Takeover Tuesday with dina Amin
Q&A with dina Amin, a Stop Motion Artist and Maker from Cairo, Egypt.
Q&A with dina Amin
Read time: 5min
Adult Swim Stop Motion ID | Client: Adult Swim, Animation: dina Amin
Madison Caprara:
Hey, dina! How’re you doing? Could you give us a little insight into you and your work?
dina Amin:
I am doing great thanks!
My name is dina Amin, I am a Stop Motion Artist and Maker from Cairo, Egypt.
Madison Caprara:
Now, I see that your BA is actually in industrial design, what prompted you to pivot away from that?
dina Amin:
It was a very unintended shift. After studying industrial design in Malaysia and coming back to Egypt, it was difficult to find opportunities. For a few years, I took on many different jobs, after a while, however, I began to feel lost. I loved industrial design, but hated a big part of the industry; most of the things we design end up being thrown away. So one day I decided to do the thing I loved the most.
There were many worries: “Is it a ‘real’ job?” “Where would it lead professionally?” “Will I be able to make money from it?” At the time, I didn’t have the answers, but I convinced myself that my true calling was to take products apart. I started doing so every weekend, until one day I decided to animate these parts using something I had learned about: stop motion. I was immediately hooked. For a year and a half, I would take apart a broken product and animate it coming together in new ways. This is how I taught myself animation.
Madison Caprara:
Wow, that takes an insane amount of self-discipline.
So what exactly is stop motion? How does it differ from other forms of animation?
dina Amin:
Stop motion is a form of handmade animation. Every component is real and is physically moved by the animator. You take a series of photos of an object and in each photo, you move the object slightly. When all these photos are played back-to-back, it appears as if the object is moving on its own.
What makes stop motion very different from other types of animation, is that it is a merging of two practices: animation and photography.
Madison Caprara:
What initially drew you to stop motion as opposed to other animating techniques?
dina Amin:
Stop motion is magical. I basically am constructing an illusion. We trick you into seeing something that isn’t real but looks as if it is. With stop motion, I can make any wild imagination into a fascinating reality.
Madison Caprara:
Do you see any intersection between the two: industrial design and stop motion?
dina Amin:
YES! I have learned that many industrial designers actually make the switch to stop motion. A large part of stop motion involves fabrication—whether it’s making the sets or fabricating the inner skeletons of a puppet. There is a lot of product design and engineering knowledge utilized. Knowing a lot about different materials is helpful as well. We are constantly problem-solving.
Madison Caprara:
And what steps did you take in pursuing it professionally? You mentioned that initially, you were self-taught.
dina Amin:
I am self-taught and mainly learned with consistent practice. Eventually, I started learning more skills like animation principles, cinematography, how to use lighting, video editing, and fabrication. Stop motion really is under the umbrella of many different fields, but with time and discipline, anyone can teach themselves.
Madison Caprara:
Do you have any resource or tutorial recommendations for those who may be interested in learning?
dina Amin:
Of course:
The Animator’s Survival Kit, by Richard Williams
My Skillshare course, Stop Motion for Beginners
My free printable and tutorial on how to make a certain character using stop motion
Kevin Parry’s intermediate course on stop motion
Edu Puertas’ Youtube
Guldies’ Patreon
My Patreon
AdeenaGrub’s Patreon
Terry Ibele’s, Animation Industry Podcast.
Madison Caprara:
Now having experienced both sides of the coin—formal education and self-teaching—where do you stand on the debate for/against pursuing a college degree? Is it essential for success in your opinion?
dina Amin:
There isn’t one option that’s better than the other. Even if you do pursue a degree, you’ll still be teaching yourself a lot of the skills. There is a lot of information out there, you can’t expect to get it from a single source or person. I see the term “self-teaching” as you WANTING to teach yourself, but not necessarily the same as you being your sole teacher. There is a difference.
When you are “self-taught” you are still learning from others who have put the information out there. Whether they know it or not, they were your teachers. So, the drive has to be there, even in college. Is a college degree essential to success? Absolutely not. It’s the desire-to-learn attitude that is essential. But one thing that college makes easier, if the student makes use of it, is the early network building and ease of establishing connections.
Madison Caprara:
Couldn’t agree with you more on that one.
Moulid Doll | Client: Zest, Animation: dina Amin
Madison Caprara:
Speaking on establishing connections, how did you go about cultivating and creating a community in an industry that was completely new to you?
dina Amin:
Completely new and almost nonexistent in Egypt! The short answer is...the internet. I met a lot of interesting people through my Instagram and made sure to spread my work on online blogs and editorials. Consequently, I started getting opportunities to speak at conferences and began meeting up with so many incredible creatives. My community kept growing and growing from there!
Madison Caprara:
On the flip side, what about creating client relationships?
dina Amin:
Very important! Client relations are the key to sustaining your work as a freelancer, or even if you are running your own studio. I prefer to work with clients I relate to. The work is “easy” and more fun if I love what they do or what they are creating. Everyone is working towards the same goal, that goal being to make the best deliverable for their product/service rather than “finishing another job.” Two completely different mentalities. These types of clients are easy to grow a relationship with, everyone is happy with the process and outcome, and they usually remember you for their next project.
Madison Caprara:
For curiosity’s sake, who was your first client or project?
dina Amin:
My first project was for BBC Arabic. They had interviewed me for a tv report and thought that I could make an intro for the show being that I knew both Arabic and English!
Madison Caprara:
Do you have a favorite stop motion work or artist?
dina Amin:
There are too many good ones, Guldies is my favorite, he has the best timing in his animations. The movements are so smooth and I like his imagination.
Madison Caprara:
Well, it’s been really great speaking with you, dina! I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about the stop motion side before this conversation.
Before we wrap it up, is there anything would like to end on?
dina Amin:
I’d advise anyone who would like to start learning stop motion to just go for it! Just do it. Don’t wait for the “right” tools or the “right” course. Take out your phone, download any stop motion app, and start moving things.