Reactions Monday

Sometimes, you’re about halfway through a Monday and you think to yourself “IDK, man. IDK.” So, “I Don’t Know” is the theme for today’s Reaction Monday. Check out more IDKs here on Giphy!

(Thanks to Giphy-favorite GIF Artist Hoppip for perfectly capturing our mood via Cat GIF. You can see a lot more Hoppip GIFs HERE.)

Artist Spotlight: Hoppip

When did you first start making GIFs? What was the first GIF you made?

I think I might have done my first GIFs . I used to have this Geocities (or Tripod, I can’t remember) page with a friend where we would make some short GIF stories, frame-by-frame with a mouse on MS-Paint and a random GIF-making tool we had found in the web. It was about 10-9 years ago and it was pretty rustic but we had a lot of fun. I have sadly lost the files and the site is not up anymore!

When I signed up on Tumblr (more than 2 years ago) I rediscovered and became truly amazed by GIFs and their potential and started to explore the media once again. It has grown so much since then and there are so many great GIF artists around now!

As for my ‘Tumblr’ GIFs, the first one I uploaded while learning Photoshop was this one from the film Control:

http://hoppip.tumblr.com/post/6014948298

As for the drawn-ones (that know I’m best known for), it all started with my old header which I later reuploaded here:

What kind of a process do you go through to create your art?

It varies depending on the kind of GIF I’m making. Typically I start with a thought or a small doodle - I daydream and draw a lot everyday! I get a lot of inspiration on my daily life and things I see. Afterwards, I just sit on the computer, start sketching with my Wacom on Photoshop and then post it on Tumblr. But sometimes I just open the program and apply a more random method of just start drawing without thinking, or maybe I just open another program (Such as After Effects) and just start playing around with the options. There are very interesting outcomes of this different approach!

If you would like to see a more in-depth explanation of my animation method, I’ve made a post here.

Why GIF art? What makes it more appealing than other mediums?

I think the magic of the GIF medium is actually the limitations it has: you have to try to express and idea through a small piece of graphic media that compresses pixels. One thing that is really unique about this medium is its capacity of looping infinitely which really opens a lot of possibilities on storytelling.

Who are a few of your favorite GIF artists/or artists in general?

This one is fairly difficult to answer because I have many favourites. Here are some few of them whose love I work (and their Tumblr urls!): maudit, headlikeanorange, iwdrm, annstreetstudio, patakk, mrgif, eightninea and iainaction.

What is your all-time favorite GIF?

If there is a more difficult question than my favourite GIF artists, it’s this one! But currently, I’m mesmerized with the simplicity and beauty of this one:

GIF by Iain Acton

Check out Hoppip’s artist page on Giphy here.

Download a screensaver of Hoppip’s GIF art here.

GIF Artist Wednesday

We love “Pretty Little Liars” GIFs as much as the next Tumblr page, but Giphy is also an enormous fan of original GIF artists. We’ve got a growing artist community on our main site, filled with hundreds of cool, funny, and mind-bending pieces by some of the world’s best GIF artists.

Sure, you can spend all day just browsing through the art (hell, we recommend it) but, if you wanted to take our artist catalog to the next level, check out our Giphy Screensavers and Giphy Memory Game! 

The artist-themed Giphy Screensavers turn your computer into moving pieces of modern art and artist-themed Memory Games give you a little culture while you’re having some throw-back fun at your desk. Check out some of these games:

- Mr. Div Memory Game 

- Hoppip Memory Game

- The Good Films Memory Game

And next week, we’re going to start our Wednesday series of interviewing GIF artists! So, watch this space!