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The difference between Motion Art and GIFs

I’m guessing that not everyone knows what “Motion Art” is and how it differs from a GIF or .mp4 file. Well, actually, Motion Art is very different from any other type of animated file because only certain parts of the image will be animated. With a GIF, usually, the whole image will be moving. So that’s the main difference. And I have become quite lazy over the last year or so calling the motion art that I create “GIFs” when they’re really not GIFs. While it doesn’t really matter that much to someone looking at the image, technically, the process to create motion art is very different to that of a GIF, or at least it used to be until all manner of apps and software for the phone and PC started popping up all over the place.

I don’t think it really takes much know-how to create motion art, but it certainly does take creativity because you have to be able to “see” what the image will look like when it’s animated which may not sound complicated but it can be. I’ve scrapped dozens of motion art files in the time that I’ve been making them because they didn’t fit my “vision” of what I wanted the image to look like. Another critical factor is whether or not the image needs animation added to it to improve it. Out of the thousands of images, I’ve seen in the last year or so, only a tiny portion of them have been animated, and that’s because some images just look better the way they are while others would definitely look better with animation added.

Here’s one I did yesterday of Luke Skywalker from a scene in The Empire Strikes Back, one of my favourites:

LUKESKYWALKERMOTIONART01 (923px, 25fps).gif

I’ve had people ask me to animate images for them, and I’ve always advised that I need to see the image first before I will create any motion art with it. Some images are just better left untouched. I don’t know if everyone understands this concept, but it’s one I apply every time before committing myself and my time to creating motion art.

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Adobe Tutorial – Match Colour in a Composite

Something a little different today using Adobe’s awesome website for tutorials, this tutorial is more “skill” and functionality based than my previous tutorials and it’s video content as well.

I also tried to find the share option for the video but it doesn’t have one so you’ll just have to visit the link below if you want to follow the video clip.

Adobe Tutorial – How to match colour in a composite

The object of this tutorial is to learn how to use one colour to bring everything else in the composite image together. It’s really just making the colour uniform with each layer in the composite.

Website: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/how-to/match-color-tones-composite.html?playlist=/services/playlist.helpx/products:SG_PHOTOSHOP_1_1/learn-path:key-techniques/set-header:photo-compositing/playlist:topic/en_us.json&ref=helpx.adobe.com

Time: 10 minutes

Level: Beginner

Comment: A little different to shake things up a bit, this was a really fun video clip to follow and the tutor was very clear sounding and pleasant to listen to. The thing I really like about the Adobe tutorials is that they provide all the files for you, all you need to do is download them to your hard drive, unzip them and you’re away. It’s awesome.

For anyone who doesn’t like watching video clips, there are follow along steps and instructions as well.

Rating: 9.5/10

Adobe Stock contributors: Ulia Koltyrina, Sarah Holmlund, WaitforLight, FotoMak

Presenter: Seán Duggan

This is what you start with:

AstronautBACKGROUND.png

And my final composite:

AstronautFINAL.png

 

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Design Tuts Plus Tutorial – How to create a Mezzopop Mezotint Effect in Adobe Photoshop

To make up for lost time yesterday, I just spent about 15 minutes learning how to apply the mezzotint effect through a Photoshop Action to this image:

file.png

And this is what it should look like once completed:

final-result.jpg

It was pretty easy, but if you’re not accustomed to using photoshop actions, I would suggest reading up on what actions are and how you can use them in your photoshop edits. Here is a great write-up about photoshop actions from Adobe.

How to Create a Photoshop Action to create a Photo Art Effect

Website: https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-glow-in-the-dark-effect–cms-31254

Time: 15 minutes

Level: Beginner but read my notes below regarding asset images and photoshop actions

Comment: Layer information missing for beginners – screenshots from inside Photoshop showing the layers would be most helpful for beginners starting out with Actions

Rating: 7.5/10

If you’re used to using photoshop actions, you’ll find this tutorial a breeze and the end result is pretty cool. Here’s my finished edit:

MEZZOTINT ACTION.png

The nice thing about this tutorial other than it being quite easy to complete, is that most of the images for the tutorial were quite helpful. The only comment I can make from a beginner’s perspective is that there are no screencaps of the layers inside Photoshop and therefore, you kind of have to guess your way around what layer is what. For an absolute beginner, I could imagine this would be a little confusing.

The tutorial is here if you want to check it out. The other thing worth mentioning is that you actually get to create your own action – something I haven’t done as yet. So it was nice to actually learn how to do that which I can now apply to any edits or graphics I create going forward if I want to create my own image effects.

Regarding the stock image, I did a bit of a work-around for this which I don’t recommend. If you can’t find an alternative image online, your only choice is to purchase the image from stock or to supply your own for the tutorial.

 

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Fantasy Sci-Fi Animation – Edit A Day

I liked this image so much that I decided to animate it and see what it looked like and I have to say, it doesn’t look too shabby as an animated image:

FIRSTFANTASYSCIFIATTEMPT3 (1200px, 25fps).gif

 

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Design Tuts Plus Tutorial – Fantasy Sci Fi Photo Manip Tutorial Review

So as mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to show you how far I had come on my first Photo Manipulation image. I have not used half the tools I had to use in Photoshop to create the picture, which is why it took me a lot longer than it would someone who already had prior knowledge of these tools. You could say this was a good learning curve for me, and it was steep, but I think I got over it, OK.

The artist who created this image is a digital artist who writes tutorials for a lot of the more prominent Photoshop tutorial websites. Here is her DeviantArt webpage if you’re interested. Her work is just sublime as you can see here:

eef87830645519.562cf4cab1baa

I decided to take on this project, not knowing just how involved it can be to create a photo manipulation of this type. There are a lot, and I do mean a LOT of steps to get to the end of it, but it’s so worth it if you’re learning as you go, which I definitely am.

So for anyone that hasn’t seen it, here is my photomanip:

FIRSTFANTASYSCIFIATTEMPT3

And here is my write-up about the tutorial:

Continue reading → Design Tuts Plus Tutorial – Fantasy Sci Fi Photo Manip Tutorial Review

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Imitation is the sincerest form of disrespect

I saw this while I was pinning pins on Pinterest and it struck a chord with me, especially since I do this very thing!

Am I being disrespectful to the artists I admire and the artists that inspire me by using their work or methods to create?

I find this statement is the very opposite of what I try to do with my creations. I feel quite incensed by this actually. I am at work right now and can only post this really quickly but I’d love to hear your thoughts, even if you agree 😁

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Art of the Day