🤘Good day fellow People!

Life has been happening, and I haven't made a post in years. However, recently things have calmed down a little, and I really got in the mood to try something a bit more creative. Since I am really enjoying Splinterlands nowadays, I thought I would try my hand at entering the Splinterlands Week 150 Art Contest.

I am a designer by nature, and have always really enjoyed creating little animations. Thus I looked at the SL loader and thought... I could do something with this, so this is exactly what I did.

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Creating the loader

☝️Step1 - References and vector

I wanted to do something a bit more detailed, and thus I started out by finding some references on The Google, and created a nice vector in Adobe Illustrator primarily using the pen tool. I added some details and shading on the teeth by using the Shape Modes and Pathfinder tools to 'cookiecut' some layers. Some adjustment were needed to make sure that the correct teeth are in the correct order, and that the shadows fall where they should.

I also borrowed some colours from the Splinterland splinters, and made a basic palette that I could use for the animated circles later on.

✌️Step2 - Toss it all in Adobe After Effects

After organising the layers, and prepping the file, the next step was to import it all into After Effects. Without going into too much detail, I will share a little of what I did. The animations is about 1.5seconds in length (or 1:25frames). The effects that can be seen is as follow:

• Multiple colour circle rotation - There are 7 colour circles that rotate out of sync, expanding in the middle, and contracting again on the ends until they disappear for a brief second. The circles expand slightly before starting it's rotation, giving it that "pulling away at a high speed" feeling.
  

• Fangs chomping down - The fangs biting down effect was created by changing multiple variables. This included moving them further away from each other, before quickly moving closer to simulate a bite. The teeth also scales ever so slightly, to give the sense that they are organic and have movement. All this combined, gives us a nice chomping effect.
  
  
  

👌Step3 - Export and Testing

Last but not least, through the magic of the Bodymovin/Lottie After Effects extensions, I was able to easily export the short animation, and view it online. The great thing being, that the animation essentially exports as a .json file, and it written in code, as opposed to an old-school GIF file. What you see below is of course a gif, since they are supported here, but you are welcome to go view the Lottie version HERE.

👋The Final result

Well, here is the final product, and my entry for the Splinterlands Week 150 Art Contest. If the Splinterland team ever wanted to use if for the game, they are of course welcome to contact me. I however only accept payment in golden chickens of course... 😜

Thank you for reading!

Comments, questions and critiques are always welcome.
100% Original Content

Have a wonderful day.
SkippyZA ^_^