How to Create Animated Gifs With Photoshop
Gifs are the best. They are great for promoting your work, they have a great impact on viewers, and they are super fun, and the good news is they are also very easy to make!
I draw a lot of silly characters and I occasionally bring some of them to life by giving them a bit of movement. I do so by creating a simple frame by frame animation using Photoshop. I thought it would be fun to take you through my process step by step with the help of this pip hating watermelon and hopefully inspire you to make your own, as they’re a lot of fun to experiment with! :)
So without further ado, let’s bring this guy to life! :D
Pip by Teo Zirinis
Step 1
Step 1 – Create your images.
Create a sequence of at least 2 images.
For this gif, I’ll use a sequence of 3 images.
Step 2
Step 2 – Upload images to Photoshop.
Copy and Paste your images into a new Photoshop file, creating a new layer for each image.
Step 3
Step 3 – Create Frame Animation
Click on the Window (1) tab
Select Timeline (2)
Click on the Create Frame Animation (3) button on the timeline bar.
Steps 4-7
Step 4 – Make Frames from Layers, Loop and Speed
Click on the Drop Down Menu (4) in the top right corner of the timeline bar.
Select Make Frames From Layers (5).
Click on the Looping Options (6) in the bottom left corner of the timeline bar and select Forever, to make your animation loop non-stop.
Finally, to adjust the speed of your gif, select the transition time for each frame by adjusting the time delay under each frame (7). Press the Play button to preview your gif!
Step 8 – Save and Export!
When you are satisfied with the result simply click on the File tab, select the Save for Web option and Save!
Tada! You’re all set!
Find out more about Teo Zirinis and his punny designs in this Redbubble interview.
