Pursuing my teenage dream of making a YouTube Animation Meme.
I've spent a lot of the Uni year expanding my tastes and looking at objectively "good" and professional level art so, as a treat for my first week of the summer holiday, I'm revisiting my roots and going back to the "bad" amateur art that is the reason and inspiration I started drawing in the first place. It may be unrefined and inexperienced but it is born from a place of pure passion for creating. It is self-indulgent, self-expressive and unashamed to be what it is. This may tie into the themes of my dissertation in which I'm planning to explore self-expression through fanart.
I've done bits and pieces of animation in the past but usually never more than a few seconds of very stiff movement done in Procreate where I'm familiar with the tools but feel very limited. I've been an avid YouTube Animation Meme enjoyer since I discovered the popular ones from big names like Apselene, Skaroy and Sir Fluff in my early teens. So many have since been taken down, privated or unlisted due to the nature of YouTube copyright and artists being growing out of their old work but below are some of my current and long-time favourites.
I've done bits and pieces of animation in the past but usually never more than a few seconds of very stiff movement done in Procreate where I'm familiar with the tools but feel very limited. I've been an avid YouTube Animation Meme enjoyer since I discovered the popular ones from big names like Apselene, Skaroy and Sir Fluff in my early teens. So many have since been taken down, privated or unlisted due to the nature of YouTube copyright and artists being growing out of their old work but below are some of my current and long-time favourites.
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Posin’ Animation Meme
I decided to start by leaning heavily on my existing skills and understanding by producing my own version of the “Posin’” animation meme using Procreate (the drawing app I’m already very familiar with) and CapCut (a video editing app I haven’t used before). I wanted to pick up new skills but also make something I could be proud of and that would be satisfying to complete within a 2 week time-frame. This is a project I've wanted to sit down and make for years now so I had a good idea of how I wanted the final video to look already. I'm going to use my existing original characters as the subject.
Song: [Electro Swing] Peggy Suave - Posin' by Sim Gretina
Song: [Electro Swing] Peggy Suave - Posin' by Sim Gretina
Examples of the format:
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Inspiration for the stage/background
Used Procreate to make a simple 2 second animation of the stage curtain opening.
Adding text and effects in CapCut.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
I used reference videos and photos of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to base my poses on.
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CHARACTER 1 ("Bunnie") SOLO POSES
CHARACTER 2 ("Maddie") SOLO POSES
DUO POSES
OpenToonz
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I'm going to start practicing OpenToonz by making my own "cats" animation meme because it's only 25 seconds long, follows a simple structure and will allow me to practice using new software without biting off more than I can chew. Also it embodies everything I adore about YouTube Animation Memes; it's bright, loud, garish, repetitive, cringe, low effort, low quality with so much fun poured into it.
Song: Cats by The Living Tombstone
Song: Cats by The Living Tombstone
Inspiration:
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Creating The Cat
It took me literally hours to figure out how to export this as a gif because OpenToonz put a lot of obstacles in the way (like having to install a whole plugin to be able to export to mp4 or gif !!!!!!!!) but now that I've managed it, I feel more familiar with the programme. It was like an awful icebreaker bonding activity with a new work friend. Or like performing surgery. I've been up to the elbow in its files.
(I needed a break so I moved back to Procreate)
I attempted another cat, this time pouncing onto a toy mouse.
I didn't like my initial attempt at lining it because I wanted a smoother more rippling movement of the tail. However, I still wasn't happy with the result after trying it a few more times.
This was my final attempt, concentrating on the form of the tail and making it flow better. I'm still not completely happy because the motion isn't quite right but I want to move onto the next cat and take what I've learned.
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PROCREATE DREAMS
The release of the new Procreate animation app is huge.
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