I’m thrilled to see that some of the work I’ve done for Patreon are being featured on their Social Media feeds. Here are some of the posts.
The world doesn’t need another feta pasta recipe. Forget about fads and make something new. pic.twitter.com/jTyLkUP8Ex
— Patreon (@Patreon) March 15, 2021
We heard it’s the avocado toast that’s holding millennials back. But maaaaybe it’s because folks like Spotify are paying creators $.004 per stream. pic.twitter.com/Vj2VyfGPCx
— Patreon (@Patreon) April 7, 2021
It was alot of fun to get involved in this series, and be able to do multiple illustrations and animations for Patreon. This was largely done using Illustrator and After Effects.
It has been an incredibly exciting year, and I have been proud with all the projects I’ve worked with throughout.
Doing Art and Video work for a living means you’re always learning new things, and even with the amount of experience I have, I continue to find new perspectives and technologies that weren’t even part of the main conversation a year before.
I started professionally as an animator years ago, working at a studio doing web cartoons, a position I thought was where I would stay forever. Nowadays, I work in so many different things, on so many different mediums, that it’s sometimes hard to keep track on all the things my work has been in.
Books, Streaming Services, Social Media, Apps, Games… the list goes on, and I hope to see it continue growing.
Thanks to my colleagues and clients that I’ve worked with throughout the year, I hope you have a Happy Holiday and a good rest of the year!
Thanks to the people who backed “Let’s Make Comics” latest anthology, I was given the privilege to thank some of our supporters with some commissions. Here is the first one, featuring a Pug.
Alternative Color!
I’ve recently started experimenting with “Style Transfer”, a new way to get painted animation implemented over actual video footage. The technique resembles the end goals of Rotoscoping where you draw over your video frame-by-frame.
Rotoscoping, in its essence, is typically a slow form of stylizing a video. I have done rotoscope for a few projects here or there looking for a painterly or drawn feel to existing video work. The problem is that it takes longer than people anticipate.
A lot of the attempts at implementing “art filters” over footage, like through After Effects, has been haphazard at best… giving people “certain” kind of stylization to their footage, but not looks that they expect or want.
“Style Transfer” promises to get whatever style you draw or paint in, and implement it onto your video in its entirety. It certainly has its (largely logical) limitations, but it so far seems incredibly promising as a possible replacement for rotoscope.
The video above took roughly a couple hours to do, running it through Style Transfer, and then doing some work in After Effects to give it a bit more “oomph”. If this was done using Rotoscoping technique, I could only imagine it taking upwards of tens of hours… for a little gag.
Like all new technologies in animation, there is always a worry that the “older version” of an animation technique becomes obsolete.
Industry-wise, you have seen a large replacement of paper-drawn animation with painted cels to digital means. “Puppet Animation” that utilizes 2D character rigs have long replaced its older brother of cutouts, for instance.
And for Style Transfer, I can definitely see that this becomes the way to implement “rotoscope” faster. And for most people’s use-cases is great as a complete replacement.
The technology though doesn’t mean that it solves every single niche case of rotoscoping, just like Digital Puppet Animation doesn’t solve every single niche case for cutouts.
But for the lot of what’s needed, I believe it would be the future.
As of last week, Let’s Make Comics Chicago’s 5th Comic Anthology “This Makes Me Sad” has been fully funded on Kickstarter.
We are excited to publish and print our 5th entry, which will include works from me. I will also be providing 3 Commissions for Backers that will also be featured on the CatTrigger Instagram account.
As stated before, Comics have been an incredible study of mine since I was a kid, and was an essential step in helping me become the Animation / Motion Graphics person I am today. Not only through its constant practice of drawing, but also through its necessary vehicle of visual storytelling.
Let’s Make Comics is an organization that not only assists people in their journey through comic creation, but also develops a community and relationships with a large group of like minded people. Both made up of creative hobbyists AND creative professionals, such as myself.
With this 5th book, we hope it inspires more people in the city of Chicago to come to our meetings and join us in working on their own projects, or even these group efforts we do every year.
I’m flattered by the support given for this organization and our book. Thank you again!
In a week, I will be posting on social networks more news about the upcoming anthology I am involved in, including a video I edited along with this small logo animation.
“Let’s Make Comics” is an organization that helps encourage artists to draw and produce their very own comic stories. I’ve been part of the organization for over 3 years, and been part of its administration for 1 (and a half), and it’s been a pleasure to be part of a group that helps its members grow creatively.
I started doing comics when I was a kid, and if you see through the official Instagram , I’ve been working on it ever since. Comics have been the great entrance for me as an Animator and Motion Designer. It makes alot of sense, since comics are basically a branch of storyboarding that is essential in telling a video’s story.
Any aspiring motion designers and animators may want to consider comics as a hobby, even if you do not particularly fancy yourself as an illustration artist. You may quickly realize that working on comics will dramatically improve your ability to tell stories through video.
Besides, I would love to see more video people come to our meets! If you are even curious about working in comics, feel free to drop by one of our bi-weekly meetings!
Check it: https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoLMC/