Witching Hour. 31 October 2018. Derek Walker
“It’s not really inking. You’re defeating the purpose of Inktober.”
“¯\_(ツ)_/¯”
The Challenge Begins
I wanted to participate in the annual Inktober shenanigans. Instead of trying to fumble my way through using traditional inking means, I wanted to work with digital.
I didn’t have the time to make 31 fully rendered inked pieces, but since I have a passion for animation and animation is essentially pictures played in rapid succession, I thought it would be more economical (and fun) to try Inktober animated. So 31 fully rendered images became 31 animation frames.
Development
I quickly learned the hardest part of the Inktober animation challenge is trying to add as many of the prompts as you can while also creating a seamless loop. I also tried to have a little fun creating a microstory. (The witch is trying to transform her pet frog into a snake. Or is she trying to turn her pet snake back into a snake because it is currently a frog?)
Up until now, I usually used Photoshop to make hand drawn 2D animation, but after a little research, I found the drawing software Krita was a bit more animation friendly. At least, I found the timeline a bit more powerful and intuitive.
After that, it was simply a matter of compositing all the layers together.
I would say my Inktober animation challenge was a great personal success. I experimented with digital inking hand drawn animation. I also think I found a way to annually experiment with animation and see my progression over time.