413 - "Francis Xavier Hamster"

I have animated. 

It's been almost ten years since my last animation.  In that time, my animation skills have dropped back down to almost zero.  Today is a step towards my rehabilitation, or final demise... one of the two. 

After coming into enough money to purchase a tricked-out copy of Digicel FlipBook, I've started animating again.  Today's effort features Francis Xavier Hamster, who jumps three times.  There is no audio. 

I spent the day drawing FX Hamster, which was the easy part.  Much of the time I spent trying to figure out FlipBook's tricky user interface.  Most of it makes sense if you know traditional animation, but some of the bits and pieces are difficult to set up.  Interesting trivia: this animation was rendered completely on computer, and is 100% paperless!  It's the first time I've ever tried to go without paper. 

I am taking my own lesson plan from ten years ago, when I used to teach animation.   FlipBook is much better than the software I had to use back then, but my skills feel like they have evaporated to dust.  It is truly humbling to be a student again with my own decade-old instructor's notes as my guide.  It feels like rehab, which I mentioned already, and like bizarre time travel where 30-year-old Jeff is giving lessons to 40-year-old Jeff.  How I wish it was the other way around. 

If you like this animation, you might want to see the previous character sketches I worked up for this by please clicking here, here, and here.