Butterframes
Mixed-Media Style Exploration Project
mixed-media
2d
3d
traditional-art
animation
Project Type
Personal
Team
Solo Project
Key Deliverable
12 Frame Looping Animation
Timeline
Three Days (April 2023)
Tools Used
Photoshop + Figma + Blender3d + Illustrator + Infinite-Painter + Premiere-Pro +
Overview
Butterframes is a personal exploration into different art styles, all packed into a single, looping butterfly animation. The goal was to blend digital and traditional techniques, with each of the 12 frames showcasing a unique medium—from 3D clay renders and pixel art to watercolor and paper collage
Skip to Animation
The Objective
Inspired by this video from Ben Marriott, my challenge was to create a seamless loop that blends six digital and six traditional art styles, with each of the 12 frames showcasing a unique medium.
The Process
The project was broken down into a simple, repeatable workflow.
Foundation & Base Animation
Everything started with the basics: I sketched a simple butterfly and created a clean, 12-frame flutter animation. This looping PNG sequence became the foundation for every style that followed
Digital Style Exploration (6 Frames)
For the first half of the project, I stayed in the digital realm to explore a range of techniques chronologically:
frame 001 | Halftone texture
A comic-styled render created in the Infinity Painter app on a tablet.
frame 002 | Flat 2D Illustration
A minimalistic style traced and colored using Adobe Illustrator.
frame 003 | 3D Clay Render
The butterfly and flower were modeled in Blender 3D and textured to look like plasticine clay.
frame 004 | Vector Gradients
This frame was created in Figma, using the pen tool and colored with linear and radial gradients.
frame 005 | Grainy Texture
For this style, I used a textured brush in Photoshop to apply colors, highlights, and shadows.
frame 006 | Pixel Art
An 8-bit illustration created on a 120x120 pixel canvas by blocking out shapes and adding details.
Traditional Style Exploration (6 Frames)
For the second half, I went hands-on. I printed the animation frames and recreated them using physical art supplies. This included everything from watercolors and oil pastels to coloured pencils and even a detailed paper collage.
frame 007 | Brush Pens
A straightforward, flat-looking render created with brush pens.
frame 008 | Water Colours
A classic watercolor wash, which required a second attempt after the first sheet was damaged by excess water.
frame 009 | Oil Pastels
A crayon-like texture achieved by coloring with pastels inside a thick fineliner outline.
frame 010 | Paper Collage
A cut-and-paste style made by tearing small pieces of colored paper and pasting them into the shapes.
frame 011 | Pencil Colours
This frame was colored in multiple layers, starting with lighter tones and building up to darker ones.
frame 012 | Poster Colours
A painted render also created in layers to build up shadows over lighter tones.
Final Assembly
Finally, I scanned all the traditional artwork, cleaned it up digitally, and compiled all 12 unique frames in Premiere Pro to create the final looping video.
The Final Result
The final output is a 12-frame animation
Having trouble with the player above? Watch it on Google Drive. (1.6MB)
Key Learnings
Gained experience across a wide range of digital and traditional mediums.
Developed a keen attention to detail, which was essential for maintaining consistency between each unique frame
Learned to unify diverse art styles into a single, cohesive animation.