Creating Motion in Stills: How to Animate a Photo in Post (Part 2)

A couple of months ago, The Creators Project and post-processing guru Joe Fellows teamed up to show you how to turn stills into ‘2.5D’ animated sequences. The tutorial was very popular on PetaPixel, but it left some with as many questions as answers, and so the duo are at it again, creating a part 2 that addresses the most common concerns.

If you intend to bring your photos to life using the parallax effect, you should still start by watching the first video before diving into this more detailed explanation. Go ahead… we’ll wait…

Alright, now that you’ve done that, this second video will make a bit more sense. In it, Fellows doles out many tips and tricks that will help make your final 2.5D creation look as professional as his:

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Parts that were glossed over fairly quickly in the first video — such as how exactly to fill in the background — are covered in more depth; as are specific details such as how to make the balls seem like they’re spinning, and move the ball and paddle shadow across the t-shirt.

Check out the video at the top to get all of these questions and more answered by the graphics artist himself, and then give the effect a shot yourself! What better way to spend a lazy Sunday than by turning one of those mundane holiday photos into something really cool?


P.S. Fellows also shared two of his favorite parallax animations with The Creators Project. Here are those videos:

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