Stopped Motion.

I’m at a bit of a standstill when it comes to my next project in Motion Graphics. I’m really thinking that I’ll give stop motion animation a try but I’m kind of lost at where to start. From what objects to animate to where they should be animated to when I’m even going to find the time to do such project. Although I planned to work a lot over spring break the sporadic weather made it difficult and other plans fell through. My next attempts we're quickly overshadowed by prior engagements leaving me shotless and somewhat anxious about if this project will actually go through.

BUT I STILL HAVE HOPE! And instead of letting that get me down (and maybe you down?) here’s a speed run of QWOP with the most inspirational soundtrack ever!

Rocking Out On a Moving Car

Today I wanted to share a video which I think I'll always remember. Nearly 6 years ago, Freddiew released the following video:

I can still remember opening YouTube one day, and seeing this video on the front page. I watched it, and was genuinely confused. Was this fake? But it looked so real! At this point Freddiew still hadn't become the massive viral success that they are today. The comment section was divided as to if it were real. After some research, I found it to be fake, but it inspired me so much. How they could trick people into legitimately thinking it was real. Since then, I followed the channel religiously - just like every other aspiring 14 year old VFX artist.

6 years later, and the team have gone through many viral hits and many changes. Freddie and Brandon (who ran the channel), have gone their separate ways to a degree, but it's been exciting to follow their journey. I'll still get immense joy to this day, going back through their old videos which gave me so much inspiration when I was younger.

And in case you were wondering, here's how they pulled off that shot:

Creativity for Dummies

Inspiration can be hard a lot of times. What do I do when I can't think of a design for a motion graphic, I turn to a couple of websites for help!

1. Youtube

A simple Youtube search of "after effects..." and whatever else you want, will give you a plethera of results that you can view. A lot of times too, there are tutorials that can help you learn how to make the graphic. I find myself going between a lot different videos, pulling aspects of each video until I get my final result.

2. VideoHive

What is Videohive? Videohive is a website that sells all kinds of high quality motion graphics. While I don't advocate the purchasing of graphic templates, I think they're a great resource to get some ideas of what you want to do. They have everything from simple looking animations, to complex designs. After spending only 10 minutes on this website, I'm sure anybody could get a good idea of something they want to do.

3. Motionspire

This one should be pretty self-explanitory. Motionspire is a hub to show inspirational graphics, animations, videos, etc. from all around the web! I've only recently discovered this website, but oh man, I already love it! It's simple to use interface, and easy to navigate gallery make this website a great addition for anyone looking for ideas. 10/10, would recommend.


Now these are only a couple of the many websites out there for you to use, but I thought I should share the places that I personally go to.

Design in Mind - Concept artist Feng Zhu interview

The concept artist that I hold in highest regards, Feng Zhu talks a little about his design influences and where he draws inspiration from when producing his own work. What most people don't realize is that it is easy to make drawings look unbelievable and fantastical. It's much more difficult to make the audience believe what they're seeing could be real. In order to achieve this believability, you have to refer to resource materials with images meant to inform. Using these visual libraries, one can pick and choose elements from these direct sources to manipulate and combine in ways that are creative, innovative, and yet, familiar to the eye.

What fascinates me the most is his ending statements about becoming a better artist. The more you do something, the better you'll get at that something. In an age of convenience and speed, people look for shortcuts or tricks to become better as an artist. Yet, a fundamental element remains the same: time and practice are the only means to getting to a high level of expertise. Feng Zhu states this bluntly, yet beautifully.

Motion Graphics inspiration

I found a site called Motionspire.com, which provides a showcase of videos that you can look at to get inspiration. You can search the videos by category or date, and even click on the links that will send you to the creative site.

One of the sites I was led to is called Prologue. This company specializes in visual effects and design animation. They have done a bunch of animations for different commercials, films, and television series. You can search their site and see everything that they have been involved in, but even cooler, they show you graphics that essentially show a "storyboard" of their video. One of the ones they have is American Horror Story.

Check out these sites because they could be very helpful when looking for further inspiration in the future.