a gif manip tutorial 💫
hi friends and foes! a little while ago, someone asked me to do a GIF MANIP TUTORIAL. i’ve never done a tutorial before so bear with me as i try to explain, in the most simplest of terms, how i made this gif:
THIS TUTORIAL REQUIRES:
photoshop (i’m using cc2019)
a basic understanding of it
patience (both with yourself and with me)
[ TUTORIAL CONTINUES UNDER THE READ MORE ]
so first thing’s first, in order to make a manip gif, you’ll need two gifs (duh). here’s three things i always try to make sure they have in common:
similar backgrounds
similar lighting (it’s really hard to manip together a night scene with one that’s in like a school room haha)
low movement (i.e. camera zooms, movement from the character themselves -- like avoiding someone running or jumping or twirling or just generally moving a lot)
now, as for how i made that gif....
first, make the two gifs you want to blend together. sharpen them, adjust your number of frames (make sure both gifs have the same number of frames!) and all that jazz. don’t worry about coloring (that’ll be done at the end) or sizing them correctly (you’ll need to adjust the size when putting them together)
here are my two gifs that i’m working with:
you’ll notice that they’re not colored, their sizes are different and the frame delay is different too and that’s okay! we’ll fix it all hehe
next, go into one of the gifs and select all the frames + layers and group them using that little folder button that’s on the right hand side where the layers are:
^that dude. it’ll make it easier when you need to erase the layers or move it around.
then, go into the second gif you’re working with and select all the frames and copy them.
then you’re gonna want to go over to your first gif and paste the frames from the second gif OVER THE SELECTION OF ALL THE FRAMES IN THE FIRST
then your first gif is gonna look something like this:
(notice how i grouped all the layers from the second gif into a group too!) and don’t worry about how big it is over the first gif! you can use the MOVE tool to adjust the size! usually i make it as small or as big as the first gif just as a base, but will then continue to adjust once i begin to erase some of the background or other people.
much better.
then comes the fun part! overlaying your gif! take GROUP TWO (the gif you pasted over the first) and choose from the drop down menu on the right hand side where your layers (now sectioned into groups) are! usually, i choose the SCREEN option but you can flick through and choose whichever one looks best to you!
so now we have something like this:
again, not great but we will fix it!! let’s continue!
okay! so now it’s all about using your MOVE tool and your ERASER tool to help move your gifs around so they line up and to get rid of any unwanted lurkers in the background (sorry ned and steve)
all you need to do if you want to move one of the gifs, is select the tool, then the group that coincides with the gif and move it!
!!! JUST REMEMBER IF YOU’RE GOING TO MOVE EITHER ONE OF THE GIFS MAKE SURE ALL YOUR FRAMES ARE SELECTED OR ELSE IT’S GONNA END UP LIKE THIS:
in order to erase the background, you’ll have to apply a MASK to your group which is the little button on the right hand side where the layers are that looks like this:
apply that to both your groups and then you can use your eraser tool! i usually have mine set to 0% hardness and between 74% to 51% opacity or lower while erasing cause then it doesn’t give as hard of lines and gives it a nice softness to it -- if that makes sense... anyway erase away any unnecessary background you don’t want or anything like that! just make sure you always have all the frames selected and the mask of the specific group!
then once you have everything erased that you want to be erased and have moved the gifs where you want them to be moved, play your gif once or twice through to make sure it looks how you want it to be!
(i’m a dumbass and forgot to save one without the coloring on it before closing photoshop so this doesn’t match the final product but you get the point)
finally, add your coloring! of course, you’ll want to make sure you color the gifs so that they’re somewhat similar. (it can be hard since a lot of things use different lightings, base colorings etc. etc.) but do your best! and if you think it looks nice, then it looks nice!
resize the gif to the proper dimensions, change the frame delay so it’s not super fast or super slow and save it!
there you have it! a manip gif!
if you made it through this whole thing, i appreciate you! i hope this long ass tutorial has been helpful to you lol and if you have any other questions or need help with anything else, PLEASE SEND ME AN ASK! i’m pretty self-taught in this whole thing, but i can try to help as best i can -- we can figure it out together!
can’t wait to see what you come up with! love you all very much! happy manip-ing! 💫