Category: Animations

Animations

Pippi’s Horse

“She had always longed for a horse of her own and now she had one, and he lived on the veranda.” That’s the second prompt for an Instagram challenge based on the Pippi Longstocking character which I used to make a short stopmotion animation.

Music: La Pompe Du Trompe by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com

I use Dragonframe software to make the animation, Audacity to record, modify or shorten the soundtrack and in the final edit I am using VSDC Free Video Editor. I also use Handbrake for any file conversion needed to upload … just so you know.

Animations

Pippi Arrives

I’ve finished animating my contribution to the recent Pippi Longstocking challenge on Instagram (Aug1-7 2022). It was organised by Australian artist/illustrator Monty Lee and cohosted by 6 other artist/illustrators.

I learned a lot: more familiarity with Dragonframe stopmotion software; playing with light; the strength of my puppets; pitfalls of balance if you don’t use a rig; that I have to tackle making detachable hands; … and I also learned that the Instagram community can provide great support.

This short is for the first prompt: “She took 2 things with her, a little monkey called Mr Nilsson and a big travel bag full of gold coins.”

Music for this piece is Rendezvous by Shane Ivers – https://www.silvermansound.com

Animations

A New Year

I wish you all the best for 2022.

I’ve been away from here for months whilst I’ve been concentrating on stop motion animating. Most recently, making and stitching together some clips by learning to use a video editor. The clips were made for an annual Instagram challenge – “Folktaleweek” – which is hosted every year by a group of illustrators who devise 7 prompts for themed illustrations, one per day. This year’s prompts were: Moon, Dream, Awakening, Feast, Bird, River and Sky.

I used them to make up a story using animation and this is the result. (No sound) It’s about a Girl who dreams that the Moon comes down from the Sky. She is told by the Forest Ancients that she must find Moon and return it. Rook helps her to search for Moon and together they return it to the Sky.

It’s been a bit of a hair-pulling learning curve. But I made it!