So, this December, I'm FINALLY wrapping up an ENTIRE year FILLED w stupid setbacks N delays, as well as STUPID petty dramas of numerous folks, BUT I'M STILL GOING!
I look back upon a body of work of SO MANY GOALS completed, and IN THE MIDDLE OF COMPLETION at this very moment! Others about to start or re-do. I got a 3rd Place Trophy at NewGrounds.com on Thanksgiving Day. :)
[I also did the audio on this which u can download for free]
I've actually been doing various versions of The Jackalope film because my ORIGINAL CONCEPT was actually all 4 seasons. So, each part I made a mini-film out of as well.
[I also did the audio on this which u can download for free]
[Incidentally, I know a lot of the kids out there need music n audio that's free & legal, so I have a number of music N audio clips in my New Grounds that is FREE, and YES I licensed them to Creative Commons. NO, you DON'T need my permission, JUST TAKE IT, and do whatever u want with it. YES, it IS polite to credit me, but NO I'm NOT coming to hunt anyone down if they don't. I have a LOT of sympathy for kids & students learning animation or various other projects they need stuff for, or even practice.]
This is THE MOST WORK I HAVE EVER DONE on ANY animated film SO FAR, EVER!
I wanted to combine the 4 pieces (plus some other stuff, and OTHER variations) but like a a fusion of old vintage 80s-90s NES + SNES video games, N Arcade Games, as well as OLD vintage 90s CD-ROMS.
For this one I referenced CAPCOM's Street Fighter II.
This one is referenced from Nintendo's Double Dragon.
And, back in Spring 2017 I'd always wanted to incorporate this Sakura Waterfalls piece into my Film Final at UMASS Boston, but didn't know how at the time. So, I redid it for ASMR Visuals on NewGround.com. There's several versions on YouTube, but my NewGrounds videos are WAY more popular.
I did some other graphics to resemble old 90s CD-ROMS.
Especially THIS ONE:
Or, graphics loosely referenced from old Japanese Sailor Moon Video Games as well.
But, if you look at my "Movies" gallery on NewGrounds it's literally my Animation & Motion Graphics Goals for This year, but also some dating back until 2017. There's ONLY a few concepts left to do, finish up, or re-do.
I will be re-doing my 2016 film "Smattering Thoughts Also Flow" including the new Butterflies I did this year for Inktober.
I'll be moving onto the Butterfly puppet animation as soon as the Jackalope stuff is totally wrapped up. BOTH of these, including the other Jackalope films will be in my TV Show "A Spirit To Be Free".
The original concept for the original film I did incorporated my lanterns, including the one I made, and the Work-In-Progress Film I did for Cinema Studies/Experimental Film Class at UMASS Boston Fall Semester 2017 is HERE:
The full documentary is here:
I wanted to animate the butterflies with my lanterns B-roll footage and I've shot SO much since then. But, I'd also wanted to do the butterflies with some 3D After Effects compositions. I actually JUST did a Waterfall animation video this week, but I haven't uploaded it yet because its slow. (My internet STINX.) I've also been busy animating, making graphics, n editing audio + video.
But, I'd also re-shot the Chinese calligraphy story/art presentation multiple times.
My video instructor made me re-shoot it so many times, and including REAL ink instead of the water scroll. But, I needed guidance and never got it fully, because he often ditched us, or me especially when I needed him. he often would tell me he would be right back, then actually went home. I also wasted SO MUCH time N energy on commuting and re-borrowing equipment.
I actually have not only my own equipment now at home, BUT I also have WAY BETTER stuff now than the stuff at UMASS Boston because I ACTUALLY NOW have my very own mini-camera crane! I will probably ALSO be turning my living room into my filming studio next month because I'm THE ONLY PERSON LIVING IN IT. Everyone else spends time in their bedrooms doing their work or leisure.
I'd also been working on a few rough concept art pieces at the end of August N Early September for part of my Ying Qilin Film which is eventually my BIG ultimate goal. But baby steps, 1 by 1.
At the moment THIS one is on hold because the other stuff I'm working on is THAT TIME now because it's not hot summer weather. And I can use my computer more frequently, and all day. So, it's on the back burner right now.
I also have ONE more Motion Graphics/Moving Picture Composition I haven't finished painting yet.
I need to update THIS picture to HD, but the amount of painting work I need to do for the HD version is OVERWHELMING.
The trouble is that hackers destroyed the finished version, so I need to repaint it from scratch BEFORE I can even do the HD video animation motion graphics.
I found the old B N W version, and I'd started painting it back in the winter BEFORE I went down to Florida in March. But, I never finished it. too many OTHER things came up N I totally forgot about it.
It will be similar to THESE other ones I made back in December 2017-Feb-2018 which were originally JUST still images:
[Side Note: If you like this style of a semi-still picture that moves I HIGHLY recommend my friend Lizkay's animated work found HERE.]
But, moving into 2019, once I'm finished with the puppet animations, I'M MOVING ONTO TRADITIONAL ANIMATION FOREVER. NO MORE PUPPETS! ^_^
I will still be integrating puppet animations as motion graphics elements inside my traditional animations as well as Effects animation like particles.
PLUS, I got TRAPCODE SUITE 15 NOW! ^,^
So, what's NEXT?
Well, if you didn't know this, I actually hang out FREQUENTLY on AMB Animation's LIVE STREAMS on YouTube. And YES, I AM aware that some people strongly dislike him.... but, the thing is.... he's generally RIGHT. But, he's also opinionated and outspoken. But, a number of my friends hang out with him in his streams, and I gotta tell ya, he's actually a pretty nice guy, its just that he talks BIG in his streams as his marketing style.
If I had the money I WOULD totally invest in his Library option. I also like Aaron Blaise's streams n stuff as well.
But, AMB has some free stuff on his website, and I personally want to get back into animation basics N fundamentals.
However, I do have ONE OTHER concept piece that's also STILL on my mind, since Spring 2017 at UMASS Boston, and THAT one is Traditional Animation based.
I had actually created a number of concept sketches for it a while back, but basically, I'd wanted to my OWN Artistic re-interpretation of the ending graphics for an OLD 80s French Anime TV show called "Mysterious Cities of Gold. This ONE:
In fact, I'd already done a few ROUGH animation bits back in Summer 2017 of that very concept, which I'd also recently re-cut for a Video Art Proposal back in September in Boston for Boston CyberArts. (-and, NO, I didn't get it.)
In fact, I have a few more proposals to submit to them in the next few days.
But, this concept has been morphing N progressing quite a lot in my head this year.
I want to probably COMBINE this concept with my own artistic re-interpretation of an old James Bond film into:
OMG! I just LOVE THAT! But, also, KEEP IN MIND, I JUST GOT TRAPCODE! ;-) Tee-hee!
But..... here's the thing.... the whole GUN motif... yeah... that..... so, I'm not anti-guns, per se, but.... guns just ARE NOT MY THING.... they just aren't..... like u won't see 'em in my art... maybe some swords N archery.... but that's it...
But, I LOVE those pretty nude lady artsy silhouettes.
So, I was thinking up different graphical concepts that were NOT GUN RELATED..... IDK, all the gun motifs just make me feel UNCOMFORTABLE....
But, I like LANTERNS.
So, I figured I'd remake mine with lanterns, candles, torches, and useful objects, or tools, that have more fulfilling meanings to me personally.I dunno, I've been a multi-times victim of sexual assault, rape, n violence multiple times that GUNS in my art bother me being paired with nude ladies, so try and understand that.
I'm NOT a New Age-y person anymore but I STILL love all the imagery, like "Love and Light" or "Enlightenment", and other symbolic motifs. Please remember that I am a Philosopher as well as an Artist. I'm generally NOT bothered by people legally owning a gun, or enjoying regulated target practice at a gun range. (and YES I HAVE fired firearms since I was at least 6 because my uncle wanted me to, at my Mom's old car, which ticked off my grandfather because he owned the car even tho' it was just sitting there for a few years... and yes, he was in all kinds of armed service jobs including military n police, among others; and as a teen I was a pretty good shot w a bee-bee gun and a 22 rifle, but it seemed like a waste because we shot small eggs on beer bottles.) Personally, I HAVE hunted game using a Compound Bow, so I DON'T view guns as sportsman-like for hunting at all, and they ruin the meat. But, I also get if you want to have a small gun if you're being stalked. I am a philosopher, so I'm more in line with the thinking of Bruce Lee's "The Art of Fighting Without Fighting" (or Alan Watts) and various other Shaolin & Taoist philosophies as well. But, for whatever reason people r so brainwashed into this stuff that I NOW need to list a whole bunch of family members that were policemen, military vets, and ALL the DUDES I ever banged or seriously dated or flirted with enlisted in the service, etc... please, don't. I'm a philosopher, I'm NOT pushing an agenda, so leave it at that.
I DID actually work on Tipsy TV this winter. So here's MY WORK including Camera work, MOtion Graphics n VFX + Editing:
Yes, I AM still very excited to be producing 2 of my very own TV Shows in my town, but I'm also going to be working on a show of my friend's as well which is a revised/redone version of "On The Scene" which he did a few years ago. I'll be shooting that this week, and also a few more times this month.
AND, I'm STILL the DP (Director of Photography) on the film "The Holy Maple Tree" which is NEVER ENDING for a short film.
Not only did I get promoted to Graphics and the Chief Editor, but I ended up becoming DP.
I had the DAUNTING TASK of trying to salvage and force a lot of stuff to fit together in what's called "the hike scenes" among crew. SO, I worked SO HARD to come up with this edit, which actually went well, and was received VERY WELL by cast N crew.
(Mostly shot on a camcorder, n various other cameras)
Unfortunately, this actor took his career goals very seriously to become an EMT, and altho' he was perfect to work with, and was our back-up for the 1st actor in this lead role, we found another actor in Rhode Island that was just the perfect match, and it was sad because we all still liked this guy as a person and liked working w/him.
Anyways, the previous footage of these scenes were not finished, and were fraught w/problems due to camera persons, the former DP, and cast N crew drama. Plus I have arthritis in my spine n this location is A KILLER.
Needless to say, I did manage to go shooting there this year a number of times, and WAY TOO MANY OF THEM. PLUS, I had personally invested in my own equipment, and upgraded the film by pushing for higher quality.
Suffice it to say, we've achieved it (CANON 70D EOS DSLR):
Kit lens w star cross filter/ This Actor is SO AMAZINGLY GOOD!
Kit lens w star cross filter
This lens is a $1000 lens: CANON 135mm F2 which we rented to achieve ultimate bokeh. NOT A ZOOM lens.
Kit lens
Shot on a camera crane w a kit lens
Shot on 50mm prime lens on low level light on the lowest F-stop. This actress is also VERY good on camera, and is also an Indie Film Director & Recording Artist/Producer, and all around creative type
[Also, nearly ALL of the costuming of Moonbeam, the Hippy character, including makeup supplies N jewelry, was done by me.]
As you can see my camera work has improved a lot, and I'd surpassed a number of things done by several of the Indie filmmakers I'd been working with since 2016. I was so dedicated to learning more about lenses, exposure, white balance, Prime lens, Kit lens, and Zoom as well as really cultivating a respect for things like Long Takes, L-Cuts N J-Cuts and even getting my own Video tripod as well as a Camera crane despite EVERYONE being hell-bent on drones, which makes NO SENSE because drones are for aerial shots.
The delays on this film made me SO GRUMPY. SO, once the summer ended I switched gears back to animation N drawing again. The heat waves made it impossible to use the graphics software(s).
I'd completed my film with my daughter also "Maple Bacon" in our brand "Titanic Panoramic" which also has a YouTube Channel:
I just tend to be more popular on NewGrounds this year, whereas my YouTube channel got screwed N demonetized n no one even seed my updates because they suppressed my content. However, she just granted a monetization last month, and is booming in views.
I now have a portfolio profile on ArtStation which I will probably be updating this month, but I'm rather busy at the moment.
I'm HOPING to get this FINAL Jackalope film DONE BEFORE Christmas.
OTHER STUFF I have IN THE WORKS Coming up:
I JUST GOT a new Green Screen Chroma-Key Lighting Kit! SO EXCITED!
It arrived days ago, but I didn't open it yet because of my husband, Mr. Wang. I don't want to open it around him because he's a SPAZZ and he's got finals at MASS ARTS Boston because he's at Graduate School studying for his Master's Degree in Art.
I also ordered a plain Chinese Folding Screen... so u can't see my ugly living room, but ALSO so I could paint something on it!
I'm also going to be making a NEW PIRATE HAT/Bonnet.
That will take a while to arrive here.But, I did get some bits for it already. I will retire my old Pirate hat back to a Witch Hat, which is what it ACTUALLY is.
I also FINALLY got my VERY OWN fake leaves. This was SUCH a pain in the butt to get, but I FINALLY got some. I need them for a prop on the film which I've worked on while on stream, but for the film "The Holy Maple Tree".
I actually haven't finished it. I have a persistent pesky problem with hackers, and they targeted me SO HARD in September N October, and wore me out.
I was actually doing very well at my motivation to stream LIVE , but they kept hacking me.
So, I gave up and moved onto animation for a while. I was very upset that I couldn't continue w/Inktober N Drawtober, but they even hacked my modem, video card, iPhone, and my Abode Creative Cloud.
It was frustrating. They also hacked my streams, and deleted my streams in Salem Mass on Halloween.
So, I hope to finish that also. It's on the back burner at the moment tho'.
I also got a Prism for trendy photography N video effects. I'm sure u've seen the stuff on Instagram all over the place. (BTW I'm NO LONGER ON INSTAGRAM)
So, 1 thing I LOVE about #Inktober is it's an excuse to make stuff to use later on other projects.
THIS project is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and it's coming along. It's a bit slow, but it's progressing. I've shot a LOT of B-Roll with my lanterns and sculpture stuff.
I'm gonna incorporate this work into my TV show at WCA9 TV.
It started out HERE:
The Chinese characters on the wing are 忍 Rěn = Endure/Forbearance done in vintage makers
Another one with Chinese characters: 任 Rèn = Task/Duty/Responsibility
This one was made by my daughter which was a representation of a different "ren" meaning person, but no character, since this butterfly is personified. circa October 2016
仁 meaning "benevolence" or "kindness" also pronounced "ren" in Chinese. This one was painting in Traditional Chinese ink & marker b y Li Wang (my husband) in October 2016.
I had originally intended for the flapping butterflies & lanterns to be a part of my film at UMASS Boston. BUt, no one knew how to help me with the flapping yet again, in After Effects CC 2016.
Here's the Paper section bits from the film:
Needless to say, a lot of my original ideas were cut out from the film due to time, ignorance of program software, a major gaping lack of adequate help & assistance, the fact that no one else knew how to do what I wanted in After Effects in the 2016 CC version, as well as wasted time commuting.
So, this was my film Final in Fall 2016:
It was my first major project of any important in HD which I had no idea how to work in.
I'd also been wanting to finish my sculpture instillation art project (Whimsical Boho Decor teapot Lantern).
I did a brief project for my Presentation Final in Cinema Studies in Fall 2017 which is a min documentary:
Here's my full length documentary. I gotta tell u, studying experimental films really helped me to learn A LOT about Documentary.
So, this year, I want to include a lot more people with this butterfly flapping stuff in Adobe After Effects CC.
But, I'm decent with it now.
Here's an Angel version of the butterfly flap:
I asked my daughter to make a new one for Inktober, and also my friend Drakenhart.
So, I hope to really create something nice for my TV Show, and expand upon my previous film.
The Butterfly motif actually comes from a Chinese "philosopher" of sorts Zhuanzi Zhou 莊子 who dreamt he was a butterfly and forgot he was a human man, but when he awoke he;d wondered if he were a man whom dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly whom was dreaming he was a man. In both experiences he was unsure.
Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.
There was 1 more thing:
I was hoping to do some melting flowers, and better learn Liquefy in After Effects. This was ALSO frustrating because no one would help me.
I'm not actually totally sure which way I want to go with it all yet. But, it's kinda just a thought at the moment. I do have OTHER things I'm also thinking about playing with, such as Airships like: Zeppelins, Dirigibles, and even Barrage Balloons.
I'm NOT gonna commit to it tho' at the moment. But, it's ALWAYS something I've been wanting to play with, especially in After Effects.
Well, let's just say, I did A LOT of animation in June. I also did A LOT of Video Editing, Special Effects Animation, Motion Graphics, and also got a lot of my concept work done for my 2 TV Shows, networked with talent, scouted out a lot of locations, and shot LOTS of test footage at various locations, and we finally got BACK into production on "The Holy Maple Tree" on the 30th in Bridgewater. I also got MOST of the filming equipment I wanted: Jib camera crane, floating head Video tripod, waterproof selfie stick, gimbal.
Unfortunately, I CANNOT show share the visual effects animation, and graphics I did. I did stuff for a local TV show called "Tipsy TV" which is still in production, and I also finished up the main effects, clean-up, and compositing for the Gorgon Scenes of The Afterlife for "The Holy Maple Tree". I do NOT own the rights to those, so I will NOT be showing those works.
It's mostly just simple, basic effects, but TONS of layers. And I also re-shot some parts multiple times, MYSELF, and or with the Director.
I want to wrap up "Maple Bacon" which is a short film I'm doing with Pasteloween (my relative).
Here's a clip I just finished in Toon Boom HARMONY:
And, THEN there's THIS MOFO:
SO, THIS MOFO RIGHT HERE has been my lil PUNK! All I wanted to do was a SIMPLE Harry Potter/Warner Bros style Logo animation/motion graphics using Adobe After Effects' Extrude Raytrace. When I found it it could do that, I was like: OMG! I'm DOING THAT! But, I had a TON of setbacks for troubleshooting with After Effects multiple times (including again today).
I have tried SO many tutorials, and they're ALL outdated. I can;t get any technique to work. I did find out that the new version of Photoshop has a 3D extrude... but I don't understand it, but at least I could make THIS monstrosity.
I have worked on this LOGO motion graphic animation SO MANY TIMES, with SO MANY TRIES. I have multiple files. -and I don't really understand Adobe Illustrator, plus I HATE IT.
I used my old photography from around 2012 also.
I want to do a better version, and WAS working on that ALL OVER AGAIN from scratch 3 times TODAY, but now my After effects isn't working again. :(
Pasteloween wants me to do more animation memes... but I kinda did a montage.
I'm keepin' it real: video editing is kinda easy for me. I especially like music video style, or montage, or "documentary":
This remix track is from a band in Philly from the Bush era called "Hail Social". 1 of the band members was my old co-worker from AMC Marlton 8, Richie Roxas, who was a pretty good friend of mine in the late 90s. He has an Instagram about New Balance Shoe collection stuff, and purple things. But, I juts recently deactivated ALL of my FB & Instagram profiles due to very bad privacy concerns as a result of the loss of net neutrality But, my Twitter profiles are still up, and so is my Google+ stuff.
I have a profile on MeWe & Matadon which are much safer.
I'd been working on an independent film (The Holy Maple Tree) since last year, and I got promoted to do the graphics, motion graphics, animations, and editing. So, the first graphics I made were for "Heaven & Hell TV", but the director wanted Hell graphics.
I actually made quite a number of them actually:
Incidentally I do not own the rights to these. The Rights are owned by the director Roland Khorshidianzada.
I'm actually NOT really an expert at Adobe After Effects at all. I'm always still learning. It's an overwhelming amount of things that can be done with the program. I had originally learned to use After Effects around 1999-2000-ish, and didn't fully use it until about 2001. It's definitely more advanced than Adobe Premiere. I had used it off and on in the GW Bush era, then I totally forgot how to use most of it. I had to start over in 2016, and it's NOTHING like it was back in the day, even tho' it can do most of the things it used to do, and way more. I'd originally only used it for text motion graphics. It's also incredibly frustrating if you're coming strait form Adobe Premiere. But, if you stick with it, stay patient (because I've lost my temper a lot with it), it's actually my favorite program aside from Premiere. Photoshop is also good, and I have 5 versions of Photoshop on my computer, of which I mostly only use 3.
So, I wanted to do the Heaven graphics. In the screenplay there's quite a lot of spiritual type and Biblical type things mentioned, and this fake TV channel, ironically shot/filmed at an actual TV station studio, should have the Heaven bits as well. (Don't worry, I'm not spoiling anything in the film. It's still in production.)
Most people on the film enjoyed my graphics, but when I finally hunkered down and made the Heaven graphics I got strong reactions from people that were NOT on the film. I was actually REALLY surprised because it's so simple and basic. Anyone could do this.
Here's the basic Process:
This is the basic "angelic being of light" I made. it's super simple, at least by my own standards, with minimal line-work and details. I doodled out a halo as a kind of mental note to myself as to how I wanted it to look, which make no sense to anyone else, because the main ideas are inside my head.
I ONLY drew ONE wing because I want it perfectly symmetrical.
The angelic being is also androgynous and genderless, and is robed & hooded like medieval &; Byzantine art styles. There are no real defined arms, legs, or facial features except for a few lines, which is almost Asian-like actually, and even draws from Buddhist Bodhisattvas, and even design tricks like Sanrio's (the Japanese design company mostly known for Hello Kitty products). And, I also drew inspiration from Stained Glass Windows in Gothic Cathedrals.
A common trick I have often used, regarding applied drawing theories, is that I trick the brain to see things that aren't actually there. When the human eye looks at the image, the brain fills in meanings that aren't even on the image. I also use a similar method with color theory applied to colors, that I will somewhat explain when we get to the colored versions.
(BTW this graphic is available on the Creative Commons license on DeviantArt is you want to use it. Just don't use the colored versions. Those are for the film, and I don't own the rights to those.)
The reason I drew the figure this way is because I wanted to do a simple, basic, butterfly flapping style animation in Adobe After Effects CC.
Here's the first Clean up:
(This one is also available licensed to the Creative Commons if you want to download it and make your own version for free. )
After I cleaned this scan up, I had to chop it up to make the puppet pieces, because this style of animation is also a newer variant of "puppet animation" but in Adobe After Effects CC. Original puppet animation was done either as a flat 2D cut-out style puppets, or models that were sculpted, and shot in stop motion animation. However, now, due to digital CGI We can get a sort of "2 & a 1/2 D" hybrid that merges digital 3D animation with layering in Adobe After Effects.
I personally refer to this as motion graphics, but it's also puppet animation, but not the stop motion kind.
These are what the actual coloring of the wings looks like:
Even tho' I created a "being of light" I specifically DID NOT MAKE IT WHITE. The line-work here is actually a dark brown, and the feathers were actually painted in cool tones and hues that were unsaturated including: greens, blues, and purples, but slightly on the gray-ish side. NO bright colors. I also tilted the wings on the Axis so they are no longer slanted like the sketch is.
There are 2 applied glow effects on the wings: Outer Glow which is a pale unsaturated Yellow, and Inner Glow, which is a pale cyan/turquoise blue. I had played with a number of colors, but eventually went with these colors.
A lot of this has to do with Color theory but regarding RGB pixels. When everything becomes layered, and composed within Adobe After Effects , the layers and effects I use will actually trick the human brain into seeing a bright light being, even tho' it's not white. If I had used white, it would get too white-washed by the time I was done with the layering, and it would be too faded, or too bright. But also that's why I don't use true black.
If you ever get the change to look close up at a Rembrandt painting you would be surprised at just how many colors are actually used, and yet trick your brain to see colors that aren't even there.
Here is the Angelic Being of Light colored:
This one has so many layers in it. The circle halo is actually 2 layers, that are the same layer, but 1 is flipped. Then there are more halo layers, aura layers, and a "blush" layer which is a favorite comic book trick I like to use. (I used to briefly work at Top Cow Productions Inc. in 2005 so some tricks I learned there, and other tricks I learned from an CALARTS artist on DeviantArt that used to run a website called Nethersphere.com that had a number of awesome tutorials, but no longer exists.)
There the blending options Outer Glow, and Inner Glow in the exact same colors as the wings, but the other layers (aura, halo, and blush) are using the Screen blending option with Opacity variations, and those layers are deep RED-ORANGE and warm tones that are VERY SATURATED and BRIGHT. This is why RGB color theory is much different than pigment painting.
Also, it's important to note that I have made these images set on a gray background so you can fully get the effect, and actually SEE it. If I had use a white background you would not be able to see it and fully FEEL the effect. But, I never actually USED that gray background in the animation. It's just for presentation, so I could post these images online.
Also, the digital coloring techniques I am using are NOT new, but very old and vintage techniques. I have also applied these techniques to photography and photo manipulation for years, as well as to video editing in Adobe Premiere.
As for the background, I made my own galaxy, outer space graphic.
(If you would like to use this graphic, I have also licensed it for a free download on the Creative Commons)
Making a space or galaxy in Adobe Photoshop is one of the OLDEST tutorials I can even remember, and is ultra common. If you type into the search bar on YouTube you can find a variety of many artists interpretations of how to teach this, and altho' they're all very similar they can vary incredibly.
I knew how to do it, but I was so curious to see people make them in the new Adobe Photoshop CC versions and watched several for almost 2 days, because I wanted to follow along and see their way of doing it.
Here's one:
Here's another one:
There's so many. And lots of good ones!
Anyways, in my opinion I'd rather make my own one. But, if anyone wants to use mine, it's there if you want to use it for some project if you want it. Just go to my DeviantArt gallery and download it.
Then, I just imported the Photoshop files into Adobe After Effects CC 2018 version and played with it until I got what I wanted. I also used several layers of colors which I used blending options and opacity to blend the colors together. It keeps the color theory cohesive.
I played with this a number of times. here's the first few renders:
Test with Texts Motion Graphics
1st Sparkles effects test
After a number of people eager to give feedback I reprogrammed the "flight path" so to speak, and here it is:
Based on the Director's input we're re-cutting it with the Hell Graphics. I just don't have that hard-drive at the moment. He's doing the dialogue audio in 2 scenes this will be a part of.
The fog was a set of free video overlays shot in 4K in a controlled studio. And, I used layering techniques with that as well.
I used: Particles, Wiggle-rama, Motion Blur, 3D layers, a virtual kind of camera layer and programmed the camera to my liking at a 50mm equivalency, and the video file is 1920x1080 HD standard size. And, the layers move, and are animated similar to an old multi-plain camera.
The halo layers spin, and the various glowing parts also shift opacity. I had to program/animate the flapping by had, because I cannot figure out how to program the slider feature, and no one else knows either.
Those are all pretty basic and standard things to do in Adobe After Effects, but if you are totally new to After Effects it's incredibly overwhelming. It took me a long time to figure this kind of thing out on my own, because many users of After Effects don't have a traditional animation (nor a 3D animation) background and don't understand what I mean, and even if I show them an outdated version of After Effects tutorial no one could answer my questions.
I had to sift through a lot of tutorials, message boards, and blogs since 2016 to figure a lot of the After Effects things out on my own. I spent hours and days looking up After Effects Tutorials in December & January. Oh, well, that's just how it goes.... C'est la vie.
Other contributing factors that also added to this was the Art History class I took at UMASS in the fall 2017 semester.
As it turns out, Art History tends to be a cultural documentation of the history of Religion(s) as well. I learned about how images, lighting, the use of space, and certain motifs effected the human experience of a religion start from Cave paintings in Europe, to Zigarats and the City of Jericho, to Pyramids, to Egyptian Mausoleums, Greek & Roman Temples to Cathedrals, and funerary art.
There are so many things that I incorporated from that class into creating this. You can actually go through the timeline and see where each style and technique came from, and were incorporated after that, and passed on. Eventually it became ingrained into the human psyche that certain motifs actually evoke specific reactions in the observer of the art.
Another thing to point out is that it also has a New Age-ish & Hippie vibe. I'm not a New Ager anymore, I'm a Secular Agnostic Apostate Heretic Philosopher, but I actually quite loved a lot of the things they go ga-ga over. AND, after I made the thing, I'd realized it kinda looked a tiny bit similar to Doreen Virtue angel artwork. WHOOPS! Totally didn't intend that!
I mention this, because everything I'd incorporated is pretty standard basic knowledge, techniques, styles, motifs, etc. yet when I shared the images and videos, I was surprised at the comments I got from even non-religious folks, and fellow artists.
