The Evolution of Kanye

I wanted to create a cute animated video that adequately expresses my love for Kanye. This was just a fun little personal project that I completed in my spare time. I love setting up 2D character rigs in After Effects, and I experimented with a few different methods to create the desired effect.

Initially I just had a simple script that plugged a time remap into a slider for the face rotation, and a 3D rotation (also plugged into that slider) for the features I wanted to animate separately. That worked pretty effectively for what I wanted to create, but it’s still a bit limited in movement.

I ended up using a plugin called “Joysticks n’ Sliders” which makes putting together a simple rig like this very easy. It allows full movement up and down as well as side to side, so much more freedom when it comes to animating.

Each segment is designed around one of his solo albums, and the elements reflect the change of style (both in sound and visual design) as he evolves as an artist.