School of Motion reached out to me to see if I’d create a tutorial for their YouTube channel. With mixed media being my main passion I opted to create a character animation tutorial using the free plugin DUIK.

Having been a huge fan of School of Motion for years, and having taken a couple of their courses myself, I was overjoyed to get involved. I was keen to create was a starter guide for DUIK, something that would run through the basics of the plugin, enough to rig and then animate some basic movement into a mixed media character.

From there I experimented with a few ideas before landing on the theme of working out. The simple, condensed movements of certain exercises provided the perfect platform for demonstrating the character rig.

The tutorial follows the entire process of the sheep animation - from prepping to rigging and then animating the character. I also created a few additional animations with other animals and exercises, to show how the techniques can be put into practice.

If you follow the tutorial to create something of your own, I’d absolutely love to see them! Please tag me with your creations on Instagram @mikelabrow.