Mar 15, 2024

Brett Foxwell's "LeafPresser" is a great example of alternative animation showing off the beauty and diversity of the natural world.

Brett Foxwell's 2-minute short LeafPresser is a great example of alternative animation showcasing the incredible diversity of leaf shapes, textures and colors found in nature.

LeafPresser was inspired by another Foxwell project, the short film WoodSwimmer. Using strata cut animation, that short explored the internal structure of trees and branches. After finishing the project, the director made a trilogy of shorts using natural materials, each made using different animation techniques

Talking with Comic Brew, Foxwell explained the inspiration for his leaf-themed entry in the trilogy:

Soon autumn came, and from these leaves I began to collect, push and photograph hundreds, and then thousands, of leaves.

Eventually, Foxwell shot more than 12,000 leaves. If the size and shape of the leaves are not readily available, he will go looking for something that fits the bill in a motion he described as a "very boring effort," but the stop-motion animation

finished short is smooth and flowing in a way that could easily be confused with cg animation. According to Foxwell:

The sequences were meticulously assembled in After Effects and many small adjustments were made to smooth them out. All the leaves were taken lit on the front and lit on the back. This allowed the final assembly to have a kind of spotlight to show the internal vascular structure.

A further breakdown of the techniques used in the short film can be seen in the behind-the-scenes video linked below.