This week didn’t go at all the way I planned. But it made room for something completely unplanned…and wonderful.
You see, Chad came down with a cold mid-last week. And we usually do a great job of not passing viruses to each other. But not this time. By Saturday my head felt like it was underwater. And that meant recording for my YouTube channel (with the camera pointed at me) was postponed. Again.
At least, I thought it was.
Now that I have video gear, another thing I’ve been wanting to try is stop-motion animation. If you’re not familiar with that type of animation, it’s what was used to create the classic movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Each puppet was moved little by little and photographed each time (i.e. captured frame by frame) so that when the photos were strung together, it gave the illusion of the puppets moving across the screen.
If you’ve never thought about it before, that’s what video is: a series of photographs taken, placed together, and “played” back at high-speed to give the illusion of movement. It’s similar to a flip-book where an artist makes characters “move” across the pages when you flip through it.
Well, since my original plans were no more, I dove into stop-motion animation.
And it has completely taken me by surprise!
It combines expertise in motion, design, photography, and videography in one fell swoop. It’s both creative and technical. It’s unlike anything I’ve tried before but feels like it’s in my wheelhouse.
If you’d like to see the short animations I made this week, there are 3. (The photo above is from a frame of one of them.)
Sometimes when I try something new, I quickly know it’s not something I’ll be doing long-term. Carving art into rubber stamps is a good example. But with this…I’m not so sure. Since making the first animation, it’s been at the forefront of my mind both morning and night. I’m in that wonderful honeymoon phase of learning a new skill I enjoy.
I’m already having thoughts of wanting to do this for others (!).
But I know better than to make predictions about where this is going. Because I never know for sure.
That’s part of the beauty of creativity.
