Despite the short duration of the film itself, this was the longest project ever. Some of the excuses I've come up with were: "it was very challenging", "I didn't have enough time" and "it wasn't the highest priority". And then there was plain laziness. But all this time I kept thinking that I would finish it some day. And this day has come! It is done and I am very proud of myself for actually going through with it.
I think it started almost three years ago. My dear friend Coleen and I were discussing After Effects and whining how difficult and intimidating it is to learn but how awesome it would be to conquer it. And she had an idea to work on little projects together. Well, not together - each would be working on her own project, but at the same time. This would force us to learn the software and it wouldn't be as scary as on our own. And we would share progress and ideas, inspire each other and make sure neither of us stalled. The last part didn't work too well, but nevertheless it was a great idea.
My inspiration came from a very strange place - Madrid airport. The video of it, to be exact. When we went to Spain I had an idea to make a short compilation video about our trip and was shooting a lot of random clips. That idea never saw the light, but as I was watching those clips another one came to my mind - what if I combine live footage with drawn creatures. And these creatures would be not of our world, but living in parallel with us. We wouldn't know they existed, but they would be right there, beside us, living their own little lives.
And so I sketched some creatures.
The next step was to digitize them. So I brought them into Flash and created some vector creatures.
And then I wanted to add some texture so they're not so flat, so I brought my vector drawings into Photoshop and added this paper texture to them. At the same time I had to think ahead and separate the moving parts so that I can later animate them in After Effects.
Once all the assets were ready, it was time to bring everything into After Effects and start animating. The first creature came out awesome, I was very happy how it turned out and excited to continue.
But then I got stuck. And then I got distracted. And then somehow three years have passed. And finally I decided to finish it. I had to. It was too cute to kill. So I worked on it some more, and instead of finishing my original idea, decided to add couple more creatures. Which set me back some more, but I just felt it was too short.
In fact I could probably add another dozen creatures, but I really wanted to finish it already so that I could start on something new. And so, there it was. My first animation that was not tied to any holiday, that wasn't a greeting card or a banner ad. And I learned a lot working on it. So I claim it is a success all around. :)
Enjoy!
I think it started almost three years ago. My dear friend Coleen and I were discussing After Effects and whining how difficult and intimidating it is to learn but how awesome it would be to conquer it. And she had an idea to work on little projects together. Well, not together - each would be working on her own project, but at the same time. This would force us to learn the software and it wouldn't be as scary as on our own. And we would share progress and ideas, inspire each other and make sure neither of us stalled. The last part didn't work too well, but nevertheless it was a great idea.
My inspiration came from a very strange place - Madrid airport. The video of it, to be exact. When we went to Spain I had an idea to make a short compilation video about our trip and was shooting a lot of random clips. That idea never saw the light, but as I was watching those clips another one came to my mind - what if I combine live footage with drawn creatures. And these creatures would be not of our world, but living in parallel with us. We wouldn't know they existed, but they would be right there, beside us, living their own little lives.
And so I sketched some creatures.
The next step was to digitize them. So I brought them into Flash and created some vector creatures.
And then I wanted to add some texture so they're not so flat, so I brought my vector drawings into Photoshop and added this paper texture to them. At the same time I had to think ahead and separate the moving parts so that I can later animate them in After Effects.
Once all the assets were ready, it was time to bring everything into After Effects and start animating. The first creature came out awesome, I was very happy how it turned out and excited to continue.
But then I got stuck. And then I got distracted. And then somehow three years have passed. And finally I decided to finish it. I had to. It was too cute to kill. So I worked on it some more, and instead of finishing my original idea, decided to add couple more creatures. Which set me back some more, but I just felt it was too short.
In fact I could probably add another dozen creatures, but I really wanted to finish it already so that I could start on something new. And so, there it was. My first animation that was not tied to any holiday, that wasn't a greeting card or a banner ad. And I learned a lot working on it. So I claim it is a success all around. :)
Enjoy!
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