Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Have you ever wanted to create your own cartoons?
- Do you suffer from an inability to draw and/or animate?
- Do you not feel like learning to draw or animate?
- Are there great ideas floating around in your head just waiting for a medium to support it?
If you answered yes to any two of these questions, read on and I will show you the way…
But first, please watch the following short video that is a statement on the current bailout situation:
Big Business Cuts the Blue Collar
Now, to begin let me tell you that I am, first and foremost, a storyteller. I have a hundred different stories going on in and around my head at any given time and generally keep a small leather-bound journal of my ideas. Some I flesh out, others not. I had a story floating in my head today due to the new reports of another stimulus and talk of bailout money being abused. I was surfing twitter and checked in on Greg Grunberg’s feed out of habit and found a link to a website that ate up the rest of today.
GoAnimate is the name of this site, and I have to say that I am well impressed. The site is a bit busy, but that works for it because of all the media that is there. They have a popularity ranking system based on views, and sort of a social network akin to YouTube, but for animation. Its run mainly in flash and is graphic heavy but loads surprisingly fast, and actually has a very easy to use cartoon creator that I promptly used to document the story I had in my head all day.
Let’s describe the creator since this is the main feature of the site. It is, again, flash-based and allows you to select different palletes or templates and then build your scene. You have options of people, places, props, musics, and effects. Just like in a real movie, you should start with the scene, then people & props, then sound and effects last. Each frame you create can have 1-2 actions from your characters, which range from mood changes, walking, talking, picking things up, moving things, and even sitting. The props you can use range from guns, and other weapons to every day things like trash and office supplies. I do wish that there were a few more common items, but I am pretty happy with the current selections.
All-in-all, it is a very smooth interface that I could talk about all day and still not do it complete justice – you need to sign up and make something interesting for the world to view. Please, shoot back links for videos you make in the comments section and I will check them out!
Happy Animating!
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