Alright, so I had this crazy idea to make an animation about, get this, dim sum. Yeah, those little tasty dumplings and buns. I thought, “Why not? It’s fun, it’s delicious, and it’s something different.” So, I started brainstorming, because, you know, every good project starts with a messy pile of ideas.
The Initial Idea Dump
First, I scribbled down some character ideas. I was picturing these cute, round dumplings with big, expressive eyes. Maybe a sassy siu mai, a wise old har gow, and a hyperactive little char siu bao. It was all very vague at this point, just a bunch of doodles in my notebook.
I listed out possible scenarios.
- A dumpling rolling contest?
- A quest for the perfect dipping sauce?
- Maybe a love story between a shrimp dumpling and a pork bun? Cheesy, I know, but hey, it could work.
Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty
Next, I decided to use some free animation software I found online.I figured I’d start simple. I am no Pixar animator. I downloaded the software and started playing around with it. It was… confusing at first, to say the least. I spent a good few hours just trying to figure out how to make a circle move across the screen.
I watched a ton of tutorials, I mean a TON. My YouTube history was basically all animation tutorials for a week. Seriously. But slowly, very slowly, I started to get the hang of it.
I managed to create a basic model of a har gow. It looked… rough, let’s be honest. Like a blob with googly eyes. But it was MY blob with googly eyes, and I was strangely proud of it.
The Animation Struggle is Real
I tried to make it move. Oh boy. This was harder than it looked in the tutorials. My har gow kind of… jiggled across the screen. It wasn’t * wasn’t elegant. It was a jiggling mess.
I spent days, tweaking and adjusting, trying to get the movement right. I added more details, like little shrimp bits and tiny folds in the dumpling skin. It was starting to look a little less like a blob and a little more like an actual dumpling. Progress!
Finally, a Tiny Victory!
After weeks of effort, I finally had something. It was a short, 10-second clip of my har gow character doing a little dance. It was far from perfect, but it was something. It was my dim sum anime, in its very, very early stages.
I showed it to my friend, and they actually laughed! Not at it, but with it, I think. That was enough motivation for me to keep going. I know I’ve got a long way to go, but hey, every animator starts somewhere, right? And mine just happens to start with a jiggling, dancing har gow.