ianimator

Some of us learn animation. Some of us are born with it.

It began after observing a program on TV – I started animating flipbooks during my primary school days. The thickest books were my favourite because they ran the longest! Unfortunately, we used to sell our second-hand books in those days, so until I can find those lost books again, this is a rare early piece that I still have:

I got feedback that people were absolutely mesmerised by my animated icon and would stare at it for longer than they would admit. If only we had youtube back then, might this have been Nyan-Cat worthy? This 9-frame animated gif was drawn way before I “learned” any of the principles of animation. The timing has 4 frames of pulling the oars through the air, and 5 frames pulling through the water, which has more resistance. The least amount of movement occurs when the oars first hit the water, then they accelerate. There is some classic overlapping action in the flag & sail. Hundreds of hours of gleeful practice makes the understanding of human, animal and mechanical movement second nature for both animation and film.