My creative projects have always started with being inspired, and then I let the pieces fall into place. Once I have an idea, I immediately jump to execute it because creative ideas are so fleeting. After reading the first chapter of Liz Blazer’s, Animated Storytelling, I will approach my creative projects differently.
Ensuring the success of projects comes down to planning out every aspect of the project first. Without direction and proper allocation of resources, a creative is leaving their success to chance, which does not produce consistent results.
Experimenting With My New Creative Approach
I’m currently working on gaining more exposure for my small business, Space Cadets. I wanted to create GIFs that will connect my business to my personal brand.
When answering what the content of my campaign will be, I’ve decided to make a sprint of GIFs to increase brand awareness. The audience would be my followers on Instagram and TikTok. It would serve as a means of advertising without having to pay for in-app services.
Drafting my big idea consisted of writing out everything I could think of for my GIFs. The GIFs will incorporate bright neon colors that contrast against animated space graphics. My goal is to break potential customer’s doom scrolling and direct attention to my social media pages.
My business slogan is,” Welcome aboard to your self-care journey”. To play on this, every GIF must connect my audience to the concept of joining a voyage and becoming a fellow Space Cadet. I want viewers to be brought into a new universe that is not only aesthetically pleasing but also positively affects their day-to-day.
Inspiration Research
Blazer stated that, in order to make something fresh we must study what has been done before. Before I began creating my GIFs I took to Freepik for some inspiration.
Here are some GIFs that stood out to me:
My business logo is an astronaut; I want to use it with a moving galaxy background for one of my GIFs.
I appreciated the clouds and stars mixed together in this GIF, I will have some flat backgrounds, but I do want one with cloud movement.
There’s something about bright neon colors against space backgrounds that fits so perfectly. I love vapor wave work, and it will be a heavy influence on my creations.
The glimmering stars tie in the neon clouds and the still image of the astronaut well.
This one shows how simple a GIF can be, they don’t always have to be loud and chaotic.
My Gifs
For this GIF I made a photo of Space Cadets in each color through Canva. In Photoshop, I took each photo of my business’s name and timed it so that the GIF cycles through all of the neon colors quickly. I wanted to play with a still background being complimented by bright flashing neon lights.
I found the background video on Freepik. In Photoshop, I changed the color saturation and hues to alter the colors of the video segments. My business logo is the still image of this GIF. I wanted to see the difference between the background being a still image vs. the photo being still. I like both approaches.
In Adobe Animate I drew each version of Saturn and copied it for 4 frames. Being that I am creating GIFs I decided I didn’t need longer, if I was making a Youtube short or an IG reel I would have used 10 frames instead. I do like how the cloud and star movements pair with Saturn’s ring changing colors and its position.
Conclusion
Creating a creative plan for my GIF project did not take away the fun of creation. I found myself inspired when completing my creative brief. I was able to answer any question I had before clicking away in my editing software. Being that I am new to Photoshop and Animate, when I would get stuck in executing my creative work, it was great to have a map to refer to so that I continued in the right direction.