Design fun with a different medium

What’s a .gif?

“.gif” stands for Graphic Interchange Format. They are those annoying little animated images on web pages that repeat endlessly. They are basically short, simple animations.

I am fascinated by animation. The way still images turn into motion is still magic to me. Years ago I went through a phase of making flip books. They were pads of paper with drawings on the bottom, a slightly different one on each page. When you flipped the pages with your thumb, you got a moving image.

After much research, I discovered that I could create .gif’s and put them on my website. My website, however, will only show very small .gif’s. That limits the number of frames and the number of pixels in each frame. I can make very short cartoons, about 12 frames maximum. These .gif’s are like short flip books.

The images are limited to 200 x200 pixels maximum. Due to this low image resolution, I draw directly on the computer, using the mouse as a pen. Its really different, and difficult, to draw with a mouse. But the digital drawings are easy to erase, so I just keep trying until I get it right.

Intrigued with the idea of making my own cartoons, and challenged by the limits, I set to it. After many experiments, I started to get some successes. Here are some of my first .gif’s, greetings for the holiday

Sketchy Bunny: This is the first cartoon .gif I got to work. It looks like a first attempt, but has a certain awkward charm. I drew the lines using the mouse and then paint bucketed the color.

Wonderful Easter: I used the computer to draw this rabbit, creating painted ellipses and circles. The resulting smooth drawing has a completely different feel, and the hopping motion is a little better.

Happy Bunny: I used the same drawing and focused on the motion. I like the jumping feeling, and the cartoony way the body jumps higher than the legs.

Elijah’s Cup: After the leaping rabbits, I wanted to create a subtle cartoon with very little motion. This .gif is based on a part of the Passover sedar (dinner). A glass of wine is set out for Elijah. The youngest child opens the door to let in Elijah’s spirit, who is said to sip from the glass. We would watch the glass for the slight motion that showed Elijah had visited. He came every year, perhaps helped a little by my father’s knee against the table leg. In this cartoon, if you look closely the wine in the glass moves a little. Not directly related to Elijah’s cup, matzo ( a plain flat cracker bread) is eaten at the sedar. A piece of the matzo also disappears in the animation.

Happy and wonderful spring, and good holidays to you…