This was a self-led project were I wanted to focus on simple story-driven animation.
I was inspired by a watercolor painting I found online – via artstore.com – that depicted a tiger peering out from the foliage. I decided to use that framing to tell a story. I did not want to use any scene cuts, but tell the story within a single shot. I took inspiration as well from Jurassic Park when the velociraptor attacks Muldoon in the ambush scene.
It was in this way that I landed on the three distinct story beats that I have: foliage reveal, blink, and attack.
Color Gradient
Watercolor Texture
Line Art
Final Composite
I wanted the entire animation to be done within After Effects, so I worked to create a texturing system native to AE using only vanilla effects and a single paper texture overlay.
The primary workflow was to use a color-gradient as the base.
I then overlayed a splotchy gradient, using posterized fractal noise – giving me discrete control to change the patterns – which I then overlayed the color layer set to multiply.
The next layer was a solid outline and vein lines which were given a roughen edges effect.
Bringing it all together with a paper texture gave the final look.
Each leaf was precomposed, with 22 distinct leaves, which were used to populate the scene. Some leaves were duplicated and manipulated further with color adjustments. The leaves were then arranged into groups to be able to control clumps of them all at once.
The tiger was built in much the same way as the leaves stylistically, but also add animation layers added onto it. The blink was controlled via sliders while the rest of the face was animated via puppet pins and other transformation controls.
Finally, audio was layered in to help inform the animation and add to the anticipation and impact of the final movement.