Animators use Macromedia Flash

Since we have been doing animation exercises in Flash, I decided to research flash animators and their work. Nina Paley came up in the search engine on the first page. Her site was interesting, and easy to navigate. In her biography she says she started out as a comic book artist. After a few years drawing comics for semi-underground newspapers and magazines, she struck a deal for her own comic strip with Universal Press Syndicate titled Fluff. It bored her to draw the same comic strip day after day, so she gave it up for animation. She has tried all types of animation, with many successes. Her film, Pandorama, was made by drawing and scratching directly on the film. It became a huge success. After that she produced her first film in Macromedia Flash, called Fetch, which premiered in 2001. What I like about this film is how the effects look doable for anyone who can draw just a little, and who understands the basics of flash. It even has a bouncing ball! The dog and the person are very simple shapes with movie clips attached for the motion. The eyes roll, pop, the legs churn, the shapes get large, small, they fade in and out, and they stretch and compress. This film has taken basic flash rules and made a cartoon that is witty and fun to watch. The hardest part of the cartoon, according to her bio, was producing the sound. She had to raise the money to buy the music. The animation was adapted to film, and that was a large cost as well. Her cartooning took three months, but it took three years to complete the project.

I like Nina Paley’s web site – I can agree with a lot of what she says. Not all of her animation films are light and amusing. She has a lot to say about the population explosion. Those shorts are disturbing. I hope everyone visits her site and explore her works.

In her blog she has a link to another animator who has done some flash animation cartoons that makes her stuff look elementary. The cartoonist, Adam Phillips, is not as philosophical as Nina. He is not interested in social commentary. His flash animations are about fairy tales and his works are beautiful, funny and a little naughty. He is an Australian who started out as a Disney animator in Sydney. After a few years with Disney he decided to try working on his own. He has created a planet called Brakenwood with a cast of characters. Bitey is a young satyr, and he is the fastest creature on the planet. He can be bad, and if he is, he seems to always pay a price. There are fairies, a teeny witch, and prowlies, among others. Adam Phillips creations are totally animated, and his backgrounds are beautiful. It is hard to believe it is done in flash. It is – he has written an instructional flash book to explain how it is done. Try out YuYu, a cartoon by Adam Phillips that was linked to Nina Paley's site. If you like cartoons and comics, his site is one you will enjoy.