This documentation is both personal narrative and practical guide—a record of my research, experiments, failures, and breakthroughs from May 2024 to present.
This documentation is both personal narrative and practical guide—a record of my research, experiments, failures, and breakthroughs from May 2024 to present.
Painting animation is a technique where an artist creates animation by manipulating paint on a surface—typically glass—photographing each incremental change to create sequential frames. Unlike cel animation or digital animation, painting animation captures the actual transformation of paint, preserving brushstrokes, texture, and the organic quality of the medium.
The magic lies in the transformation: one painting literally becomes another through the artist's hand. This creates a dreamlike, fluid quality impossible to achieve through other animation methods.
Painting animation has roots in early experimental animation, but gained recognition through several pioneering artists:
Definition: Paint is continuously transformed from one image to another, photographed at each stage
Characteristics: Fluid, dreamlike transitions; preserves all intermediate states
Application: Emotional storytelling, abstract narratives, morphing sequences
Example: My Inception project's fetus-to-heart transformation sequence
Definition: Paint is partially or completely replaced between frames
Characteristics: More control over specific imagery; can maintain consistent forms
Application: Narrative animation, character-based stories
Example: Segments in Loving Vincent where paintings were recreated for each frame
Definition: Multiple glass panes stacked with different elements painted on each layer
Characteristics: Creates depth, parallax effects, and dimensional complexity
Application: Complex scenes requiring foreground/background separation
Example: Aleksandr Petrov's work in The Old Man and the Sea; my experiments with 3D ear and heart objects
Definition: Continuous painting process captured at intervals
Characteristics: Shows artistic process; meta-narrative about creation
Application: Behind-the-scenes content, process documentation
Definition: Combines painting animation with digital elements, cutouts, or other techniques
Characteristics: Expands creative possibilities while maintaining painted aesthetic
Application: Interactive experiences, games, installation art
Example: Unleaving and Inception projects combining painted frames with Unity engine
Advantages:
Challenges:
Discovered glass late in Unleaving production. The transformation was immediate—colors became more vibrant, and the ability to layer glass sheets created depth impossible with canvas. However, I struggled with glare using my overhead scanner, which ultimately led me to explore camera-based capture systems.
Advantages:
Challenges:
Advantages:
Challenges:
After extensive experimentation documented in my journal, I settled on water-mixable oil paints as my primary medium for the Inception project.
Properties:
Brands I use: Winsor & Newton water-mixable oils. Sample colors purchased first, then expanded palette after settling on color scheme.
Based on Carine Khalife's advice and my own experiments, I've learned to work with limited palettes of 2-3 colors plus black/white:
Current Inception Palette:
Key Learnings:
Properties:
Challenges I faced:
Carine Khalife's technique: Mix oil paint with grease (50/50 ratio) to keep paint workable for days. She notes the smell is more bearable than oil with turpentine.
— Carine KhalifeProperties:
Application in animation: Best for quick experiments and studies, but challenging for smooth transformation sequences due to rapid drying. I used acrylics extensively in early Unleaving experiments but found them limiting for the fluid transformations I wanted in Inception.
What I've learned: Dedicated Space is Essential. Once you begin a painting animation sequence, your setup cannot move. I learned this the hard way—even slight shifts in camera angle or lighting create continuity breaks in the final animation.
My Setup Evolution:
Size Considerations:
Lighting was my biggest challenge and breakthrough. Here's what I discovered:
❌ Never use window/natural light for painting animation
✓ Always use controlled artificial light
My Lighting Journey:
Carine Khalife's Setup (from interview):
"I'm the only one who sees it as it truly is—people see only 10% of the magic in the captured images"
— Carine KhalifeProblem: Glass surface reflects camera, lights, and surroundings
Solutions I've tested:
Used: LED scanner (more accurate than CCFL)
Maximum size: A3 format (limiting)
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Conclusion: Works well for paper/canvas but incompatible with glass animation
Equipment:
Settings I use:
Key Principle: Nothing changes except the painting
Recommended by both Khalife and Mark Boston
Features that transformed my workflow:
"You have more control when you have the sequence running. You have a sense of painting. Sometimes you can see a nice frame, but maybe the movement is off—that's why you need to see the sequence while painting. You must feel the movement and not only have a nice picture."
— Carine Khalife on DragonframeAlternative Software:
Traditional animation approach: Detailed drawings of every key frame and transition
Painting animation reality: Overly detailed storyboards can be limiting and create disappointment when paint doesn't cooperate
My Evolved Approach (learned from Carine Khalife):
Focus on feelings, flow, and key moments rather than exact images:
My Storyboarding Method:
"If I put expectations too high and if I don't get there, then I feel disappointed by not meeting them. I've learned I don't have to control everything. I only control what I want people to feel—if it's going to be dark, strong, small or whatever. Then I make some sketches. I think about it before the animation, and then I let it go. It works!"
— Carine Khalife on StoryboardingThis was the hardest lesson to learn: Start with the feeling, not the image.
Questions I ask before each sequence:
"The first frame is always the hardest. It sometimes takes me three to four days just to complete the first frame. After that, the process becomes easier as I get used to the style, colors, and theme."
— Carine KhalifeThis resonated deeply with my experience. The first frame holds all the uncertainty, the commitment to direction, and the establishment of style, color, and mood.
My approach to overcoming first-frame paralysis:
Once first frame exists, the process becomes more fluid:
Challenge: Paint dries during multi-frame sequences
Solutions I've developed:
Color Consistency:
Movement Consistency:
Standard animation: 24fps (film) or 30fps (video)
Painting animation reality: Much slower
My rates for Inception:
Why slower works:
What makes painting animation uniquely emotional:
Setting Clear Emotional Goals
Before beginning Inception, I established:
Issue: Paint mixed fresh each session varies slightly; visible in final animation
Solutions that worked:
Issue: Camera, lights, room reflected in glass surface
Solutions tested:
Issue: Water-mixable oils dry faster than traditional oils
Solutions:
Issue: Individual frames look good but animation feels jerky
Solutions:
Issue: Traditional oil paints caused respiratory problems
Solutions:
"It's true, but you have producers; you have to make promises to yourself and other collaborators. You have a lot of expectations of yourself, but you can meet it in the middle whenever you're ready. You may never reach the top or the highest expectations, but who needs perfection? When you surrender, you realize that's the best place because it serves the feelings you want to capture."
— Carine KhalifeThis became my mantra during Inception production.
What it means in practice:
"I like to paint on glass, it's strange because you lose it. You have to be humble, you can not be proud. In the morning, the painting is gone. I paint in the middle of the night, I'm the only one who saw it, witnessing my painting. No one can see it only images, which I think it's 10% of the magic."
— Carine KhalifeThis practice:
Balance between:
My Process for Getting Unstuck:
Artists:
Visual References:
Why documentation helps with inspiration:
Technical Challenges:
Creative Challenges:
Personal Challenges:
My advice based on this journey:
Immediate (Present - December 2025):
Future:
Painting animation is technically challenging, emotionally rewarding, practically difficult, and magically transformative.
It requires patience, humility, intention, consistency, and surrender.
It offers unique emotional storytelling capacity, handmade beauty in a digital age, deep satisfaction of craft, connection with tradition, and innovation possibilities.
This documentation represents where I am in the journey—not at the end, but in the midst. I share it imperfectly, meeting "in the middle" between ambition and reality, hoping it serves others exploring this beautiful, challenging medium.
"Perfection isn't interesting."
— Carine KhalifeWhat's interesting is the authentic struggle, the organic discovery, the feeling captured in paint, the magic witnessed only in the moment of creation.
May your own painting animation journey be filled with wonder, patience, joy, community, and stories that move hearts.
"It feels like it was all a dream."
— Carine Khalife