So I started this whole animation kick awhile back as I previously mentioned in a couple of bl0g posts. It all started out with a tiger, just a simple cartoon tiger running in a straight line, it later became tracing and animating on top of a video. Now I moved away from the pen tool all together and began animating with pictures.
For a little back story on why I did this in the first place, I will be filming an Aerial Showcase with a Pirate theme next month. In preparation I need to make a few promotional commercials. So I decided my first would be a short Pirate ship animation.
I started with a picture of a tropical ocean destination. I then added a transparent displacement effect which made the water ripples. I then cut out a pirate ship and set keyframes to make the ship bob up and down and travel across the screen. I found birds flying over a green screen and was able to put them flying in the background. I also did the same with the pirate ship and the killer whale jumping out of the water. I then added an iron texture layer and turned it into a sphere. After that, I made it come flying towards the screen. Once that was all done all I had to do was add sound effects and music.
Try making a picture/ green screen animation yourself. It is a very interesting learning experience.