One of my plans for my video projects is to make a series of videos telling the various stories from my time in cat rescue. I thought this would be a good opportunity to not just raise awareness, but also encourage people to get involved themselves by sharing my own experiences.
[You can find details on the first video posted in this series on my page about Video Editing Fun.]
After finishing the first "episode" which discusses my intro into cat rescue, I encountered a challenge when planning the second episode. For the next rescue story, I didn't have any footage of how I went about catching the kittens I would be discussing.
So I had an idea: why not just make an animation that I could use with a voiceover as I explained what I did? That could be fun! Only one problem: I have never attempted hand-drawn animation before...
Well- first time for everything!
Meet the Models!
The two kittens I was going to be animating were later named Snickers & Oreo.
Although I didn't have footage of the trapping process, I actually had some footage taken after I had rescued them that would come in handy.
I would look for footage that had the angles I needed for what I had planned. Then, I would go through frame-by-frame and take screenshots that I would use as reference when drawing out the animations.
Once I had each frame drawn, I would go through the painstaking process of adding their colors and markings for each frame. As if a first-time attempt at hand-drawn animation wasn't challenge enough!
The first of the kittens that I animated was Oreo. I needed two angles for him: side view walking and walking away. Why was he walking away? Well, let me explain the setup of this catch attempt:
At this time in my rescue journey, I didn't have any traps to use. So my plan was to lure the kittens into a carrier by using *drumroll* a piece of string. Sounds like a plan doomed to fail but....it actually worked! A little too well, in Oreo's case.
You see, when Oreo chased the string inside my house where the carrier was sitting (I was hidden behind a curtain), he decided to just keep going....into my living room. Hence, the need for this additional perspective.
Snickers was easier to catch but more difficult to animate because she was a tabby with lots of stripes- each that I would have to animate in a way that didn't look like a jumbled mess!
I simplified her striped markings to make things a little easier but it was still a daunting task for me who, again, had never done a hand-drawn animation before. But still- I had a vision and I was going to try my best to make it happen!
Her animation also had more poses. She followed the string into the house like a good girl, sat down to play with the string for a bit before noticing the food in the carrier sitting just in front of her and walking in so I could close the door behind her.
I'm not going to flatter myself and say I did a flawless job - particularly with animating the kittens' markings - there is definitely a lot of room for improvement. But I am actually really proud of what I managed to accomplish after just my first attempt at hand-drawn animation.
I still have more to do before the video is ready to publish, but I think I'm off to a good start! And best of all- I challenged myself to learn a new skill which is always a great thing~