10 Steps to Animate Frankenstein
Looking for an Idea
We are all haunted by that age-old question: how can you create something that has never been created before? All of us get fresh ideas from time to time. We see many inspiring examples on Dribbble, Behance, Pinterest, or CGTalk. Every day brings new emotions, observations, and impressions. All this is swirling around in our minds like kaleidoscope pieces.
But all these different images and thoughts can be assembled into a single original idea.
Want to try?
Here we go!
1. Concept
A concept follows once you have formed an idea. But there will be no form without a sketch, and you’ll have trouble keeping it all together: PureRef, Microsoft Paint. Use some unifying visual space, such as Photoshop, moodboards, or collages.
2. Sketches
Always try to keep your sketches structured, so that parts of the idea are close to each other, creating a unified conceptual field.
3. Organizing the Scene
Before you start creating, you need to organize your workspace:
- layers;
- folders;
- files;
- compositions;
- paths to sequences.
All this will make pipelining easier later on.
4. Blocking
The scene is based upon a foundation. It is the underpinning of the scene that will later be filled with elements of various complexity and detail. Don’t forget to optimize the grid and the polygons.
5. Modeling
The scene is based upon a foundation. It is the underpinning of the scene that will later be filled with elements of various complexity and detail. Don’t forget to optimize the grid and the polygons.
6. Shading
This is what makes your scene nice and colorful. Shading is as important as modeling because materials add color, texture, and atmosphere to the scene.
Metallic surfaces, glass sculptures, damaged machinery and so on make the scene more realistic and add a unique charm.
7. Animation
If you have decided to bring your character / mechanism / object to life, you’ll need to use animation. Choose the correct kind of animation based on the dynamic you want:
- organic (people, animals, zombies);
- mechanic (robots, machinery, cogs, etc.);
- states of matter (water, viscous surfaces);
- whatever else you can think of. :)
8. Lighting
This is where the real creativity starts. Light is one of the most important aspects of the scene. Who’s going to notice your masterpiece if it’s pitch-dark around?
Different-colored light sources, ambiance, shimmers, and flares will make the composition truly bright and vivid.
9. Post-production
This process is also very important if you want to emphasize the details. This is where you can adjust colors more precisely, set the overall tone of the composition, add more cheer or horror, whichever you desire. It’s all up to your imagination and your trusty friends, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere.
10. The Final Shot
Assembling the scene is the most anticipated part. Once it’s done, you can watch the final image or video. Maybe it will turn into an Oscar-worthy movie one day. :)
Why Frankenstein? It doesn’t matter if it’s a monster or a human, a hero or a villain. It represents our ability to take non-living matter and create a living creature out of it, an exciting and spectacular character with its own personality.
We can animate anything, even a rock!
