Earrings
After seeing a watercolor artwork, I became curious about whether I could translate that analogue style into a digital medium. I explored this idea in this motion graphic, animated to Earrings by Malcolm Todd. I ultimately ended up with a visual style that resembles ink on wet paper.
About the project
When I started this project, I had no idea how I was going to create the visual style. I began by animating a circle moving around in After Effects, using it to experiment with different effects and see what worked. After a lot of testing, I settled on two main adjustment layers: one general layer that also included color correction, and an additional layer for larger shapes to add more detail and random ‘ink’ blobs. I also added three paper textures to make the effect feel more authentic. Below, you can see the difference before and after applying the effect.
Animating the video
Once I had the effect looking the way I wanted, I started creating relatively simple animations using text and shapes. I also used fade-in animations that make it look as if the ink is seeping through the paper from underneath. I kept the video less hectic and fast-paced than the Hung Up motion graphic, as I felt this matched the song better. I also kept the frame rate intentionally low to create a subtle stop-motion effect, which helped strengthen the analogue feel of the animation.
