Tag: gif

As part of Nicola's Dazed takeover, we invited about five innovative GIF designers - recommended by Nicola himself - to redesign the iconic panda illustration at the heart of his new concept fashion line Nicopanda. We've already had contributions from GIF makers German Lavrovskiy, Mr-GIF, and Akihiko Taniguchi, and now we have work from FashGif.

Started by Greta Larkins, the site FashGif creates GIFs of moving models, in often comic ways, to present all the latest catwalk collections. We asked the self-taught GIF-er a few questions below...

Tell me about the panda GIF you made.

This is actually the first time I've ever made one of those zooming, eternally looping GIFs. The Nicopanda image lent itself perfectly to that style, so I had good fun experimenting and playing with the animation until it was smooth and consistent. Then I mixed up the colours of the exploding eye for fun.

Tell me about your practice and style.

The majority of my GIFs are made from starting with a still image and creating layers that ultimately become the moving elements. A lot of what I do is rebuilding the background of an image; so if I move a models arm I need to recreate what would be behind that arm. If I can execute this cleanly it helps with the overall illusion and makes the GIF more real.

What do you do when you’re not making GIFs?

I work for a company that wholesales jewellery and I spend most of my day on Photoshop re-colouring products (say, making a red scarf green or turning a silver necklace into rose gold) and trend forecasting. That's where my interest in fashion began - but I'm scarily obsessed with jewellery for someone who's surrounded by a lot of it. There's about 100 pieces of jewellery on my desk right now! I'm also learning ballroom dancing and I'm a Tumblr junkie.

How did you start making GIFs?

I always thought you needed some magic program to make them but when I discovered you could produce them in Photoshop I decided to give it a go. I learnt just by exploring Google and forums. It's fundamentally quite simple, the complexity begins when you're ideas get more ambitious or if you want it to look very neat. You need a lot of patience and a steady hand.

What’s your all time favourite GIF and GIF designer?

I'd say that WHTEBKGRND and IWDRM are neck and neck for that title. Though technically IWDRM is making Cinemagraphs. And picking a favourite Gif are you insane?! I probably Tweet "Best Gif ever!" once a week but this is a good place to start if you're new to them.

Recent months have seen a return of the GIF as an item of popular discourse and funny thing to drop into an email. What do you put this down to?

They're instantaneous. And the repetition can really push a message. Nothing beats a perfectly placed reaction GIF either. I always joke with my friends that I haven't seen an episode of Ellen in ages but thanks to my Tumblr dashboard I see the best moments as GIF-sets. A GiIF, some subtitles; you get the gist very quickly without hitting play on a clunky video.

Where do you think the art of the GIF maker is going?

Well at the moment - up! But that's not to say this craze will last forever. That said, they're becoming more and more commonplace so maybe the GIF revival is going to stick around. Advertising companies are catching on now and I think there's a lot of potential to produce clever ideas and execute some stunning visuals. The focus should be on quality over quantity. You can't underestimate the value of a perfectly produced GIF; they can really capture peoples imaginations.

When Nicola first began his Dazed takeover, he emailed us about five innovative GIF designers from around the world. Now, we've asked these Tumblr-ers to make their own adaptation of Nicola's panda illustration, the symbol at the heart of Nicola's new concept fashion lineNicopanda.

We've already had contributions from GIF makers German Lavrovskiy and Mr-GIF, and now we're introducingAkihiko Taniguchi. Having already experimented with the presentation of GIFs in his project, GIF 3D Gallery,where he created an interactive space to display the GIFs as work's of art in a gallery, we asked Taniguchi a few questions about his custom Nico-panda-GIF and the future of GIF-making.

Tell me about the panda GIF you made.

Sometimes I make the visual sketch using processing. And again this time, I made the sketch using processing before converting it into a GIF.

Tell me about your practice and style.

I don't always make GIFs. I'm interested in modeling and composition - how objects overlap - and producing another meaning from there.

What do you do when you’re not making GIFs?

Surf the web. Make art work in other forms.

How did you start making GIFs?

I was seldom making GIFs until now. But I was happy researching internet art and making my own artwork for several years. From those activities, I noticed the importance and peculiarity of the GIF. Then I made GIF 3D Gallery this summer. This is an internet artwork, which can put GIFs onto a pedestal in a 3D gallery, and be viewed online. I made the pedestal for the GIFs at first. Then, I came to make GIFs for the pedestal.

What’s your all time favourite GIF and GIF designer?

Anthony Antonellis, Francoise Gamma and Matt Goerzen. He is mainly a painter, but I think his GIFs are also the concept and statement of his work.

Recent months have seen a return of the GIF as an item of popular discourse and funny thing to drop into an email. What do you put this down to?

1. The decline of the flash and the spread of Tumblr.
2. Increased susceptibility to the internet in daily life.

A GIF format is a very old graphics format. However, compared with other graphics formats, the GIF is special. GIF can use a transparent background and it is always related to a background where it's placed. GIF resembles three-dimensional sculpture rather than pictures and photographs which always cut off the world squarely. GIF exists like a substance with mass.

Where do you think the art of the GIF maker is going?

It is not only a question for GIFs. Some internet artists feel that the relation between actual space and the internet is sensitive. I think that two trials exist there.The first is the trial which tries to place GIFs (internet artwork) in a gallery on the internet, and the second trial which tries to put GIFs in an actual space.It will have to do with the materiality of the aforementioned GIF. I think GIF became a media independent from other image formats. Although it is not applied to all GIF makers, I think how actual space and the internet are mediated/connected is something important to consider.