Animation Training with After Effects, part 2

I mentioned in a previous article that I took a Visual Arts Passage course to learn how to animate using Adobe After Effects. See my first animation here. In another assignment, we use one of our own previous illustration to animate. I choose “Amidst the Tiger Lilies”, imagining the fairy standing very still mesmerizing the viewer while everything around her moves. 

This has been so much fun and I learned so much in the class. I’m excited to select more of my artwork to animate until I’m familiar with After Effects, and sharing them with all of you.

Future original animations will be for Patrons only on my Patreon so sign up to be a patron at any level of contribution.

Animation Video 2

A Festival and an Online Exhibition

The remainder of this month will be the start of a busy time for me. However, I’m very excited about each event coming up very soon. 

First up is an online exhibit on the Cultural Center of Cape Cod website. The Center has in-person exhibits in South Yarmouth, MA, and also sponsored online exhibits as well. I entered the photography exhibit “You and Your Camera” which focus on the photography that “explore the fact that most of us are in possession of a high-quality camera, that we carry with us every day.” I’m so excited about this exhibit. I love taking pictures just as much as I love creating art and making marks on paper.

The photograph I entered was taken on a ferry from mainland Thailand to the Phi Phi Island. On the way there, I was fascinated with how the waves hit against the ferry and crash into the air in bursts of creamy white foam against the deep blue of the ocean. While everyone else looked up and around them, my camera was aiming downward, taking lots of shots of the waves crashing against the ferry. The image was invited to exhibit and I’m thrilled. I’m not a professional photographer but, for me, framing an image to photograph works the same way as coming up with pictures to draw. Most of the time my photographs ended up in my art one way or another. I’m starting a series about my art inspirations. The first of the articles is here.

Currently the online link to the exhibit is not available. I will update this as soon as it is available.

** Update: The You and Your Camera online exhibit is now available at https://www.cultural-center.org/you-and-your-camera-intro

The very first Saturday in October will be the Old Bowie Celebrates Festival in Bowie, Maryland. This is my second year in attendance. This festival is very family friendly with lots of activities for the children, along with music and food, arts and crafts, and of course, my art gallery for all to enjoy. There is also a juried art show. *** Update *** Unfortunately, due to severe weather conditions, this even has been cancelled. Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate.

Animation Training with After Effects, Part 1

I recently signed up for an online course with Visual Arts Passage to learn how to animate using Adobe After Effects, from the point of view of an illustrator. I’ve always wanted to learn After Effects and was always pushing it off because I really just don’t know where to start googling. It seems like there is just an overwhelming amount of information out there and which video would be good to view and who would be good to learn from. So when I saw the class being offered through VAP, taught by Tony Rodriguez, I decided to sign up. So far it has been very informative, enlightening and oh just a whole lot of fun. I will be sharing my results from class here so stay tuned. Here’s my first animation attempt.

Animation Video 1