FAQ

Who are you?
David M Pickett is an animator living and working in Chicago, Illinois. He produces stop-motion animations on a regular basis and sells DVDs and related merchandise to recoup his production costs.

How long did it take you to animate that?
Animating is my hobby, my passion, my release. I enjoy doing it, so I don’t usually keep track of the time I spend doing it. However, since I get this question so frequently I have started keeping track of my time more precisely. For instance this 24 minute video had about 102 hours of animating time put into it, but this 2 minute video had 110 animating manhours. These numbers are both precise and misleading. They represent only the time spent taking pictures and making tiny movements (i.e. animating), they do not include time developing scripts, recording voices, building the sets and characters, arranging lights, editing videos together, or distributing them across the internet.

How did you make that? / How can I make an animation?
I try to include as much behind-the-scenes information as possible when I post projects here. I also started a how to animate section of my website to answer just this question. I hope you find it helpful!

Press

“If you build it, they will come” – UChicago College Newsletter – Winter 2013
“Art in stop-motion” – UChicago Magazine – 2/28/2012
Interview – AV Club Chicago – 2/28/2011
Interview – Lindsay Champion – 4/15/2010