Class:MFA Illustration 2025/Week 7

Last Week

• "Tiny Town" progress Review
• Photoshop:
  • Smart Object deep dive
  • Compositing and coloring tips

This Week

• Review "tiny town" projects and your separation technique
• Photoshop animation techniques
• New assignment, tiny town animations

Notes

Animation Examples

Animated illustration examples from the internet (updated!!)

https://raindrop.io/matthew-nyc/animated-illustration-62364612

Animation in Photoshop Videos

• Watch this one: Photoshop Animation Techniques (Redux, Creative Cloud)
  • https://vimeo.com/80851591

• Creating animations in photoshop
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omdfcGYEqPY
  • http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/creating-timeline-animations.html

• Create Awesome Animations in Photoshop
  • http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/create-awesome-animations-in-photoshop/

• Photoshop animation overview
  • http://www.alexgrigg.com/Photoshop-Animation-Techniques

Animation in Adobe Fresco Videos

• Adobe Fresco Just Added Magic (and It’s NOT AI)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXVXUThju74

• A Beginners Guide for Animating in Adobe Fresco
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q57QWLrCqo

• Easy Animation in Adobe Fresco
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F63sryq8Q08

Video Notes

• Tiny Town Project/Composition Review and Feedback
• Photoshop Illustration Masking for Animation – Overview and Tips
• Photoshop Frame-by-Frame and Animation Techniques – Overview

Assignment

Based on the conversations and techniques examples in class, your assignment this week is to animate your Tiny Town illustrations.

• You all have a hand-drawn, colored, and composited illustration project within Photoshop.
• Your job is to bring this illustration to life and add some engaging motion/animation to this project.
• Pretend you are working for the New Yorker magazine, they love your spot illustration and want to pay you more for an animated version that will be on the website and social media channels.
• Your animating file should be at least 10 seconds long.

Process for animating file

• Make a copy of your file above and scale it down to a manageable size for illustration:
  • If you have a fast computer and want to make a HD video you can try: 1,200 x 1,200 pixels
  • If you want to make an animated GIF you should work around 1000 x 1000 pixels
• Create a file with at least 10 seconds of animation.
• Use the Timeline panel (video animation or frame animation mode) to create your animation. Use the tutorials above if you need help!

What tools can, or should I use?

• Please be prepared to share HOW you animated your project, which tools, and why.
• I showed you some Photoshop techniques in class, specifically because when you need it most, you can do just about anything you can imagine with this tool. It is sometimes tedious.
• You can use Adobe Fresco, Procreate Dreams, or (if you know it) Adobe After Effects.

Upload for class next week

• One LAYERED photoshop file of your final non-animated high-resolution illustration, if you updated your core illustration.
• One LAYERED photoshop file of your animating masterpiece.
• Video or animated gif exported file.
• Any related parts, pieces, or scans.
• Compositions should be animations that match the square dimensions above.
• Google Drive folder: svaMFAI_20251027-assignment-tiny-town-animation-project