A Phenakistoscope Wheel is divided into sections, like a sliced pie, with each slice being a frame of animation. When spun and reflected in the mirror, the viewer can peek through the slits to see the wheel's animation in motion. I animated a goose waddling and opening its wings, a blue frame, and the moon phases spiraling down to the center. I used a blend of color pencil, micron pens, and marker. Photoshop was used to put the frames together and create GIFS and PNGs of the wheel. Through this assignment, I was able to practice and learn more about the Adobe App, Photoshop.
Around the time I made the project, I had recently gone kayaking at a lake where there were a lot of geese. Charmed by the creatures, I learned how to draw them and realized their design can be broken up into simple shapes. I practiced this knowledge when the opportunity came to animate a goose for my Freestyle Academy Animation class assignment. I drafted a goose walk cycle on a separate piece of paper before using a lightbox to trace my final frames on the Phenakistoscope Wheel. I added the wing flap to help add personality and flare to the animation loop. If I were to animate the goose again, I’d make sure it is walking on the same ground level throughout as well as keep track of minor details better, such as the nostril and where the neck connects to the body.
The moon phases spiraling down at the center were the easiest to animate because I just had to follow the moon cycles and make a ball grow smaller. I animated the moon because the waves we see on water are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and thought it’d be a subtle way to connect to the goose. The fire was challenging since I couldn’t easily test the animation of fire to see if it’d flow well. I want to keep the flame’s movements spontaneous. I’d like to try animating a flame again in the future with the knowledge I now know about animation and applying the principles more, such as arcs for the flame. This project had shown me just how time consuming and rewarding traditional animation can be.
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