I consider animation to be one of my soft skills. I find animation to be fun and challenging, so over the years I found opportunities to deliver animation to learn and challenge myself— often choosing to use a new program I'd never used. With a few exceptions, most of the opportunities I've found to incorporate animation have been for holiday email blasts and email newsletters when working for Portland Community College. The holiday animation below was the first animation I created using frame by frame in Adobe Photoshop.
I used the Print Center logo to create my first logo animation using Adobe After Effects for the first time.
When the PCC Print Center needed an email blast to remind the instructors to get their print orders in before the deadline for each new quarter, I suggested we use some animation to get their attention. For this animation I decided to use a program I'd never used before, Adobe Animate (RIP).
I found another opportunity to learn a new animation program for this holiday GIF— this time using Procreate.
When Procreate Dreams came out, I used the annual internal holiday email from the Print Center to learn a new program and wish faculty and staff a wonderful holiday vacation, while also reminding them that print is not dead.
One of the ways I wanted to raise brand awareness for the Print Center is by implementing a newsletter that highlighted special offers, services and capabilities. I used my own take of the college mascot in a frame by frame animation in Photoshop. In each edition of the newsletter, Poppi the Panther was knocking a different coffee cup design off his desk— with the exception of one— the Dracarys cup spontaneously caught fire shortly after the Game of Thrones finale.
When the Print Center wanted a new email to explain the changes to hours and services during covid, I used the opportunity to sharpen my animation chops once again.
This was a Procreate animation I created for Administrative Professional's Day. I barely made it by the deadline, which you can probably tell by the typography :D. This cute little porcupine did their very best to show their appreciation. It's the thought that counts.
