Complex, yet simple. 1
The timeless saga of a doodle. Meet WinkinUpMan.
The beginning:
He was born when I was in high school. Probably calculus. I doodled him on paper and liked him. So I doodle transferred him with permanent ink onto my jean jacket. He lived there for many, many years and still exists on the back right panel in very faded form. Originally, he was just the head. Very simple.
The middle years:
He lived on in periodic doodles. He also became a bit of an alter ego for me as things like MySpace and other account driven sites came and went. He’s a handy handle that’s seldom taken.
2 Days ago:
I thought of him while on the couch and decided I needed to make a WinkinUpMan video. It would, of course, contain him winkin’. I got up off the couch and set to work. I built him in Inkscape, designed the first 42 slides and loaded the first 6 to KdenLive to make sure it would work. 2 hours later it was ONE in the morning (I am not a night person) and I needed to go to bed. This is becoming complex!
Note: I like free apps and this is my first time attempting this method of creation. I am sure there are handier paid apps that can do this sort of thing in a much simpler fashion - BUT I AM CHEAP!
Today:
I returned to work. I put the rest of the 42 slides into Kdenlive and decided a GIF would be most site friendly. But GIFs loop and I was not happy with the ending being all rough and tumble. Erg. Simple be darned. 18 more slides and I’m happy with the transition and feeling good. Here’s what they all look like altogether. Yeah, think flipbook.
In this creation process you start with one simple drawing. Image 1, in this case. You then make a copy and do a very simple, minor change to Image 2. You then copy image 2 and make a change to 3… and so on. Each step is simple. The final product appears quite complex.
Imagine the simple movements you make with your body each day. To replicate them in an animation would be amazingly complex. In my animation, just working on the head was complex enough for me. Phew.
Right now:
WinkinUpMan lives for the first time. I hope you find him entertaining.
