Plexus
year
type
sofware
2024
2D
After Effects, Illustrator
Who is Gabriel Dawe?
Gabriel Dawe is an installation artist who is most known for his Plexus Series. Using sewing thread and hooks, he weaves together a representation of the visible light spectrum. The layers of colored threads build complex forms that move across the space.
A Moving Exhibition Poster
To capture the immersive depth of Dawe's large-scale thread installations through a moving poster for his *exhibition. The goal is to create a sophisticated animation that draws visitors into his exhibition that preserve the spirit of his work without feeling like a copy-paste of his work.
*hypothetical
The Process
01 Concept
These are initial sketches and concepts that were pitched to the client. Hover over each one to read the proposed animation and rationale.
02 Type Layout & Design
Progression as I figured out the type layout and poster design.
03 Animation
Point Animation
In After Effects, I created a precomp for a set of triangle lines, using the pen tool to draw 82 lines. I applied the 'Create Nulls from Path' feature to control each line's sides with null objects. I then parented the right-side nulls to a 'Right Side' null and the left-side nulls to a 'Left Side' null. Finally, I used scale and position keyframes on the y-axis to adjust the spreading and positioning of the lines.
Gradients
I created a massive 2160×23040 gradient in After Effects, animated its Y-position, and used it as a track matte to give the stroke animations extra motion and energy for the poster. I chose a linear gradient to reflect the linear color patterns of Dawe’s installations. To achieve this, I had to adjusted the coloring of the design, but both the client and I felt the change was subtle and appropriate to make the poster stronger.
The Final Look!
