Animation is my favorite art form but I’m only now starting to experiment with it. My first project, along with the one I’m currently developing, are both short rotoscope pieces though I hope to explore stop motion and more traditional 2D animation as well. These first animations are not trying to be narratively focused but should be seen more as moving paintings out to capture a particular tone or idea.
It is my hope to imbed animation in a number of my paintings and illustrations moving forward and to hopefully move on to producing short films as well.
The Egg and The Orb
I wanted ‘The Egg and The Orb’ to feel like a moving painting. I filmed an actor and hand traced her outline, frame-by-frame, at 24 frames per second. A color negative of the background oil painting was placed beneath that outline and I erased the negative around her body, frame-by-frame to achieve that translucent effect. Rotoscope animation is as laborious as it is beautiful. I truly believe that the time, attention and love we artists place in our work can be felt by the viewer. In a time of rapidly advancing technology, it felt good to accomplish something in as traditional a way as I had the means to.
The background painting is oil on wood panel. This project was animated using Procreate Dreams.
Espresso
I’m a coffee hobbyist and love preparing it any number of ways. This animation was an attempt to capture the joy I feel when I make my morning shot of espresso. This is the also my second piece in a coffee based series of artworks that depict different aspects of coffee and coffee making in a comedic, surrealist style.
The background was illustrated in Adobe Fresco and animated in Adobe Animate. All moving elements were rotoscoped from six different video clips I filmed.
I’d love to get to know and learn from other animators. Please feel free to reach out.
Chris Durenberger 