Making a Wish: Physical drawing on paper with animation glowing from below the paper
I first saw this idea from this Tweet from Mrs. Dweck. The "blinkie" concept is to use pre-made animations that play from youtube (like this one) underneath drawings to bring them to life. I immediately began to think about making this concept more creation-based for both the physical art and digital animation. I began playing with the DoInk Animation and Drawing App to make simple white animations over a black background customized for the art I wanted to create.
Love this. @fuglefun I'll bet you could teach us how to create our own undercover animations. Thoughts? https://t.co/OvGPLXic5L
— Mrs. Dweck (@GiftedTawk) November 6, 2016
Animated Glow below a physical drawing on paper----Animation drawn in DoInk app
The solution I developed is very simple. I dreamt up an idea that blends a physical drawing with a glowing animation. I thought of things that glow like a lightning bug, sparkler, a phone, buttons on a machine, stars in the sky, etc... Then I drew a picture with a blank area for the glowing thing(s). Afterwards, I took out the iPad and used DoInk Animation app's drawing mode to make a white animation over a black background. To make it move I used the flipbook technique where you draw movement one slide at a time. Then in the composition mode I resized the animation and placed it in the portion of the screen that best corresponded with the physical drawing that will overlay the animation.
What is really interesting about this animated glow idea is that it not only combines physical and digital art, it requires an interaction of the two to enjoy it or a documentation of that interaction via video or gif.
Animated Glow set to music
I put the video clips into iMovie, used the white balance filter to remove the yellow tint, and set the small video to a piece of royalty free music from incompetech to tell a story.
The following ideas are so image specific that I photographed the drawing, added it to a bottom layer in DoInk drawing app, and drew over it to make the animation. The photo doesn't export with the animation, so this technique is a easy way to place the glowing animation in the correct locations.
Lesson idea:
Students will learn to draw their profile and out stretched hand (physically) and make a flipbook style animation of a glowing alien (digitally). Then then will create a video of the alien glowing from the iPad as if it is standing on the person's hand in the drawing.
| The alien drawing is simply white over black and sized to fit the composition of the overlaid drawing. The trouble with drawing these animations is that white is hard to see against a transparent background. I usually create a layer of black and lock it below the animation. When I duplicate each slide of the flipbook the black layer follows along. | |
Drawing the Profile and Hand:
There are a few ways to approach the profile and hand drawing. One is to have students pose for a photo. They would then load the photo to the bottom layer of an iPad drawing app and do a contour line drawing of their portrait. These would then be printed out to use with the animated glow effect. The other idea is to use the handout I made below to help students draw a profile and hand from shapes and observation. This drawing would then be traced in black marker and used for the animated glow.
| As I played with the profile and hand, I thought about having the students lean their heads towards the alien for a closer look. I tried to think of different alien body types for my animation and simply combined shapes and lines. | |
Tutorial: Animated Glow Alien
Animated Glow: Tutorial from Tricia Fuglestad on Vimeo.
Here is a preview of our Animated Glow Lesson using the above animation and finished student profile drawings.
Student Results:
4-1 Class Animations below or here
4-2 Class Animations below or here
4-3 Class Animations below or here
4-4 Class Animations below or here
Resources: book and song
 | I bundled the Your Alien day of the project where student think creatively about an alien that comes to visit their family. The bundle includes links to the reading of the book, the video of the song, the printable handout to draw on, and the alien examples to inspire their art. Download it here. |
Click the image above to see Your Alien book for sale on Amazon
Resources: Drawing aliens
 | As I was looking for alien images to inspire my students I found the work of illustrator, Andy Martin. He is absolutely amazing with a site full of creative creatures, animations, and short films. I will definitely be spending more time exploring his work. Meanwhile, here is a handout I made of some of his alien illustrations from a year long alien project. 
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Andy Martin Showreel from Handymartian on Vimeo.
Planet One from Handymartian on Vimeo.
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