Fox Fridays: Looping GIFs

Participants will learn animation principles and strategies by creating a 1-second looping animation, based on the concept of their choosing. By the end of the workshop, they will have the physical drawings for each frame of the animation, the scans of those drawings, a composited GIF in Photoshop, and a handout on how to composite GIFs from scanned drawings in Photoshop. Students will also leave with two keyframes that can be used to complete a second animation on their own time.

The workshop will begin with an introduction to concepts of frame-by-frame animation, including explanations of:

- Frames-per-second
- Looping
- How to end/start
- Straight-ahead vs. key-based animation

This will be followed by a quick example from a previous loop the instructor has made. Students will then generate concepts for their animated loops.

The first part of the workshop will focus on the “straight-ahead” animation method, where each new frame is drawn in succession to produce a flowing motion. This part makes use of an analog animation technique adapted from animator Anna Firth. Once students are finished drawing, we move to scanning and assembly. Assembly in Photoshop will introduce digitization techniques. If time permits, we will explore keyframe-based animation.

Cross-disciplinary Connections: Looping GIFs help students develop an experimental process between drawing and time-based media. Drawing the “frame” by hand is an exercise in composition and motion. Students explore how their hand can bring an image to life. Basic skills in Photoshop are also learned, providing a way for analog artists and digital artists to discover new terrain and apply computer techniques towards a specific outcome.

Connected Classes: Animated Worlds with Jon Navy, time-based media classes with Monica Weiss, and Time-Based Media: Animation for Buildings (or similar class) with Tim Portlock.

Instructor: Noah Jodice is a candidate for the MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture. He is a cartoonist working in animation, comics, and illustration. Prior to graduate school, Noah produced looping animated stickers on a daily basis at Holler, a New York City-based startup. His team won Best Use of GIFs at the 2020 Shorty Awards for their animation promoting the launch of HBO Max. There, he also produced animation for Venmo, Snickers, IKEA, Subway, and Chips Ahoy. As a freelancer, Noah has worked on animation and zine projects with clients including Data for Progress, Take Back the Court, ArchCity Defenders, Project NIA, and Interrupting Criminalization. Noah’s animated triptych Under the East River was recently accepted into the Society of Illustrators Annual 64.

Online Resources After Hours Animation (Discord community and Instagram page), 24 Memes Per Second (Instagram page), “Photoshop Animation Techniques” - tutorial by Alex Grigg, online risograph animation workshop with Kelli Anderson, Rad Sechrist online animation classes, and Tonika Pantoja self-guided animation classes:.