How I did it!

I animated this simple toast and jam illustration. 

The drawing was done in Adobe Illustrator and the animation was done in After Effects.

I wish I had documented all the changes I went through in the initial illustrator design. However just know it was a lot a lot of changes. I ended her I wanted it to feel fun almost cartoon and have the feeling of sweetness on a summers day. 

First, thing I animated was the movement of the knife. I went back and forth with the knife using a position a path. Next. I added little rotations to the knife to make it all a little bit more organic. I imagined how I would spread this jelly on toast. This was by far the easiest part. 

Next, the hardest part. I was trying to figure out how to reveal the jam as the knife spread over that part of the bread. 

First, I tried to make three separate sections of jam that I revealed by changing the opacity. THIS WAS WRONG! And so very Very bad do not do this thing.

But no fear there is a much simpler and better appearing way.

Use clipping masks. I made four separate masks to match the different movements of the knife. And was able to revile the jam as I moved overs as you can see below.

This worked BEAUTIFULLY! 

This is the fist time I animated one of my illustrations. And know, I know, it is ridiculously simple however I made this and I learned a lot and because of that I am proud of it. I think it beautiful. I hope it makes you happy and maybe inspires you to enjoy a pice of summer jam on toast and keep spreading art...

Spread art like jam on toast.

Heres the YouTube link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9pUOTgTAc&feature=youtu.be