icononly aoi_dark aoi_lite
Exclusive content;
to access simply
Log In or FIND OUT MORE
The AOI equips Illustrators for success with
dedicated information, support and opportunities.
Learn more about membership today
..Or if you have a password prior to October 2017 you will need to use this link to reset it. If you have issues logging in you can also login here.
Varoom
World Illustration Awards 2021
WIA News
Awards / World Illustration Awards 2021 / 2014 / Category Winner / Thoka Maer
Next Previous Back to Awards List
Thoka Maer :Thoka Maer
Self-Initiated
IT'S NO BIGGIE
SELF INITIATED
Thoka is an Illustrator and graduated in May 2014 from the University of the Arts, Berlin. Her portfolio includes printed and animated illustration, with plans to evolve more within the latter and explore its future possibilities. Thoka is currently based in Berlin, though gazing towards New York to continue life and work over there.
"It's no biggie" is an ongoing series of pithy, ironic, pencil drawn, and digitally­ coloured animated GIFs. Each depicts moments that are all too familiar and perhaps even nostalgic to us, whether of misfortune, annoyance, joy or pleasure. As looped GIFs at that, each narrative is never ending, yet changes over time, continuously relying on the viewer's own experiences.
"Over the past few years, seeing my work travel around the internet and entertain people has always given me renewed pride and confidence in what I do; but winning the award has taken that to completely new levels. It's a door which opens out onto so many new paths."
itsnobiggie.tumblr.com
thokamaer.com
BRIEF: Illustrate entertaining snapshots of some of life's quotidian and seemingly unending ironies, as pithily as possible. Make the content intelligible or interpretable to a wide range of audiences. Stay within the temporal and spatial limitations of a GIF, using perfect loops and the aesthetics of a flickering, hand drawn animation.
MATERIALS: The frames are drawn with pencil and colourised digitally afterwards. To start their life as an animated GIF, depending on the animation of course, I work with the usual suspects, After Effects and Photoshop.
RESEARCH: The project basically started as a quick creative and technical exercise. So I didn't do much research in advance ­ every GIF was simply a reaction to people showing, a short and trenchant expression. But in general, I work very intuitively and prefer to create first and build a solid theoretical house around it later. And now I've recently graduated I'm very much looking forward to diving deeper into the philosophy and the art of GIF and GIF making.
PROCESS: Always when sufficient time and a nice idea collide, I make a new GIF. To accurately draw the movements of the characters, I'll act it out in front of my laptop camera and analyze it frame by frame. With the help of a very minimalistic storyboard, I then draw the frames. I also piece parts together with Photoshop if this makes the process more efficient. Eventually I add the digitally colourised frames with the help of Photoshop and After Effects.
RESISTANCES: Firstly, I'm a self­taught animator. So I'm constantly learning, mostly by trial and error. But this is undoubtedly the method of learning that I prefer most. Secondly, sometimes there's just not quite enough RAM.
INSIGHT: Apart from "it's no biggie", I rarely draw a human figure into my illustrations. A face, a body, gestures and mannerisms, all independently and in combination tell a story of their own. They also open a vast spectrum of emotional connection for the beholder, which I often find rather distracting if the focus is not primarily on narrating through a character. Besides the formal limitations of a GIF, this is probably one of the major reasons why my GIFs are so minimalistic and confined to elements of character. Even though the animations loop in very short intervals, a story can evolve, only by connecting with the character and its succinct actions.
DISTRACTIONS: Too many ideas flying in. I recurringly experience an anxiety that my life is going to end before I'm done with it. This results in an unachievable desire to do and think of everything immediately, which means I end up doing everything to half an extent or not at all. I also shouldn't understate the vast number of exciting and interesting winding paths on the internet that I apparently have to follow sometimes.
NUMBERS: The most beautiful illustration of our world. But concerning my project, the numbers I deal with most frequently are the number of frames in an animation. Until recently, Tumblr upload was quite… fussy with GIFs. So I often had to reduce the number of frames, delete a whole sequence, or decrease the amount of colors to a minimum bearable amount.
AFTERWORDS: My illustrations have been on screens in places I will never see, they've glanced into faces I'll never meet, they were talked about in languages I cannot speak. This modern day ability to communicate over such distances ­ it will probably never stop fascinating me.
Illustration Agencies & Collectives
Let's work together to educate, campaign and bring the best to the industry!
Logo & Address
WC2R 1LA, UK
Please note that we are an administrative office and all visits are by appointment only
Icons etc..
Please note that the AOI team is working remotely until further notice. Get in touch with the relevant staff member, or [email protected]
Please note the membership helpdesk and office will be closed 23 Dec 2020 – 4 Jan 2021.
The Association of Illustrators is a company registered in England and Wales
VAT GB393872701
Shop Terms of Sale
© Association of Illustrators
All rights reserved, site built with tlc
We use cookies. By browsing our site you agree to our use of cookies, Find out more