What makes a good gif

Although the initial focus of this task was to come up with and explore just how you can go about creating effective and memorable characters it is also essential to consider how these will work within the given format of a looping gif. With this in mind I have started looking into what makes a good gif versus what makes a a good moving image.

Although the two would seem one in the same, the file size limits that come with the gif format mean that certain images/animations that would work for a full scale animation or music video won't transition well enough into the given format.


Anthony F Scheppard

A good example of this is the work of Anthony F Scheppard who's richly detailed and slickly animated videos have found popular rotation on channels such as Adult Swim and Ninjatune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhheiPTdZCw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qmVNB4nalk

However I am aware that the level of skill present within these animations is both beyond my current level and that the amount of frames needed to produce similar work would beyond what you can include within the gif format. Despite this there are still some aspects of his work that I would like to try and include in my own work such as three flowing/morphing elements of the various characters on display.


In stark contrast to this is the work of Laurene Boglio who creates gifs that are both highly memorable and incredibly hypnotic due to the simplicity of the elements on display. I particularly like the use of monochrome coupled with subtle abstract elements such as the wiggle seen in the image above which results in very clean and graphic depictions of surreal scenes.

Furthermore, unlike the more richly animated work of A.F.Scheppard, the simplicity of movements allows for for fully looping sequences with no clear beginning or end which I think is the main reason for the hypnotic quality of her work.  For my own work I personally feel this idea of fully flowing and looping sequences is more important than creating something more complex and overly detailed due to how much more powerful and direct I feel these simple, bold looping images are.