Creating GIF Animations For Websites

GIF animations have become popular on community sites, as the interactive features of the images serve as a great reminder to help residents remember the community events, or to help employees with the company's projects.

You can create GIF animations, without receiving a patent from Unisys, then you can use the Portable Network Graphics format that works equally well and can be cheaper. Many sites now use the PNG format as you can create more advanced animations with the PNG format.

Using the PNG format will come in handy after graduation, when you run your own business with your own clients. You will be able to reduce costs by using this form of GIF animations, and could really start making money for your business.

To find more ideas for GIF animations, designs or to find out how to enroll in a school for animation, read the examples, class plans and information on animations on www.devry.com.

To read more Creating GIF Animations For Websites

Software To Create 2D Animations

You can start with 2D animation, in order to learn animation, before moving into 3D animations and 3D graphics, which are much more complex. Your starting point, may be to purchase basic software to create 2D animations, and then use the same basic principles to create more complex 3D animations.

Adobe provide software to work with animation, graphics and image editing. These software programs include Photoshop, Flash and After Effects. You can use their software to animate family photos to start moving, so you can create a two-dimensional image or add additional features to make your images stand out.

If you want to learn more about animation tricks, like creating an avatar you can visit www.yahoo.com. If you have an e-mail account with Yahoo, you can create your own avatar for your account by adding the right hairstyle, clothing, and facial expression to create a character that looks like you.

To read more Software To Create 2D Animations

Where To Learn And Create Animations Flash

To ensure you can view all the flash animations on a website, you must download the latest flash player from Adobe to your computer. This will allow you to see the flash images on your browser, and if you create a website for your business or work for a client, this software helps you to make your images interactive, and make the images you see on the screen much more colorful and clearly defined.

Another flash animation program you can try Toon Boom, which is primarily used by animators who create web-based cartoons. This program is also used by artists who create popular children’s movies and animated shows.

You can also try Eovia Carrara if you’re interested in Flash animation, includes finished examples of how graphics should look, you can play around with your animation as many times as you want before the image is live on the web.

The DeVry Institute also runs animations flash course after you log on www.devry.edu, you will see course descriptions for the classes you want, and you’ll learn how you can create graphics and animations for news and radio stations and create websites for businesses.

Job placement programs are available, when are a student attending the school, to help you line up a job even before you receive your graduation.

To read more Where To Learn And Create Animations Flash

Creating A Better Website With Interactive Animations

To create interactive animations, you must learn how to make the images move, using your computer programs. Interactive animations can only be used for the computer, or can be programmed on your PC, and then transferred to multimedia presentations or uploaded to websites, depending on the project requirements.

For example, you can animate a logo or a banner on a website, or create animated buttons to navigate to different sections of the website. Another option, is to create a character that talks to the audience and explains each of the pages of the site, or an avatar to answer customer questions.

Interactive animations can help improve the reputation of a company, and with the presence of a live support avatar created just for customer service and answering customer questions, can be a pleasant surprise for your customers.

If you want to learn how to create interactive animations on your computer, then you can try CrazyTalk, which is a computer animation program, that allows you to create avatars, to look more human.

To read more Creating A Better Website With Interactive Animations

Creating Your Animations With Animation Software

To learn more about flash animation, you can check out the animation software at Adobe Flash Professional program at http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/. There is a try out version, which means, you can try out the software for free, but there are restrictions on using the software. These restrictions are lifted, once you pay for the software.

Professional artists use Adobe Flash to create web content and graphics for television commercials or shows, but depending on the extent and duration of your project, you may not need to spend the extra money. However, if you are working on a serious project, requiring better quality animations, then it may be ideal.

You can improve facial features of your animated characters with Crazy Talk. This animation software helps you create characters with human qualities and should be added to your list of animation programs on your computer. You can create animations to look like you, your customers, or fictional characters you have created.

Using this software, makes your animations come alive, give them voices and emotional qualities, and make them amazingly lifelike. If you can download Windows software or Adobe software to your computer, then you should be able to use this animation software. You can download the latest version from http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/.

TO read more Creating Your Animations With Animation Software

Better Websites With Anime Reviews

Anime reviews can be found everywhere on the internet, though the quality and depth of these reviews will vary widely. You might find a fairly small site where the author covers only their favorite anime series, and this can be valuable if you have similar tastes.

But you'll probably want to visit one of the more extensive sites that review a wider range of titles and attempt a degree of objectivity. Some add details about the industry, voice actors and even merchandising, but the most interesting sites are the ones that provide expert assessments of the anime series themselves.

T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews (http://www.themanime.org/) is a prime destination for those who want to learn about individual series. Originally, under the patronage of T.H.E.M., the science fiction and fantasy social group at Arizona State University, this site now operates on its own, relying on donations and operated by many volunteers.

The website does reviews of anime series, but as many of these sites do, it also has regular contributors who cover anime conventions and other events associated with the industry.

One difference between sites for personal anime reviews and those that have sponsorships and attempt to be more professional is that the personal sites might vanish or become inactive, as the authors get too busy or become incapable of maintaining their site.

This is one reason why you should keep many review sites bookmarked for gaining anime news. Before you commit to buying anything, you'll want several different opinions anyway, so taking advantage of all these different reviews can only be beneficial.

To read more Better Websites With Anime Reviews

Looking For Your Favorite Anime Download

When people think of an anime download, they virtually always think of the sort of websites where anime episodes themselves can be downloaded onto someone's computer, cell phone or other portable viewing device.

It is true that the main purpose of such websites is to allow people to download anime episodes, whether those are free or purchased through an official online portal.

But even though acquiring actual episodes is the main type of downloading, the vast popularity of anime has given birth to several other types of electronic files that can be downloaded as well.

It's now possible to join mailing lists, either for the major distributors or even news sites, and receive notifications of the latest anime news or the release of new titles. As with so many other types of downloads, these can be sent directly to the person's portable device, or to their email account.

They can also go to news sites or online anime stores and download image files that might contain wallpapers for computer desktop backgrounds, or screen savers comprised of images from their favorite series. An anime download can contain many different types of files.

Fiction might be a different sort of anime download, though it would actually be the rarest form. Most fiction written by fans is stored on large sites created for that purpose, like www.fanfiction.net, or placed on personal blogs on sites like www.livejournal.com.

But some stories, with the author's permission, can be downloaded by their own fans. The most common form of download, though, is either a digital file of general anime information or, of course, the anime episodes themselves. This animation genre is so prolific and so interesting, that it keeps its online fans busy in countless different ways.

To read Looking For Your Favorite Anime Download

The Different Styles Of Anime Series

What makes Japanese anime series different from those produced in North America? Both can be richly colorful and take great animation skills to produce. Clearly, the actual styles are different, with many people being familiar with the larger eyes and slightly exaggerated features of the characters in anime.

But apart from the often more lush visual quality of this type of animation, when you watch anime episodes you begin to discover a certain depth, both of plot and character, that you don't see nearly as often in North American animations.

This complexity isn't always visible at first glance, for some anime series. For example, in the Sailor Moon series, the main character was often very silly. Yet Sailor Moon, probably the most beloved anime girl in the world, also had moments of nobility and strength.

The plot of this anime frequently veered between rather fluffy episodes and scenarios where this character or her companions might need to make deep personal sacrifices to save the world. This is a strong feature of anime; extreme silliness in one episode followed by heart-wrenching drama in the next.

Fullmetal Alchemist is another of the anime series with lighter moments, yet the thrust of this popular title is sober and dramatic. Two young brothers must undo the results of committing a terrible taboo of alchemy, while becoming involved with saving their country from destruction at the hands of unnatural alchemical forces.

Series like this and others are among the top anime titles precisely because they know how to balance the lighter, more ridiculous moments with more complex and dramatic plot elements. This intensity and complexity sets much anime apart from other styles of animation.

To read The Different Styles Of Anime Series

Production Companies Compromizing Over Anime Downloads

Illegal online downloads might have started with music, but they certainly didn't stop there. It took longer for video technology to develop, but illegal anime downloads eventually began posing the same problem for anime distributors that song downloads did for the music industry, early in the century.

Once a few people had the digital files from any series, it was easy for these to be uploaded to fan sites, and soon people could watch anime free online, and download the files to their own computers, without any consequences.

Just as Bandai and FUNimation took their hard public stance against illegal anime downloads, another Japanese entertainment company, GDH/Gonzo, began to demonstrate the real road to the successful resolution of the problem.

By joining forces with a fan site that had been strongly criticized for streaming anime illegally, Gonzo allowed the streaming to continue, but made higher quality versions of those videos available for a fee. This might not have eliminated illegal downloads entirely, but it mitigated the problem to a great extent.

It is to FUNimation's credit that they either followed Gonzo's lead, or at least developed a similar plan to deal with illegal anime downloads. The company hasn't entirely abandoned its prosecutorial ways, but it did set up its own video portal, positively loaded with free streaming anime.

It streams vast chunks of its anime library for free, while fans can take advantage of a download-to-own option, one episode at a time. This approach has worked very well to make the company's fans happy, while providing publicity and extra revenue as well. Gonzo may have had it right from the beginning: "If you can't beat them, join them."

To read more Production Companies Compromizing Over Anime Downloads

Fan Sites With Free Online Anime

One of the advantages of having free online anime at various websites is that people who can't afford to buy DVDs of whole series or download single episodes can still watch their favorite entertainment genre.

Many networks have stopped broadcasting anime, so the publicity this produced for these products has vanished. It serves the distribution companies well to allow people to watch free anime because it whets their appetite for the products the way TV broadcasts once did. People who can't afford to buy anime are happy beneficiaries of the arrangement.

What some may find surprising is that this online anime isn't always located at the websites of the distributors, even though its streaming is distributor-approved.

The Japanese entertainment and anime production company, GDH/Gonzo, does have its own branded YouTube channel where some of its series run, but it has also made arrangements to provide free streaming anime on at least one fan site.

The usual practice is that videos on fan sites are of lesser quality, and fans who want better quality episodes will purchase them legally.

In the same way that it might seem counterintuitive to provide free online anime in order to increase revenues, some North American distributors are following another practice that might sound contradictory.

The sensible course, in the minds of most people, would be to offer streaming only of series that have been around for awhile and might have run the course of the initial buying enthusiasm.

But some distributors are also letting fans watch anime free that has just been broadcast in Japan. By all these different means, publicity and good will are created, and this can only end up benefiting both the fans and the distributors.

To read more Fan Sites With Free Online Anime

Award Winning And Popular Anime Movies

You will get the same range of anime movies as you do in Hollywood, Bollywood or any other genre or production center. Some will clearly be just plain bad, while others will be obvious attempts to cash in and make money by producing a low-quality knock-off of a better movie.

But then you will watch anime movies that stand alone as probably the most creative and captivating animated films anywhere on the planet. Some of these are inspired by anime series, but others tell their own important stories.

Some anime movies are disappointing because they play upon fan devotion to the original series. The final episode of the popular Fullmetal Alchemist anime left many things hanging. It was clear that the creators simply expected fans to fork over money for the anime DVD of Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conquerer of Shamballa, for the resolution of these issues.

Most fans did so, but there was a lot of grumbling. On the other hand, movies like the ones based on the Naruto anime, while not spectacular, have been enjoyed because they feel more "honest," fitting in well with the ongoing series itself.

When you first think about it, the idea of anime movies doesn't automatically connect in the mind with events like the Cannes Film Festival or the Academy Awards.

But with Miyazaki's Academy Award win, and the applause other films have won at some of the major film festivals, there clearly is a quality and depth to these films that many other animated movies don't have.

Anime characters in the best series have long been recognized as multi-faceted characters, and anime plots can be both comic and tragic. These movies can stand at the top of the field with the best films.

To read more Award Winning And Popular Anime Movies

Comic Books With Political News

Some say that "Captain America" and "Superman" were little more than symbols of American patriotism, calling citizens to accept the call of duty for their country and do something larger than life.

Superman fought the Japanese during WWI and Captain America punched Hitler in the face during WWII. However, today's political news resounds through the comic graphic novels world in an entirely different way now.

Some dark comics came out of the Reagan years, but superheroes have been plunged into all-out civil warfare against their own governments.

Political news isn't always so directly reported through comic book art, though. Sometimes, events in modern life are paralleled through events in the comic book heroes universe.

For example, Marvel Comic's "Civil War," released in 2007, introduces an epic battle following the passage of "the Superhuman Registration Act" (much like the Patriot Act in our world), which asks that people trade in some of their liberties for security.

The Registration, more specifically, requires all costumed heroes to be licensed and trained, disclosing their secret identities to the government. While some characters in the DC Universe, like Fantastic Four's Reed Richards and Iron Man support the registration, others like Captain America develop an underground resistance.

Spiderman initially supports the idea so much he unmasks himself on live television, but later recants when he sees the Abu Ghraib-like prisons. Whether these obtuse allegories are an effective way of making a political statement or not remains to be seen.

There are also political news people like K. Thor Jensen and Jenny Gonzalez who focus on war stories. In "House of Twelve Goes To War," the depictions focus on little-known aspects of the War on Terrorism. "Some sad, some action-packed, some unfathomable, but I promise you each and every one is 100% true," the website declares.

"Team 12 was drafted by the government and forced into working towards its war effort. When we returned, we decided the truth must be told in the most effective way possible; auto-bio comics! These are our stories of our experiences during the Great War."

To read more Comic Books With Political News

Download And Read Comic Books On Your Portable Device

There are countless ways to read comic books in 2008. Dating back to the 1930s, kids would take their nickels into the local comic book store to buy and read the latest graphic novels.

They loved the feel of the paper, the way the colors jumped out at them and the portability of taking it anywhere they needed to be. Today, kids have unlimited ways to experience their favorite characters, whether on a DVD, on their iPhone or on their laptop.

The $1.99 "ComicZeal" program allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to download, convert and read comic books on their portable devices! The program is fast, smooth and versatile, allowing easy resizing.

Comic book series can be viewed in "landscape" or "portrait" mode and changing the page is as easy as tapping a button at the bottom of the screen. If the comic reading gets interrupted, "ComicZeal" remembers where the reader last left off. One of the best features is that the program comes with a converter so all comic files can be quickly converted to the resized format.

One more way to read comic books is in "Motion Comics" format, which includes limited movement, music, pans and zooms to bring the story to life. "We want people to see these stories through as many distribution points as possible," explains Marvel Comic Books.

Marvel has teamed up with Stephen King to create "N," as well as the character "Ultimate Spider-Man." DC Comics have released "Watchmen" and "Batman Adventures" as Motion Comics. These issues can be purchased for Microsoft Xbox and Verizon VCast!

The world of comic book art and story telling is always growing, and it seems the new technology compliments this genre quite well.

To read more Download And Read Comic Books On Your Portable Device

Exploring Universal Themes With Comic Books

Call it a friendly rivalry, but DC Comic Books and Marvel Comic Books have been on top of the graphic novels world since the 1930s. Despite newer labels, like Dark Horse Comics and IDW, it's unlikely that any other major publisher can supersede these leading giants.

While both graphic novels series explore universal themes, like the conflict between good and evil, the natural human aversion to anything that rebukes the status quo, and what drives human behavior. Yet there are also many clear distinctions that set the two publishers apart.

There are subtle but noticeable differences between Marvel and DC comic books. DC superheroes are focused on their own lives and purpose, whereas Marvel heroes are being hit with villains and extreme situations at every turn.

DC characters are proud of their abilities and strong in their beliefs, often delving into superhero life because they feel tremendous emotional/psychological drives to do what's right and seek justice. In contrast, Marvel comic characters struggle with the burden of their powers more often than not and long to pursue other ambitions.

In the end, it's hard to really say which comic book series reigns supreme. DC, the old dinosaur, has the oldest legacy of all comic books and can rightfully claim the invention of superheroes as we know them (with Superman debuting in 1938).

Their characters were perfect, supreme, and almost god-like in their abilities and powers. However, Marvel Comic Books brought a whole new spin on superheroes with their modern take; that many superheroes were just ordinary people with day jobs and complex emotions, yet wound up finding their callings as heroes (or villains) following a series of unusual events.

Many comic fans will read both so the rivalry has always been friendly, but a person's favorite character may say a lot about why he or she reads.

To read more Exploring Universal Themes With Comic Books

Finding A Job As A Comic Book Artist

The life of a comic book artist is much like any other in the creative field, such as writing, acting, fashion design, animation, in that it requires a certain kind of person to endure the arduous process.

If you can create a dynamic portfolio that showcases diversity and talent, then you're well on your way to being "marketable" to the comic book industry. Although, there will also be a lot of self-motivated networking at comic conventions, pitching to publishers, meeting new people and applying to freelance jobs online.

The good news is that dedication often pays off with more secure contracts over time and you'll find yourself with a rather rewarding, creative career ahead of you.

Your success is often dependent on your own personal motivation. Mike Mignola, Hellboy's comic book creator, says he works seven days a week from 9am - 9pm at his home studio, taking breaks throughout the day as needed.

That is one perk of this job; that you are relatively free to craft your own schedule, although there are deadlines.

"If you're working for a comic publisher like Marvel or DC Comics, you usually have to turn around a five to six page strip in about three weeks," says British comic book artist Jim McCarthy. "A graphic novel takes much longer – it might be eighteen months to two years from the original inception to a finished book."

Unfortunately, finding a comic book artist job isn't always easy. DC and Marvel Comic Books are considered very competitive to get into, so most newcomers will have to prove themselves and seek out smaller, independent jobs first.

Job sites like www.digitalwebbing.com, www.coroflot.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.getafreelancer.com and www.craigslist.org are becoming increasingly popular ways to find work. Yet the best way is said to be good, old-fashioned leg work and towing your portfolio to convention after convention and dazzling publishers with your resume and eye-catching illustrations.

For more resources on getting started, be sure to check out www.comicbookresources.com and www.theaoi.com.

To read more Finding A Job As A Comic Book Artist

The Universe Of Marvel Comics

Marvel comic books have truly endured the test of time, with nearly seventy years in the comic book industry. What started as a few niche pulp magazines sprouted into an entire Marvel Comics Universe, including comic books, trading cards, films, merchandise and "Motion Comic" DVDs.

While technology has thrust comic book heroes from the glossy pages of a magazine to computer screens, cell phones and the big screen, the characters and storylines have proved to be timeless.

In the 1960s, editor and visionary Stan Lee was given complete creative control in the studio. He enlisted the comic book art of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby, who created comic book heroes like X-Men, Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer.

What makes Marvel Comics distinct from DC Comics is that the characters have a more human appeal. Unlike comic book heroes like Superman or Wonder Woman, who were born with super powers, the Marvel heroes were created through science accidents or dramatic events.

The settings were in real places like New York City, Los Angeles or Toronto and the struggles were very real as many of the "anti-heroes" struggled with vices (like explosive anger) and psychological tension.

Many of the Marvel heroes didn't really want to be heroes and longed for normalcy. In later years, some comic book characters even struggled with drug addictions or turned from good to bad.

Marvel Comics publisher Dan Buckley is looking to the future. He hopes that people will continue reading comic books using new formats like motion comics, as well as cell-phone and iPod comics or downloadable issues.

He does worry about the loyal little comic book store owner, though. "We don't want to do anything to hurt anyone in the short term. We're still quibbling about what the primary form of revenue will be," Buckley said, relaying that some comics can be found online for free.

So far the internet has been a great promotional tool for the comic book industry.

To read more The Universe Of Marvel Comics

DC Comics With Popular Superheroes

Perhaps no one understands the concept of "heroes and villains" or "good versus bad" as well as Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. Malcolm was born into a highly regarded Portland family who entertained guests such as Teddy Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling.

He found his calling as a young army officer, serving around the world in Japan and Russia. According to Wheeler-Nicholson, he "chased bandits on the Mexican border, fought fevers and played polo in the Philippines, led a battalion of infantry against the Bolsheviki in Siberia, helped straighten out the affairs of the army in France [and] commanded the headquarters cavalry of the American force in the Rhine."

It was only fitting then, that he would go on to found DC Comics, leaving behind a legacy of graphic novels that took a closer look at the struggle between heroes and villains.

Following the "Golden Age of comic books" came the "Silver Age" of the 1950s and 1960s, where DC Comics superheroes became a little more human. The Flash was the first DC character that wasn't created by supernatural or alien means.

He had been human, until a lab accident imbued him with superhero powers. While many more characters would follow this model, particularly by Marvel Comic Books, The Flash was the precursor and inspired an amalgamation of science fiction and superheroes that persists even today.

DC Comics may be the oldest of the "superhero" genre, although it's certainly not the only one. Its rival, Marvel Comics, has seen decades of illustrious success, picking up its steam in the 1960s, pushing comics graphic novels to new heights as a way to grapple with psychological issues and purge frustrations with oneself and society at large.

There will always be heroes and villains in the world so it's unlikely that this medium, which is often passed down from generation to generation, will ever die.

To read more DC Comics With Popular Superheroes