LOOPING LINOCUT ANIMATION "CYCLE"
“Cycle” is a looping linocut animation that illustrates and audio-visually expresses my idea and point of view about being stuck in a cycle.
Breaking habits is difficult, and despite your efforts, if you don’t fully invest in changing your mindset, you will continue to attract and relive similar experiences. Without proper mental work, it's easy to keep falling into the same hole (in this case aquarium hehe).
The overall aim of my bachelor’s thesis was to combine printmaking and animation to create a looping linocut animation, where every frame has been cut out by hand and printed using two colours.
Although I based the concept of the animation on my personal feelings and outlooks on the topic, my goal was to be abstract enough to leave room for the viewer to create their own emotional connections with the work.
The duration of one full “Cycle” loop is 48 seconds, which is also the length of the audio cycle. However, one full loop consists of two animated cycles, as the fish and the seaweed loop lasts 24 seconds. And the 24 second animated cycle consists of multiple 3 second loops of the seaweed and the fish. All are interwoven to work as one never-ending cycle.
In total, I had to prepare 84 10×10 cm linoleum plates for printing. As a result, I produced 82 signed 15x15cm linocut prints that I photographed and edited into an animation. I also designed a calm but anxious soundscape to create the desired atmosphere. Scroll down to see more about the project :)
My supervisors were Svetlana Bogomolova and Vahram Muradyan. Shoutout to them, they were a pleasure to work with! :)
Tools: Procreate, After Effects, Premiere Pro, Audition, GarageBand, Lightroom, Photoshop, linocut printmaking tools
2024
THE THEORETICAL PART
Since my initial idea was to illustrate the feeling of being stuck in old ways, the purpose of the theoretical part of my thesis was to give a general but fulfilling overview of animated illustrations, as the information found on the topic is quite scattered and vague (especially in Estonian). For that, I researched animation and illustration and analysed examples of animated illustrations.
As a result, I proposed a short definition for animated illustrations and an Estonian term for describing a looping animation.
An animated illustration is a short animated cycle in which one or more elements of the illustration are set in motion, and where the idea of the illustration is understood at any given moment. Animated illustration is an immersive visual communication tool used in digital environments.
In English, an animation that plays endlessly is called a looping animation. The direct translation in Estonian is "silmusanimatsioon" or "silmuseline animatsioon", but these sound a bit confusing. That is why I proposed the term "ringanimatsioon" (direct translation to English would be "circle animation") to describe this type of animation - the animation goes in circles endlessly and I think it is therefore more understandable to the general audience. I believe that it's important, as the industry develops, to develop the professional vocabulary in Estonian as well.
The full thesis (in Estonian) can be read HERE.
THE PRACTICAL PART
The purpose of the practical part of the thesis was to use the knowledge acquired during the four years of study in the field of both animation and printmaking to try combining them for my final project.
You might ask "Why on Earth would you pick linocut to animate? Aren't there more efficient ways to go about it?" To that I say, yes there is but where's the fun in that? I love trying unconventional ways to create new visuals. Linocut animations are different from so-called conventional animations, and an innovative and unconventional approach may help catch the viewer's eye in today's visually oversaturated digital world.
Some of the goals of "Cycle" was to play with the viewer's expectations, capture attention and to create an emotional connection with the viewer. Using printmaking to create the frames made it so that there are irregularities in every frame which means the viewer can notice something different during every viewing and thus get caught in the cycle.
At the diploma work exhibition, I presented my prints alongside the animation to illustrate the concept of being stuck in a cycle and to give an idea of the labour-intensive process of creating handcrafted frame-by-frame animations.
FISH SHIRTS
Now everything is done, I've graduated, the thesis exhibition is over and I'm stuck with 84 linoleum plates. What now?
Well, since I've always been interested in customising my tote bags and clothes, I decided to use my plates to create custom clothing. As of now, I've made two, just for experimenting and for fun.
I've posted them on social media and the feedback has been great! Anyone who's interested in getting their custom shirt can just write to me and I will make it happen! :)
There are so many different combinations to use and every client can pick the frames they want. The seemingly endless combinations keep the cycle going.
