#butterflyanimation

[animatingforfun]

This was a pure joy to work on.

For the behind-the-scenes story of how I made this animated mini-short, click “keep reading” below.

I started this 6 weeks ago, just before Nintendo shut down its 3DS and WiiU servers. The server shutdown meant no more multi-player online play for 3DS games, like Mario Kart 7, but also no more uploading to the Butterfly Animation online gallery directly from the app.

As an homage to the Inchworm and Butterfly Animation apps for the DSi and 3DS that I’ve been animating on since 2011, I originally was just going to animate just a single shot featuring something butterfly related.

But the story evolved as I began asking myself a series of "what if" questions that I had fun answering, like, “what if it was a little girl playing dress up as a butterfly?” And then “what if she was first cosplaying as a caterpillar then the butterfly?” “If this is a story of growth, what if she stumbles? What is her attitude when she stumbles?” “What if the design of the girl was something like Isao Takahata or Yoichi Kotabe would draw?”

Making this was the embodiment of everything I hope to achieve with my personal animation: to let creativity flow and just have fun animating and creating.

Since this mini-short was animated on my Nintendo 3DS, there was a memory limit of only 100 drawings, which was a bit of a challenge for longer or complex actions, but was a fun puzzle to solve. Sometimes limitations force you to come up with even more creative solutions. (I was able the squeeze in more drawings than the memory allowed, and filled it to the max!) :)

The song I used is from Rebecca Sugar’s album, "Spiral Bound", and perfectly fit the theme of the short. Initially, while I was drawing the character, I found myself humming a tune from Steven Universe that dealt with beginnings, endings, and not being ready. It’s amazing how the brain can subconsciously pick the playlist!

In the end, that song, sung by Steven’s father in the show, didn’t quite fit, but then I remembered another song by Rebecca Sugar which was more on theme with my story, called “My Own Way to the End”. The whole album is wonderful! You can check it out here:

Painting the backgrounds for this was the most challenging thing for me, but also the most eye opening! After painting, I would look around at the trees in the neighborhood differently. So many colors when you really look closely.

There’s so many talented people at my work and it was great that I could ask them for advice. One person I asked was the talented Tia Kratter, who happened to teach a mini-painting class for the animators while I was working on this short. I asked her for advice on one of the background paintings and she asked great questions which challenged me to try different things, but I still felt like I was having fun and playing without fear of failure. I mean, it was still hard though! Hahaha!

If you’ve read up to this point, thank you for reading this. :) I hope you enjoy this mini-short as much as I enjoyed making it!

[kokonaijadore]

✿  Nature  ✿

[zephyra-animations-blog]

Well, it's my Emo Edgelord phase on display, but like, maybe check it out? I cringe at my "heart black as the night" teen-age self 🤣 it hurts! Fair warning, there's some disturbing content in this one! But the last one is very cute! (My Crush was a Monster Boy) 🖤 >[Decided to repost this because the description got erased the first time!]< 🖤 Here's the link: https://youtu.be/ib35f2kvzDw Please leave a comment, a thumbs up, and subscribe!! 🖤 🖤 🖤 Haha I'm using the black hearts because they're as dark as my soul 🤣 (haha not really but like, I used to think so!!) I used to make some creepy stuff, but this is probably by far the most disturbing thing I've ever made. It's long past now, so that's good at least! This really makes me cringe a lot... 🖤 🖤 🖤 Tags: #flipnote #flipnotehatena #flipnotestudio #flipnotememo #flipnoteanimation #flipbook #flipbookanimation #flipnotestudio3d #flipnote3d #butterflyanimation #animation #animated #flipnotecompilation #oldanimation #cringe #cringy #whywasilikethis ? #creepy #dark #edgelord #emo #youtubes #youtubeguru #video #youtubevideo #subscribe #youtubevideos #youtubechannel #youtuber #youtube https://www.instagram.com/p/BmJgA13n5G4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=12wkb3zxph0yj

[tiffanylabelle]

Something special for you… make sure you watch for at least 6 secs as there’s a surprise waiting for you 🛵🦋 . 🎶 Music by the talented Dyalla Swain @dyallas http://youtube.com/dyalla . . . . #colorful #scooter #scooterlife #vespa #vespagirl #milanfashionblogger #scootergirls #scootermania #scootergram #scooterworld #scootertime #scooterride #vespaitaly #celebratinglife #romanticstyle #thatsdarling #colourful #colorfuldays #inthemoment #inthewind #butterflies #butterflyanimation #butterflylove #butterflylover #butterflylovers #butterflies_lovers #butterfliesofinstagram #butterfliesoftheworld #tiffany_labelle #butterflylover🦋 https://www.instagram.com/p/B69dnDLJwY2/?igshid=1ovadl2lw8feh

[animatingforfun]

With less than 2 weeks before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes, this short uses apps only available through the eShop, as a love letter to those apps.

This was a slooow-burn film I worked on over 22 months, on and off, to pass the time while waiting in public, like waiting at the doctor’s office, waiting for food take-out, or waiting while my kids ice skate.

The animation was done using the Butterfly Animation app. The backgrounds were painted using the Colors! 3D app, which was then imported into Butterfly. The frog croak sound is from Flipnote, another drawing app on the DS. The music is from the Nintendo eShop theme, and the music from the chase shot was created using the Korg M01D music synthesizer app.

UPDATE: I saw Catsuka did a nice shout out to my film! :)

Catsuka Twitter

Catsuka Website

[animatingforfun]

Work-in-progress on something fun!

[animatingforfun]

To celebrate the closing of Mario’s 35th anniversary (and the 10th anniversary of the 3DS), I animated this love letter to Super Mario Bros 3 on my Nintendo 3DS using the Butterfly Animation app.

Due to the app’s memory constraints, I used cycles, pans, and other tricks to give the impression that there were more than the maximum limit of 99 drawings.

Here’s the Rough Anim pass and Cleanup pass prior to color and tone matte pass:

I had already used up all the memory for the animation drawings and audio tracks, and didn’t have enough free drawings for the clean up pass on a separate layer, but as long as I had at least one drawing free on a separate layer, I was able to clean up one rough drawing at a time, then replace the rough with the clean up.

The animation is on layers with depth, so if you have the Butterfly Animation app on the 3DS, you can view this movie through the online gallery in stereoscopic 3D!

The soundtrack is Blur’s “Song 2 (Odyssey Remix)” by ThePandemicLight which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/66yH8RZSwUc

[animatingforfun]

“Space Truck”

Animated entirely on my Nintendo 3DS using the Butterfly Animation app and the Colors 3DS app (for the BG painting).

The animation app has a 100 drawing limit (like an animation haiku hahaha) but those drawings can be reused or timed to any length. Kinda reminds me of the Etch-a-Sketch Animator toy from the 1980’s that had a 12 drawing limit but was so fun to play with. :)