Time-lapse Draw then Animate

One of the ways I love to integrate technology is by extending physical art creation with a digital element. This idea relies heavily on both physical art and digital manipulation since it begins with drawing and ends with animation. Here are the results below: 

The time-lapse: iMotion App

First I practiced my drawing. I had done lots and lots of insect drawings with my 1st graders this school year, so I didn't have to practice long. See this post for drawing resources if you want to try an insect too. I set up the iPad on a tripod and opened up the  iMotion app, set it to time-lapse (take a picture every second), and started my drawing.
When I was done I exported the video to the camera roll. It was 7 seconds long.
TIP: It is important to start the video with the blank sheet (no hand) and end with just the image with just the drawing (no hand) to help out your animation steps coming next.

Time-Lapse video made in iMotion app

Stills from time-lapse: Green Screen App

You need to capture an image of the blank sheet from before you begin drawing and the final image of just the drawing. (See below). These two images are needed for the next step. There are a few ways to capture these images but my favorite way is by using the Green Screen app by Do Ink. I load in the video, toggle the timeline indicator to the first frame, select "image" and "save" to the camera roll. I do the same for the last image. It's a clean clear image and you can control it very nicely. Taking screenshots might work too.

first frame of time-lapse as a still image

last frame of time-lapse as still image

Clean up the Drawing: Superimpose App

Before you can animate you have to isolate the image by erasing the background and saving it that way in a PNG format. You can do this very easily in the Superimpose App. I pick a color for the background, bring in the drawing for the foreground, then use the magic wand (default) to select the background. If it takes away too much I can draw it back in with the eraser or erase away mistakes with the paintbrush (counter intuitive, I know). Then I touch the house icon, find the share button, and "save mask as PNG". This puts just the foreground image (your drawing) with transparent background into the camera roll as a png. See my image below. Use the beginning of this tutorial to help you. 

Make an animation plan and end image:

Since my drawing is an insect, I thought it would fly and land on my finger. So I posed and took a picture that leaves room for the insect to be added back in later. Now with this in my iPad camera roll I have all the elements to begin animating.

Animation: Do Ink Drawing & Animation App

My steps below explain how I put together the animation using the Do Ink Drawing & Animation app in the composition mode. If you rather see a tutorial start at 53 sec mark.

Animation of insect drawing lifting off page and flying to my hand

1. Bring in the complete drawing (0-1 secs on timeline)
2. Bring in the blank page image and drag it to a lower layer (1-3 secs on timeline)
3. Bring in the PNG of your drawing over the blank page layer (1-3 secs on timeline)
​4. Bring in the PNG again (3-5 secs on timeline)
5. Bring in the final image underneath (3-5 secs on timeline)
​
The insect PNG is the only piece that needs to be animated. I dragged a path to move it "off the page" and off the animation stage right for the first scene. The next scene had the insect enter from the right and land on my finger. I resized it before I dragged the path so it was smaller to fit the scene better.

Screenshot of the animation in composition mode

After previewing the animation (using the triangle shaped play button) I saved it to the gallery and shared it as a video to the camera roll. Now, I have a time-lapse video and animation to combine in a movie editing app like iMovie or Pinnacle. 

More examples:

Similar Idea: Make it and Move it

This post maps out ideas for making art projects physically like a paper collage or painting, then making a digital image of them animate. Click the image to see post.