Workshop: Paint, draw, scratch - create a hand-made animation

In this animation workshop you will be able to express your creativity in animation by exploring various techniques of painting, drawing, and scratching directly on 35mm film. The resulting workshop animation will screen in the Best Of The Festival program at the Melbourne International Animation Festival MIAF 2025!

Participants will be able to work on film materials such as 35mm film leader, black film, transparent film and found footage. Using the physical film material as a canvas allows for a uniquely handmade and tactile approach to animation! You’ll experiment with a variety of ‘direct-on-film’ methods such as painting, drawing, stamping, collaging or scratching on actual film material.

Held at the venue COLLARTS Australian College of the Arts, the workshop is led by animator Sabrina Schmid, who will guide you in animating simple drawings or colourful patterns, to create stylised figures, shapes or abstracted images brought to life in animated motion. Your sequences will be digitized during the session for viewing, and afterwards edited into a collective animation that you will be able to download and share.

The finished workshop animation will be screened in the Best Of The Festival program at MIAF on Sunday 25 May at the Treasury Theatre.

All materials and tools are provided.

Tutor: Sabrina Schmid is an animator and educator whose experimental films have screened at international animation festivals including MIAF, LIAF, Punto Y Raya, Anibar, Animaze, and Ottawa amongst many more. She currently teaches animation at Collarts, Australian College of the Arts, next to creating independent animations.