Mindworks of Whimsicality

So you’ve always liked animation and you always thought zoetropes were cool. Perhaps you wanted to make your own zoetrope but felt a little lazy and didn’t quite have the motivation to go dig a motor out of some old kid’s toy? Or maybe you never quite knew how to go about it before.
Well, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen, I now bestow upon you my super-simple, super-cheap, relatively-quick instructions for a zoetrope made out of household goods!

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Hey all you animators that just took off for home and plan on working on your films but don’t have fancypants desks that lift up at angles! This one’s for YOU!

I figured I wanted to animate and clean up in comfort, so I scavenged around and found a backing to an 18×24″ Biggie pad that was sitting around, waiting to become useful. I came up with this contraption, which requires no more than said piece of cardboard (non-corrugated, this is really tough stuff!), a box-cutting knife, packing and duct tape (though you could probably get away with just good ol’ duct tape).

1. Here’s how it works. Take the cardboard and cut strips approximately 2.5″-3″ thick strips down the long way.
2. On one side of these, make a light cut into both ends, approximately the width of the packing/duct tape you’re working with. Fold the board on these light cuts; now, turn over the board and make a light cut exactly in the middle of the strip. Fold the board back on these new cuts. You should have your strips shaped as you see in the following illustration, by the massive “x2″ (as you’ll make two strips like this, one for the left, and one for the right).
3. Get your packing tape ready! line up the “feet” of the strips vertically with one of the long edges of the remaining part of the board that you originally cut the strips from. Tape the feet on flat. Now, with the strips bent in an upside-down V, place your disc on them and figure out a distance (with the board pushed to the edge of a table against a wall you plan on working against) that you’re happy with your disc being propped up at. Translation: figure out the angle that you want the strips to be bent at; an angle that you’re comfortable with. Once you’re happy with the angle, make sure the remaining “feet” are about lined up and tape them in place… when you tape the feet, tape them on the front of the board and wrap the tape to the back. (Hence the overhang in the illustration).
4. Now, get a little sliver of duct tape and fold about half an inch of it over itself and tape it down lined up with the start of the angle of the bent strips. This piece of duct tape will hold your disc in place.

That should be it! You’ll work with the entire “contraption” pushed up against a wall so it doesn’t slip away, though I’m sure you could tape it down to a desk instead. There’s plenty of room for a desk lamp to be used as a backlight as well, which also helps weight down the entire setup.

Improve on it as you wish; this is the first thing that popped into my head and it’s working so far (though I’m only on day 1 with it!) Feel free to post comments and suggestions– I hope the instructions are clear!

Gabby pwezentz da foh-tee ate ow-oh fiwm fo’ too-thowzan’-niiiine!

Here’s a flipbook I made for my History of Character Animation class. Ever wonder what happens when you cross a green laser?

Super-quick Flash animation between a frog and a fly.

This is what a traditional animator does.
Over and over and over and over.
I just wanted give a feel of what it is to see your animated frames come to life when flipping/rolling them manually.
And I would not complain if someone found a way to give me a second left arm, so I could flip more than five pages at a time
That’s all the preview you’re going to get for now on my film!! Hope you enjoy

An Educational Film on the Hair Growth Stages in a Male
This was my 48-hour film for CalArts ‘08! The word for this year’s film fest was “Hair”. I’d been wanting to make a brochure out of this concept, but decided it would actually make a pretty entertaining educational film, and was perfect for the subject matter. When they said 48 hours, they meant 48 hours with a week for editing. Initially, animating this took 3 days– sandwiched between classes and homework, plus an extra hour for voicing (which, unfortunately, took an hour; I was told the next day that people could hear me in the dorm halls and were wondering what was going on!)
I should also mention that my friends won’t let me get away with saying “gravity” anymore. I have to say “GWAVITY!” else I get scolded *cough, cough, CARLOS! cough*.
Enjoy and be enlightened

There you go, and there you have it! My BFA-1 first semester film here at CalArts!
Total frames: 330
Total hours: …………………a lot!
Fun factor: 9.5, easily!
Happy holidays, everyone!