Chinese Language Animation

Project Details:
Explaining to young soldiers that true listening requires a tremendous amount of effort. It’s not an easy thing to do or explain, so the Army TRADOC Culture Center asked for a high-quality animation for the word "listen" in Chinese. I didn't fully understand why, but learning about the world is just part of doing this type of wonderful work.

Solution:
I wanted this animation to have the feel of a brush moving across paper. Using Illustrator's brush options and Photoshop I created custom brushes that produced the desired effect.

  • Illustrated the graphic in Illustrator
  • Photoshop for inhancement and color changes
  • Exported individual parts of overall graphic into Adobe Premiere Pro

  • Used advanced masking techniques in Premiere Pro to create animation

Project Significance:
This animation was eye catching enough to explain that the Chinese word for listen is made up of other smaller words that have more meaning. Ear, Eye, Heart and other meanings can be interpreted from the Chinese word. This graphic helped in the classroom, allowing students to fully understand that listening takes effort.