Time Lapse Art And The 3 Ways I Use To Create It

One of the more popular things I post besides Muppet fan art are time lapse illustrations of my work. Time lapse art do two things for me: provide additional content and show my process (the latter being arguably more important). That being said, there are three different ways that I create said time lapse videos, so this week I thought I’d share my actual process as well as some examples.

Various ways to traditionally capture footage for time lapse art. Spoiler: None of these work great.

The first is the most basic. All things start with a sketch, and while I tend to work exclusively digitally, I still lean towards the traditional when it comes to sketching. The following Cookie Monster drawing is an overhead shot of me drawing the blue monster with traditional mediums like colored pencils and a Bimoji ink brush pen. I love watching other artists in real time create art like this (Kim Jung Gi is, in my opinion, the master at this). The problem with this is set up. I’ve talked to so many artists about how they manage to float a camera over their work space without it being too intrusive. Yes, I know there are devices available to purchase but they’re either too cheap and unreliable or way over priced. As you can see, I’ve rigged up several different things to try and make do but I like to draw close to my pad and that can create problems as well.

The second setup is easier and sticks to using only my computer. I’ve actually been asked how to do this a few times and it’s very easy. If you use a Mac, just open QuickTime and you can do a screen recording! This is a great way to capture everything you do in real time and when it comes to programs like Adobe Illustrator, it can really show off how to use the various tools and brushes.

Now the problem with the first two types of recording time lapse art is it records in real time. You can use the time–lapse camera feature if you have an iPhone, but you’ll probably still need to play around with timing, so both of those videos require a bit more editing when it comes to putting out your final product. Procreate is a very popular digital painting program for the iPad and it automatically records your process for you. The big leg up here is it only records when your stylus (Apple Pencil) is actively drawing. In other words, if you stop and take a phone call or take a break, unlike set ups for my previous videos, the recording stops. There have been more than a few times I have had to either cut out giant chunks of down time or stop and restart my other time lapse recordings, but Procreate only records when you’re actually actively working. The double edged sword is that Procreate records everything at full constant size, so there’s no inclination I’m zoomed way in or out. Is it a pro or a con? Who knows.

I edit everything in Adobe Premiere for a few reasons. Number one, I know how to use Premiere and as an old man I fear editing using Instagram. Two, I like to try and keep time lapse videos to one minute nowadays so Instagram and Twitter don’t have a fit. I also like to use royalty free music so there’s no copyright infringements.

This was a light fun post this week so I hope you enjoyed a break in reading. As always, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and check back here every Friday for a new blog post!

The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

Have you ever had a really big project that you’re working on that you’re extremely excited about and proud of? Has that project ever taken up so much of your time that you haven’t had a chance to do much of anything else? And has that same project been either a secret or required you to sign a Non–Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so you can’t even tell the world about it?

Awhile back, I was involved with The Great Muppet Mural and I checked off all three of those boxes and was super–hyped when it was finally time to share it online with everyone. Here’s the clincher—I’m still not done with it! Yes, ToughPigs 20th Anniversary has come and gone, and while people are still singing the mural’s praises, that moment has more or less passed too, but there’s actually more of the mural to share!

Let’s go off on a tangent first, okay? Earlier this year, ToughPigs spotlighted (spotlit?) some of my Muppet fan art again, and like an ego–maniacal lurker, I dipped in on the forums to see what people thought of my stuff. Everyone is always so kind and says wonderful things, but one post really hit me hard.

I used to be very descriptive whenever I would post anything anywhere; whether it was on social media, a featured spotlight, or even a concept to a client. Then, between a combination of being lazy and assuming people just didn’t care, I took a page from the book of minimalism and stopped saying anything. So when I saw Scott and my boy Joe (of all people!) call me out, I was infuriated and surprised at how on point they both were.

So now we get back to the present and The Great Muppet Mural. Early on, I had the idea that there was more to tell about this huge project other than the fact it had, “lots of Muppets and took a lot of work from a lot of people.” That thought was shared and encouraged by ToughPigs co–owner Joe Hennes (yes, that same Joe who put me on blast back in May!), and for the last several months, I’ve been making a documentary about the whole project!

I’ve ignored a lot of other things that should have been a priority, and I basically quit on Inktober; but so many great people and artists got excited about this project and helped contribute to it that I think (when it’s finished) you will get a real kick out of it. The very talented and funny actor/banjo playing, Lucas Ross is also narrating the short film and my Hulgreen bro Jerome Green is cleaning up all the audio, so it’s going to have a pretty nice professional varnish over top when it’s done!

So when is it going to be done? The best answer I can give you is “soon.” I have some professional video editing experience, but a documentary is a very different beast. That being said, the lion share of the work is done, and I’m neck deep in final post production. There’s more I could share, but I really want to hold off until it can be promoted properly. In the meantime, here’s the title card and a promise that a very good story beyond “artist made a thing” will be coming soon with all sorts of fun times attached too!

Wayback Wednesday: When Bang & Bump went to SDCC

This morning I had an email from a friend I used to work with showing me a clip from truTV, and holy guacamole; I was on television! Sort of.

Now I'm not sure what the show actually was, but the footage was from YouTube personality Stuart Edge. Back in 2014, I went to San Diego Comic Con with my business partner and future brother–in–law Jerome Green to film an episode for our own YouTube channel: The Bang & Bump Show from our company hulgreen productions. We filmed our puppets interacting with (primarily) cosplayers and even the great Lou Ferigno as well. Now neither Jerome or I, or our friends who were helping us knew Mr. Edge at the time, but we loved his Back to the Future Marty McFly cosplay and asked if he would film a bit with us. He agreed under the condition we film a bit with his team as well. This was our finished episode (you can find his part close to the beginning at 1:37):

After he graciously was a pert of our little shtick, he filmed a card trick with my character Bump: a furry blue monster puppet built by the very talented Kevin Gorby from Lunas Puppets. That's the footage that appeared on TV that my friend saw. You can see the original video Stuart Edge posted here (Bump first appears at 0:37):

It's always cool to have someone say they saw you on TV or something like that and be a part of something fun like Stuart Edge's cool magic tricks. If anyone else saw this on truTV or knows what show it appeared on, please let me know!

As for the puppets; Jerome and I had a lot of fun performing Bang & Bump and maybe one day we will again.