VFX Lessons List

If you wanted to learn how to do many of the VFX Animations & Motion Graphics I Did in my Recent Films (2018-2019) I will list them HERE.

I also use some 3rd Party Plugins & Scripts, Especially Red Giant/Trapcode & Video Copilot, and Cinema 4D here & there.... After Effects CC already comes with A LOT OF STUFF including: Cinema 4D, Raytrace, Particles, and 3D Extrude, as well as a variety of options for masking,  track-mats, and camera tracking goodness! I also love the multi-plane camera styles which uses 3D cameras and Layers as well as 3D lights, cast shadows, blurs, and motion blurs as well as blending options, and layer styles! ^_^

It took me a LONG time to wrap my head around "Precompositions" (Precomps) and "Nesting" since I often like to use particles & mats. 

Other things to focus on, if you have the patience are Curves animating (which I HATE but often need to use)  as well as F9 Easing in & out for Keyframing. 

Most teachers of After Effects have a limited area they understand of the software, which comes with biases n personal preferences such as VFX, Video Editing, Motion Graphics, Vectors, 3D, Videographer, VS a Traditional Animator, or Text animator. NOBODY EVER sees eye-to-eye, they all often act like they're an expert BUT ARE NOT, and they ALREADY expect that you understand everything LIKE THEY DO.

Like, DO YOU KNOW what a Precomp is? It took me 3 years to wrap my head around that. 
Did you know there's different ways to use masks, masking, and mats? 
Most people only use 1 or 2 ways, and have no idea about the others. 

Also, the updates n the software can change drastically in just a year or 2. Don't give up, and u can always ask people at Adobe's website. 

Also, on 1 hand you need to be open minded, and open to different things. On the OTHER HAND, if you HATE the way someone is doing it or teaching it, IT'S TOTALLY OK TO DO WHAT YOU LIKE. Give yourself permission to be ORIGINAL. 

AND, many teachers are from foreign countries, so dont; get frustrated if you can;t understand their English. I often have to rewind to be sure I understand too, and I'm good with langauges. 


Here's a list of the Tutorials, Demo, and Lessons I referenced my VFX Animation & Motion Graphics From:

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Lively Exotic Motion Graphics Affects Animation in Adobe After Effects CC 2018

 Here's the original graphic circa. 2008:

GIF version on DeviantArt

I'd ESPECIALLY wanted to make THIS ONE into a motion graphics/effects animation video with Adobe After Effects. This one I DEFINITELY could NOT pull of in Premiere. I used the Puppet Pin tool feature to animate the curtains. But, I definitely had to update the graphic to a size for HD. I did this with the "Fallen" graphic as well. Honestly, it's just way better to do this in Adobe After Effects than Premiere Pro.
 

This composition is generally WAY different than my usual stuff. I'm WAY dynamic as an artist, os much drawings are way more animated, in motion, etc. This one is still. It's actually SO rare in my art that I went through my gallery looking for ANYTHING still enough to add effects animation/motion graphics so it wouldn't look like a frozen person, or a sticker on a video.


Adobe After Effects CC 20018

Original Artworks can be found in my gallery HERE on DeviantArt.


At the time when I did this one I was studying dance especially raqs sharqi & tribal fusion (belly dance). I studied every day, because I was suffering from depression, and it made me stop feeling sad or painful. But, I eventually hurt my back.

Several of my influences were people like 1 of my teachers, Zoe Jakes, but also other members of the Belly Dance Super Stars & The Indigo like: Rachel Brice, Sharon Kihara, Mardi Love, Kami Liddle, Cherchez La Femme (Sherri), Ansuya, Sadie, Ariellah, Vagabond Princess.  There's so many, really! But, also the legendary Mata Hari. Virtually ALL of them drew inspiration from her, and antique silent films, as well as Star Wars, Star Trek, and comic books.

 I'd been drawing furries for the longest time, and wanted to get back to human figures, and especially my own original characters BEFORE the internet had influenced me to change.  So, I started doing several bellydancer images with my own character, Lively.

Lively is a brunet, ranging from browns to black, but I've had her in various colored hair such as blue, indigo, purple, and green, usually a darker color. Just NEVER BLOND. Her skin tone can also range in many hues from fair-skin which is something I started doing as I got older, but originally she was either tanned, bronzed, or olive skin. So, this is 1 of several of her incarnations.

Original Sketch

Dark Earthy Cryptic Tribal Fusion Throwback from BlackUniGryphon on 8tracks Radio.

Fallen - Motion Graphics - Effects Animation in Adobe After Effects 2018

The Original Graphic:

Original Graphic

I reworked, re-painted, re-colored, and edited this in Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 & Adobe After Effects CC 2018 last week.
Some are longer Meditative loops, and it's basically my process as I was tweaking it:

Here's the original version I did several years ago:

You can find this on my DeviantArt Gallery.

I was suffering from very bad depression, AKA Heartbreak, and around 2009 was when I was going through some major changes within myself. That year I'd realized that many persons whom I'd believed were my friends, were not actually friends, but "friends", or fake friends. I'd also been going through some doubts about whatever my beliefs were, or what I'd thought they were. I'd already known that the government and political system was already flawed and broken, and you didn't need to watch X-FILES to know that... but, the new president at the time, whom I was very happy to have elected, had broken several of his promises, but talking about that made you persona non grata. It was also the aftermath of the Bail-Outs and the economic meltdown. I'd wanted to be at CAL-ARTS by that time, but was screwed by the economy.
Since governments, relationships, society, and even history came into question, things like religion, spirituality, and theology also did.... things just weren't adding up.... accountability was an actual thing. And, I became very enamored with Philosophy, ethics, and epistemology.

I remembered sitting at out cart/kiosk in the mall, with my sketchbook, trying in vain to sketch something. ANYTHING! And, NOTHING came out. It was THE MOST depressing thing! To be an artist, and award winning one, and not being able to draw. I cried EVERY DAY and at night. And, the ache was in EVERYTHING. Sometimes, I didn't eat.

I had NOTHING to look forward to, and all ANYONE ever had to say about ANYTHING was: Your daughter -blah-blah-blah... that NEVER cheered me up. It's a VERY sexist assumption, and I don't know whether it's worse from women or from men... but, I got it on all sides.

Then, out of nowhere, I gave up sketching, and just randomly doodled something only to have THIS show up on my paper.


I'd used this artwork for an album cover on 8Tracks.

The Sensuous Dream from BlackUniGryphon on 8tracks Radio.

The Original Sketch:

If you would like to create your own experimental graphic with these, color it in Photoshop, or print out and hand-color whether for fun, practice, or educational purposes you MAY do that, but NOT FOR PROFIT. I did license the sketch versions to the Creative Commons so you could do that.

Lively Unicorn Morph Animation Adobe After Effects Redux

I've reworked this to be closer to what I was actually, originally going for when I'd first produced it back in 2000-2001 in Adobe After Effects.

The original was hand-drawn by hand, and also the clean-up animation was hand-inked, then manually scanned & cleaned in Photoshop 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 with my old, original, Canon scanner.

Old Version 2001/2005:

Reworked:

With Fog:

DeviantArt GIF

Older Version from Older versions of Adobe After Effects 2000-2005 & 3D Studio Max: