Here’s a quick animation I put together—just a fun mashup that came out of one of my random ideas. I'm a huge UFO nerd, so I thought it’d be hilarious to combine Anunnaki mythology with Little Orphan Annie—mostly because, well, they’re both redheads.
The concept was too weird to pass up. I leaned into the absurdity and had experimenting with character animation while embracing my love of weird lore and pop culture mashups.
AI-Enhanced Animation Workflow: A Creative Breakdown
In this tutorial, I walk through my process of creating a short animation using a combination of AI tools, Photoshop, and After Effects.
Step 1: Image Generation
I started by generating an initial concept image using an AI image generator. While the first attempt didn’t quite match my vision, it gave me a strong foundation to build on.
Step 2: Animation in Runway AI
I brought the AI-generated image into Runway AI to animate the scene. However, the results didn’t quite hit the mark—especially the character's facial expression and movement.
Step 3: Refining in Photoshop and Firefly
To gain more control, I opened the image in Photoshop and separated the balloon element from the character. I then used Adobe Firefly to generate a series of new facial expressions. After tweaking the colors and tones in Photoshop to match the original artwork, I created three keyframes of different expressions and uploaded them to Runway AI.
Generated closed yes key frame and separated the ballon from the main subject.
Generated a smile using Fire File.
Using the transform tool I modified the size of the smile as well as the color on the lips.
Step 4: Finalizing the Animation
Once I achieved a suitable animation in Runway, I downloaded the video for use in After Effects. I wanted to create a reveal effect using the separated balloon, so I tracked it to the character, allowing it to follow the main subject naturally.
To enhance the visual appeal, I used Red Giant’s Particular to build a balloon-themed intro animation using the same balloon elements from earlier.
Reflections on the Process
This project turned out to be a valuable learning experience. It highlighted the limitations of working with AI, especially when trying to direct performance or emotion with only a few keyframes. If this were a client project, I would treat this animation as a spec piece or proof of concept.
Working with AI is its own form of art—one that requires a mindset shift. It's not about replacing creativity, but learning how to collaborate with these large learning models to enhance and support the creative process.
