Ryan K. Cox
Fred Worden, Associate Professor, Department of Visual Art

AC IV Wing A 110  |  1:30 PM

Backspace/Erase: DELETE is an experiment in creating a video adaptation of an original comic book story. Delete was completed using a computer drawing tablet and three computer software programs: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Flash. The flexibility and efficiency of using computer software allowed for a more manageable and less time-consuming workflow than with traditional cel animation. This was especially important as, unlike with a Hollywood production, I was the sole animator available to put in the time necessary to achieve the sophisticated graphic and dynamic style I hoped to achieve. I had to find a balance between the visual subtleties of the hand drawn animation technique and the time saving properties of computer frame interpolation animation. One of the creative challenges of Backspace/Erase: DELETE was deciding how to incorporate and adapt the strongest features of the print media, multi-panel comic book version of the story into a smoothly flowing time-based animated film. This required both careful pre-production planning, including using story boards to plan a scene’s composition, as well as some trial and error modifications of those plans as I undertook the actual animating.