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Post news Report RSS Futurust Devlog: Stopping the motion

I've got to admit that I have always loved oldschool cartoons. They had an undeniable charm that modern cartoons don't really have anymore and their production involved very particular and clever animation techniques.

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It wasn't until the computer age when the complicated animation process, which until that point had been done entirely by hand, started to simplify. I really appreciate the effort that went into making all those cartoons from the past look so amazingly beautiful.

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I wanted to try it too. That's why Futurust is painted by hand. First off, I drew three designs for the main character. They looked similiar, but were clearly different robots. The one in the middle became the protagonist, named Rust. Why did I choose him? My daughter liked him the most and how could I refuse my little sweetheart?. First off, I drew three designs for the main character. They looked similiar, but were clearly different robots. The one in the middle became the protagonist, named Rust. Why did I choose him? My daughter liked him the most and how could I refuse my little sweetheart?

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However, I wanted to go deeper and connect myself more closely to those cartoons from the past that I wholeheartedly adored. That's why I decided animating the characters using one of the older techniques would be not only fun and entertaining, but also beneficial in giving the game a distinctive look. And because stop motion rules, at least in my mind, I wanted to make Rust's walking cycle by hand, and frame by frame.

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Then reality kicked in. Painting animation frames with my coffee-watercolor artstyle for only one walk cycle took about seven days. A bit of quick math and I calculated that I'd finish making all the assets and animations somewhere around 2040! I found myself in a quite a deadlock, but, as always, Stanislaw Lem came to the rescue! I started wondering how I could quicken the pace of my work and I did not want to resign from the stop motion animation. In the end, I compromised and connected the past with the present by digitally animating my frame paintings.

Hey, if you love old school animation like I do, please add Futurust to your wishlist to stay up to date with all upcoming announcements.

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