Development

With every Inktober animation, I try my best to incorporate as many of the Inktober prompts as possible. Early ideas involved disgusting environments or being under the sea. Regardless of how the setting changed, a chef always made it into the idea in one way or another. So, I decided to stick with that as the core and I settled on the post apocalyptic outdoors because it offered some practice with landscapes.

Studying Reference

Unlike my previous Inktober animations, I really wanted reference to be a driving factor in the animation production. When I settled on putting a chef in a post apocalyptic world, I gathered a series of images that would help create the wardrobe, poses, and environment.

(I enlisted my roommate to be my reference for the action.)

The Lineless Animation Process

I animated in Photoshop this time around so I could have access to interesting brushes. I decided to work with a lineless animation style midway through. I was working on a variety of other projects and I needed to find ways to make the Inktober work easier. With lineless animation, I could jump straight to coloring without inking. I will admit, it does seem to defeat the purpose of an inktober animation, but it was a fun style to try. I definitely see myself using this technique in the future.

Final Thoughts

I wanted to make a dedicated effort in getting out of my comfort zone for this year’s Inktober animation. I had to learn how to come up with the most efficient techniques to do lineless animation and study motion from life. I had to pay more attention to the values of the black, white, and gray in order to make sure there was separation between the background and foreground and the animation read clearly. It provided a unique challenge by comparison to my previous Inktobers, but I am happy with the results.