Crash Course In Animation - Pray For Me

I wasn't quite sure how to create an animated video like this, so I thought I would boldly dive straight into Photoshop and do some simple line drawings using the pencil tool on transparent backgrounds. I partially filled in the shapes with some bright colours using the fill tool and exported them as png files. Then I imported the individual files into Final Cut Pro animating them in a very basic fashion, mainly with the transform tool.

Fun, fun, fun...lots of chuckles, sketching with the conceptual motivation of 'keep it fresh and don't redo the drawings. Let them be intuitive and naive, like when young children are uninhibited and creative at the kitchen table with their coloured pencils and paint (except neater)!'

After a day and a half of doodling, pushing and pulling and fiddle-faddling fantasies, I finally got the job done! The song and video are now floating in the YouTube and Facebook universes waiting to be seen and heard. ENJOY!

The guitar, bass and drum music was provided by Balfo from Blues Buddies, which inspired my lyrics and melody to the song which I have titled Pray For Me. I kept the recording sparse and did one lead vocal track, one backing harmony toward the end and some flute throughout the piece. The song was recorded and mastered in my studio using Logic Pro and Izotope Ozone 7.

I am looking forward to engaging in further joint efforts in the new year and working on more animated video projects. There is nothing better than a splendid collaboration to get the creative juices flowing.