Paolozzi Exhibition
A personal project (who doesn't love those!) inspired by an exhibition of Eduardo Paolozzi prints at the National Gallery of Scotland.
​
Beyond the beautiful colours and textures which Paolozzi was able to combine in his prints (and which I hope I've managed to somewhat emulate in After Effects), I was awed by the sense of movement he conveyed in much of his work.
​
For a breakdown of the process I adopted on this particular project, scroll below the video!
The process

Inspiration
​
The process of taking an existing static design and turning it into a beautiful, functioning piece of animation is a challenge I often come across as a motion designer.
Beginning the process with such great reference material like this is rare, but it only emphasises the importance creating style frames early on in the process.
​
I looked at dozens of Paolozzi pieces, but fell for this piece in particular (Parrot, As Is When, 1964) because of it's variety of overlapping shapes, patterns and colours.
Composition & Flow
Where in the gallery, I was able to study this work for several minutes, here I needed to create a piece of animation which would allow audiences to experience the full piece in just a few short seconds.
​
I often experiment with layouts in quick sketches and draft rough storyboards to test the flow of a piece before I begin animation - and this project was no exception.


Individual Animations
​
I wanted each separate element to have it's own unique animation, while being subtle and similar enough in movement to lend a sense of continuity and connection between them.
​
I found Paolozzi's use of lines to be especially inspiring when deciding on each elements' animation - using these lines to emphasise and draw attention to their shape.
Texture & Polish
​
Inspired by the texture of the original print, I added some scratches and noise, roughened up the edge and varied the frame rates of various elements. ​
​
Though these are subtle imperfections, I believe they elevate the final piece so that it better captures the original work by Paolozzi.
