Creating a Handmade Look in After Effects: 1 Paper Cutout and Stop Motion

Owen Lowery shows how to create a quirky and fun look that has the feel of old-school cutout and stop-motion animation in After Effects.

Want to mimic the handmade paper cutout and stop-motion style of Monty Python or early South Park in your motion graphics? This course shows how to replicate this DIY aesthetic in After Effects, using design and animation techniques that result in a dirty, textured, and imperfect style that is well suited for music videos and show openers, like the one featured in this course for the band Oh No, Robots!

Mograph artist Owen Lowery shows how to build the text and image elements, add texture, and then animate the graphics for a stop-motion look. The lessons demonstrate how versatile Adobe After Effects' tools can be when you stretch them beyond their traditional uses and employ some creative problem solving. Members are encouraged to experiment and adapt the techniques shown to other styles and projects.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know and the exercise files

1. The Stop-Motion/Handmade Look

• Style limitations: Bad = good

2. Composition Settings and Frame Rates

• Composition settings

3. Designing Cutout and Paper-Made Shapes

• Designing cutout shapes with the Pen tool
• Grouping shape layer content and saving shapes to compositions

4. Paper Texture

• Texture challenge: Find and photograph your own textures!
• Adding texture to shapes with track mattes and blending modes
• Quick tip: Using CC RepeTile effect to extend a texture edge

5. Cutout Type

• Customizing text into shapes

6. Depth, Perspective, and Shadow

• Drop shadow workarounds for textured layers
• Cutting a hole into a layer

7. Choppy Stop-Motion Animation

• Adding random motion with Wiggler window
• Jerky motion with Motion Sketch
• Adding random motion wiggle expression
• Using expression controllers to keyframe expression values
• Shaking the scene with Wigglerama behavior
• Looping toggle hold animation
• Combining techniques

Conclusion

• Review and next steps