oh, and I don't really know why the topic of the image, I think it was part of the assignment.

Very nice. Looks like taking the idea of motion comics to the quality of motion graphic novel.

That 3D version gives me the creeps. Imagine a whole film done like this.

Very good work, as always. Thx for sharing.

Excellent work!

Remarkable.

It blew my socks off! ..............Made it easier to get ready for bed.....no socks!

I really like this and it expanded my imagination! Great ideas!

That's very grim. But it's okay because she's got a batman tattoo.

I gotta say, that etcher sketch suicide note is a powerful detail. Subtle, yet almost as terrifying as the actual depiction of the act itself. The emotions on her face along with the rigidity and grit behind the artwork itself evokes emotional chaos on so many levels. The character's motions in relationship to the shaking camera along with that blinking clock sets such a cold and dark tone, dirty, grim, and miserable...nihilistic even...every detail comes together in a brilliant dance of subtlety that provokes the viewer into a reaction, whether they want to admit it or not. You simply cannot shrug this one off. It sends shivers down your spine.

Absolutely astounding. Combining the look of a sketch with 3D. I expect it to go viral wherever it's displayed.

I like how she wrote her goodbye message on the toy, that was genius!

You guys did a fantastic job.

Great work Selgin!

Thanks for both the explanation and the night terrors I'll have from now on! It looks great, if not disturbing.

Very nice Selgin - if a little disturbing
The 3D effect is excellent! (I had to reduce the image in my browser to make it work for me)

Man, that is powerful. Almost too much.

as always, enlightening selgin

You made it easy when it really wasn't!
-G