What to do when Mamp stops working

Sometimes, due to the existence of duplicate installations, software updates or etc., the Mysql database will not start when you first open Mamp. Fortunately there is a quick and easy solution!

Fire and/or smoke materials in Blender

In order to have your fire or smoke display a material, you will need to do some adjustments to the domain materials. This is best done in the nodes editor.

Working with Fire in Blender

In order to make fire look more realistic, there are some property settings that can make a big difference.

Hedgehog in the Fog

Hedgehog in the Fog is a beautiful cut paper animation by Yuriy Norshteyn. It is considered by some to be the best short animation ever made.

Thumbelina

Lotte Reiniger's cut-paper, silhouette animation. Talk about gorgeous!

Facial Expressions

Understanding Comics and Making Comics by Scott McCloud are both about comics but are actually very relevant to the animation artist as well. They are both in comic book format (way more fun than the typical textbook) and well worth the read.

Using Photographs in/for Your Work

As an artist there are many times when you may need to use a photograph - perhaps as a visual reference, or as part of an animation or website. The best option is always to use a photo you have taken - you own it and have all the rights to that image. If for some reason that is not an option you need to do one of 3 thing:

1. Get permission to use the image from the creator or rights holder
or
2. Use an image from the public domain or that are royalty free
and
3. Drastically change the image from the original version so that you are creating something new - both visually and in terms of concept  (this means the idea behind the image should be very different and the appearance should also be very different)

Works in the public domain belong to the public so anyone can use them. Works that are royalty free belong to an artist or organization but are available to use without charge. In either case, you should still give the artist credit.  

If you do use the work of another artist and do not give them credit, you are plagiarizing their work. Make sure you keep a record - probably in a Google Doc, of the artist and where you found the image.