More Research

I looked into different kinds of instructions for children, from how to make things from recycled material, and steps on how to make a cake, to find out how to make it simple and easy for them to follow. After looking into these things i found a way to make my instructions for making a bird feeder suitable for young children by using the same simple language and keeping the instructional diagrams clear and bold as i saw in the examples.

I thought about a few shows on cbeebies that show how to make things for young kids.


 Mister Maker shows how to make fun things out of bits of paper, old plastic bottles, used kitchen roll tubes, egg cartons and other recyclable materials found in the house.

I Can Cook shows children how to make simple dishes in a quick and easy way. There is a cook book out which i found useful in looking at the instructions and diagrams to see what is easy for kids to understand.

Green Balloon Club is a programme all about nature and the environment and how to look after it. This fits in with the theme for the Okido page because the bird feeder is made of recycled materials and also looking after the birds teaches children about nature.

How to make a Bird Feeder

Okido Research

Okida is an arts and science magazine for kids.

Laura Bird contributed to Okido with a really interesting design about where food comes from. I like how she has used cardboard and paper to make  a 3D image hat she has then photographed. This works really well with the recycled materials and sustainability theme.
Laura Bird's blog

Alex barrow is a London based illustrator. He is the art director for Okido and has had his illustrations in the magazine on several occasions.
alex barrow's blog
Some examples of his work:

Maggi Li has also done a few pages for Okido. I like he simple design and limited colour pallate of her growing seed illustration.

Maggie Li's blog

research for animation

A bit about a zoetrope.

A zoetrope is a device that produces the illusion of motion from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the Greek words ζωή (zoē), meaning alive/active, and τροπή (tropē) meaning turn. With zoetrope taken to mean active turn or wheel of life. The earliest known zoetrope was made in China around 180 AD by the inventor Ting Huan. Ting Huan's device moved by convection, hung over a lamp and was called chao hua chich kuan  meaning the pipe which makes fantasies appear. The rising air turned vanes at the top  from which translucent paper panels hung. When the device was spun at the right speed, pictures painted on the panels would appear to move.

The modern zoetrope was invented in 1833 by British mathematician William George Horner. He called it the daedalum  as a reference to the Greek myth of Daedalus. The daedalum failed to become popular until the 1860s when it was patented by both English and American makers. The American developer William F. Lincoln named his toy the zoetrope, meaning "wheel of life". Almost simultaneously similar inventions were made in Belgium by Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (the phenakistoscope) and in Austria by Simon von Stampfer (the stroboscope).

A really great video from Pixar showing how animation in made by using a 3D zeotrope:

Lego Batman 3D Zoetrope with diving Penguins!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfS2kGO5lg8&feature=relmfu


BBC 2 did a zeotrope animation for their intervals which was aired from 2007 - 2009:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RbSaxF4tTo


How to make a home-made zeotrope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHmSG1j7hXM&feature=related


The Cyclotrope - like a zeotrope only different:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A72qJid4Vt8&feature=related

Subway zoetropes:

In September 1980 independent film-maker Bill Brand installed a type of linear zoetrope, he called the "Masstransiscope" in an unused subway platform at Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. It consisted of a wall with 228 slits, behind each slit was a hand-painted panel and riders in subways moving past the display saw a motion picture. After falling into a state of disrepair the "Masstransiscope" was restored in late 2008. Since then, a variety of artists and advertisers have begun to use subway tunnel walls to produce a zoetrope effect when viewed from moving trains.

Stop motion animation :
Western Spaghetti by PES

Hand Drawn animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJaq0T9BjvE


Rotoscope animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63o3ENsF2kE




Aniboom youtube channel has loads of short animations, i was going to put a few clips up here but couldnt choose they are all so good! 
http://www.youtube.com/user/aniBOOM/videos?view=0





Also thought i'd put up an animation i made last year, a little cartoon of me writing my name on the screen :)

Dancing Octopus!

The video runs slowly the first time and jumps so you have to play it a few times to get it to run smoothly :)