THE BRAINSTRAINING PSYCHEDELIC ANIMATION OF VINCE COLLINS

This would have been a killer image for the 4th of July weekend, but luckily there’s never a bad time to pledge allegiance to the Psychedelic States of America! Above is a still from 200 by Vince Collins, a short animation made for the bicentennial that’s probably one of the best things our tax dollars ever paid for.

200

Starting in the 70s, Collins would handmake extremely stimulating animations about everything from how life is kinda beautiful to how humanity is kind of terrifying. (Or at least that’s the idea I got from his most NSFW work.)

LIFE IS FLASHING BEFORE YOUR EYES

Collins is still out there working now, but he’s moved toward computer graphics and is in pursuit of—according to this awesome interview from the obviously awesome Network Awesome people—what he calls “pure animation,” where anything happens at every moment:

With animation, you can do *anything* – so why try to make an exaggerated version of live action (in fact, the acting in live action movies seems to have become exaggerated because of the influence of animation)? Especially 2D drawn animation – why make thousands of drawings of basically the same character, when they could be all completely different drawings?

Below find another example of Collins’ early work, where each image dissolves into the next, something of a signature move for him. And you can check in with Collins on his Facebook, where you’ll find out exactly what particularly awesome thing he’s working on now.

EUPHORIA