In my Animation class, I was tasked to create a Phenakistoscope. A Phenakistoscope is an animation device from around the 1830s, where spinning a piece of paper with slits in front of a mirror created the illusion of movement. Due to this being digital, these slits did not appear in my version. For my Phenakistoscope, I took inspiration from another Phenakistoscope created last year named “Grab It“, and tried to make my version invoke the same kind of uneasiness emotion.
In this Phenakistoscope, I solely used color pencil, going back and forth between two draft versions with a lightboard to keep the animation consistent, and then tracing the draft onto a final cardboard version.
If I could change one thing about this Phenakistoscope, I would make the animated-illusion more refined. Unfortunately, the static looking image in the center breaks the illusion a bit. On the other hand, I am proud of how the heart and the fire turned out.
Leave a Reply