Watch this video to learn how to make a simple stop motion animation using a drawing of a knight. It took approximately 90 minutes to make. Use your own drawing to make a stop motion animation movie!
If you've seen ParaNorman or Fantastic Mr. Fox, then you have some kind of idea of what stop-motion animation is. Basically, these artists make objects, or small figures, appear to be moving on their own by manipulating and repositioning them in the smallest increments, then c ...more
Largely self-taught, Ryan John Kothe is an animator working out of Auckland, New Zealand. After picking up some rudimentary After Effects skills, he went on to create an impressive portfolio of beautifully rendered stop-motion animations with a distinctly tactile feel. Curious ...more
This three part instructional sculpture video demonstrates how to make a two part plaster mold. Make a plaster mold to make stop-motion animation puppets from clay models. A plaster mold can make casts out of almost any material. This model will be cast out of foam rubber with ...more
Watch this great stop motion animation tutorial to learn how to make a wire armature for a stop motion puppet. Also, learn some tips on adding clay to the armature and animating the puppet.
Stop-motion animation is somewhat out of favor in the digital age, but there will always be a demand for its timeless look. This video will teach you one important technique for making stop-motion animation out of Legos: how to make them fly. Or at least appear to by flying in ...more
This short construction tutorial video shows how to build a small, simple stage from scratch specifically for animating a claymation or stop motion animation project. Construct the ideal world for your claymation characters or stop motion animation armatures and puppets. All y ...more
As inspiration for the Levitation Challenge, a demonstration of pure stop motion genius: Jan Kounen's Gisele Kerozene, the tale of four extremely odd witches "flying" on motorized brooms. If Tokyo's Levitating Girl has to jump 200 times to get the perfect shot, imagine how man ...more
Create and animate a stop motion LEGO brickfilm! Yes, that's right... you can make your very own animated brickfilm, but wait... what exactly is a brickfilm? Brickfilms are animated films using LEGO, Mega Bloks, or other plastic construction building block toys. Most are stop ...more
In this extreme origami video tutorial, brought to you by New Theatron, you'll see how you can create an extreme origami 3D human head sculpture. You'll see exactly how to sculpt an awesome, one-of-a-kind, extreme origami 3-D human or humanoid head for a stop motion, animation ...more
Here is a video tutorial that offers basic tips on crafting a simple claymation character using everyday, household objects. Soften a single chunk of material and pull your claymation character's limbs and head from it. Insert a toothpick (or armature) to stabilize the body an ...more
Want to draw a stop motion animation but need some advice as to how it's done? This animation tutorial video shows you how to create a simple set up and provides you with 9 creative techniques that will help you get started on your own stop motion animation video. Watch this i ...more
In this clip, learn how to import stills into Adobe Premiere CS4 for stop motion animation. Whether you're new to Adobe's popular non-linear editor or a seasoned video professional just looking to better acquaint yourself with the program and its various features and filters, ...more
Stop motion animation can actually be created at home. Build an armature out of wire and epoxy. Follow along with the step by step directions in this instructional video and learn how to build an armature. Watch this video and start shooting some stop motion animation. Part 1 ...more
You may be familiar with the graffiti art practice of light painting, or light writing (1, 2, 3, 4). Essentially, it is a practice that employs the manipulation of light, photography and stop motion animation. WonderHowTo's latest favorite light painting guru, freddiew, breat ...more
This video animation tutorial demonstrates the process of sculpting a human face out of polymer clay as part of an armature for stop motion animation. The demonstrator begins by molding a piece of polymer clay into the general shape of a human skull and neck, and impresses the ...more
Mouths are so expressive, which can be tricky to animate. A simple way to capture the movement is to craft several mouths to alternate. Watch this video animation tutorial and learn how to make replacement mouths for stop motion animation armature puppets. Part 1 of 2 - How to ...more
If you've played with Legos for long enough, you know that there are few things in this world that cannot be replicated in the medium. This video is a demonstration of how to build a working replica soda machine out of Lego blocks. While you may not be able to serve guest in y ...more
We've seen several examples of light graffiti on WonderHowTo (1, 2, 3), but this one is truly eerily beautiful. Australian photographer Denis Smith pushes the envelope with his project Ball of Light. "The Ball of Light is a mysterious portal into my world. It, and its friends ...more
Armatures basically stand up on their own, but while animating, the balance might become uneven and precarious. An easy way to keep the puppet standing is to give the armature large feet. Watch this video animation tutorial and learn how to build an armature puppet that will s ...more
There's something magical about stop-motion animation made with clay, it's an ideal medium for depicting strange transformations. In this short tutorial you'll learn how to make a simple claymation movie of your own. The video introduces you to some of the materials you'll nee ...more
This video tells you how to make a Lego stop motion animation using Windows Movie Maker. The tutorial focuses more on how to create a stop motion film with Windows Movie Maker as the tool, and assumes you have basic knowledge of how to use Movie Maker already.
How many trips up and down the stairs do you think it took artist Janne Parviainen to create this incredible topographical light painting? Apparently, quite a few. Using only one LED, he moves around his house, tracing all of the surfaces. Sometimes the exposure times are up t ...more
Here are a few stop motion animation tips. You will need a digital camcorder, editing software, and clay or Legos. This video lends advice for basic stop motion animation. Avoid common mistakes if you are a beginner animator.
This software tutorial shows how to make stop animation movies with Windows Movie Maker and a digital camera. Learn how to shoot the frames of motion with your camera, import them into Windows Movie Maker and turn them into a stop motion animated movie.
Watch this in-depth video tutorial on how to animate LEGOs for stop motion animated brickfilms. This is a detailed peek behind the scenes of stop-motion animation from the director of the "Circle Circle Dot Dot" music video, Blunty3000. Brickfilms are animated films using LEG ...more
Check out this fun animation tutorial video that shows you how to build a simple stage that sits on a table for your animation using a stop motion puppet. It will be a small, compact and easy to make stage. You will need a sheet of plywood and some screws. Follow the step by s ...more
You don't need a ten-figure budget to make a great movie! With nothing more than iMovie, a camera, and your imagination you can make a stop motion animation. With stop motion, you can bring anything to life. This is a really fun project for aspiring directors of all ages.
This video demonstration series shows the process of creating an armature for stop motion animation, claymation specifically, out of aluminum foil and polymer clay. Armatures need to be flexible to withstand the positioning and repositioning required to make stop motion animat ...more
This week has been awash with iPhone camera tips: Decim8, the digital glitch art generator; Bakari's 10 Uses for the Front-Facing iPhone Camera; and FiLMiC Pro, a professional app for shooting industry standard video. To wrap up our mini survey on iPhone camera apps & tips, on ...more
Construction paper animator Jen Stark teams up with electronic music composer/rabble-rousing party-demigod Dan Deacon in the video below, titled "Believer". The animation is fantastic—likely constructed in a process not entirely unlike animator Ryan Kothe's paper Waves and Wea ...more
LIGHTFAKTOR is a Cologne artists collective experimenting with the "possibilities yielded by bulb (long-term) exposure and painting." The technique employed has been coined "light writing" - Wikipedia's definition: "Light writing is an emerging form of stop motion animation ...more
Watch this video to learn how to make a 3D stop motion animation using playdoh and a wire armature. You must have some knowledge of stop motion animation and Movie Maker software to make an animation. This is easy to do and just takes some creativity.
In this puppetry tutorial, learn how to fix a broken stop motion animation armature that suffered massive limb loss. This how to video is done by an amateur for amateurs who need help repairing their damaged armature. Instead of rebuilding from scratch, watch this video and fi ...more
Why is it so satisfying to squash, snap, squeeze and splatter? You know, squashing a juicy grape, snapping a twig, squeezing ketchup out of a packet—perhaps with your fist—or splattering mud across a sidewalk. But all of these actions are child's play next to animators Laura J ...more
Check out this instructional stop motion animation video that illustrates the six animation principles: 1. Anticipation 2. Squash & Stretch 3. Follow-Through 4. Ease in and Ease out 5. Arcs 6. Staging Watch this short demonstrational video and learn the basic principles of ani ...more
Dentsu London collaborates with BERG to create this futuristic stop motion animation. Made with light drawings on the iPad, the result is beautiful. The first 1:40 of the video describes the creative process. Enjoy: “Making Future Magic”.
Watch this video tutorial to see how to make stop-motion animation with Windows Movie Maker. First, you'll have to take all of the pictures for your animation, with your action figures, Legos... dolls. Import all of your pictures onto the timeline in Windows Movie Maker. Now, ...more
Good morning. A little inspiration in the realm of stop-motion animation. By the talented Kirsten Lepore, something heartbreakingly sweet... ...and something a little spicy:
Making an animated film? This short and easy animation tutorial provides beginners the bare minimum to begin creating a claymation or stop motion animation film. This instructional video shows how to move claymation characters, how to control the lighting, and how to create a ...more
As a kid I fell in love with stop-motion animation while watching the superb mastery of Ray Harryhausen (who didn’t? I mean, skeletons! Fighting!). I’ve always wanted to make an animated film and I just might do that now that Boinx Software has released iStopMotion for the iP ...more
This video animation tutorial shows how to take a raw claymation figure and apply a costume onto it, as well as pose it in a scene. In this particular video, the demonstrator creates a wrap-around dress out of a sheet of clay and position it onto the armature. Also shown, is t ...more
Shot with a Nokia N8 cell phone equipped with a 50x CellScope microscope, Dot is the world’s smallest stop motion animated film. Created by the makers of the Wallace & Gromit series, the figures were made with a 3D printer, each hand-painted with the aid of a microscope. Watch ...more
As many of you stop-motion animation practitioners out there have probably realized, Legos are a great material for that medium, allowing for great diversity while being relatively easy to work with. Can they fly though? This video features a British boy explaining how to use ...more
Here ya go, a collection of the web's nerdiest Mario-mania. C'mon, who doesn't love Mario? Check it out. Everything from tattoos to cake decorating to knitting to bento to stop-motion animation. The Happy Seamstress lovingly knit her husband a Mario sweater vest: Boston Coll ...more
This quick instructional claymation video reveals how to make a Mamshmam claymation clay person for a stop motion animation video. Follow these simple steps to create a Mamshmam claymation character: roll into a ball, pinch the top to create the head, push the middle to make t ...more
This video animation tutorial demonstrates the process of moving a clay armature into poses for stop motion animation. It can be a challenge to instill expression into an inanimate object, but therein lies the skill of a talented animator. Watch this instructional video and le ...more
Nowhere Near Here, by Pahnl, is made with the graffiti light writing technique (stop motion animation that uses a combination of light with stencils and long exposure photography). Over 300 hours in the making and more than 200 stencils later, the tale of a "dog running around ...more
"Lego Racers" was a 1999 video game where players could assemble their own go-karts using virtual Lego pieces and then race them. This short video employs stop-motion animation to show you how you can use Legos to make a toy go-kart for Johnny Thunder, one of the game's charac ...more
If you grew up playing the video game "Lego Racers" you probably wished you had some of those Lego go-karts for real. This short video uses stop-motion animation to show you how you can use some of those old Lego pieces under your bed to make a toy go-kart for Gypsy Moth, one ...more
A stop motion video simply consists of an object that is physically moved in small increments frame by frame so that when the frames are viewed in sequence, the illusion of movement is created. If you have the corresponding stills on your PC, a stop motion video can be create ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make stop motion animations. Begin by mounting the camera onto a stable surface position, such as a tripod. Then layout the figure to a desired position for the first frame. Now take a picture and slightly move the figure for the se ...more
On May 25th, 1977 a small movie with a $13,000,000 budget came out. At the time, the executives involved had no faith that this film would make any money. To the surprise of many in the industry, not only did that film set records, it led to a number of other movies, video gam ...more
King Kahuka was a popular character in the 1999 game "Lego Racers", and he has appeared in several games since then. With his strange mask and fast moves on the track, the chief of Kahuka island is hard to forget. This short video uses stop-motion animation to show you how you ...more
Well, you might need to take a few lessons in animation first. Another cool 8-Bit animation (previously, Evil Pixels Demolish New York City). This one is short and sweet. And especially beautiful. "I recently found myself wondering what a video game might look like in the fo ...more
As a slightly belated birthday tribute to Photoshop (Photoshop turned 20 this past Friday), here is a clever stop animation short honoring the software. "Adobe Photoshop Cook" by Lait Noir. (Ok, so the "How To" in the headline above is slightly false - no, you can't really bak ...more
This tutorial shows you how to download, install and use the free program Stop Motion Animator. See how to set up and configure your animation settings, how to set the proper compression and then use the camera on your computer to shoot the frames for a stop motion animation. ...more
There's something special about Laika Inc.'s Paranorman... Hey! Did you love Coraline? Are you interested at all in stop-motion animation? Well, watch this feature on Laika Inc.’s new film, Paranorman. Holy freakin’ cow, amirite? Let alone the fact that we now live in a world ...more
DIY Stop Motion Animator, Javan Ivey, shows us how to create stop motion movies with some great software and helpful hints.
Learn how to use iStopMotion to create stop motion animation on your computer with expert tips from a professional graphic designer in this free software tutorial video series. Part 1 of 15 - How to Use iStopMotion animation software. Use iStopMotion animation software - Part ...more