A Beginner's Guide to Gif Artists: Nerd Edition

Most modern gifs are inherently nerdy. They are often animated snippets of a scene in a film, TV show, or game, and they communicate on an obvious level (e.g., that gif of a pair of pants flying through the air with the blinking marquee of OOPS THERE GO MY PANTS in this context implies arousal) and a wink-nudge pop cultural level (e.g., that pants scene is from Breaking Bad, and there's really nothing sexy about that sequence). Below is a handful of geeky gif-makers who go a step further than plopping something in gifsoup.com or sketching their favorite characters dancing Gangnam Style. 

A Link to the Past:
Zac Gorman

The gif world got a beautiful gift when Zac Gorman announced he had “started playing with motion comics.” Sprinkling simple animations on his already-gorgeous drawings was a winning combination. He wondered aloud (on the internet) whether he should do a whole series of Legend of Zelda themed motion comics…and then he did. And then it grew. Today he mixes vintage game nostalgia with core gamer dedication on Magical Game Time.

Zac Gorman’s art stirs up all these old feelings of happiness and heartbreak, serving as examples of the very real connections we've formed with our favorite heroes and heroines. —Destructoid 

The Caped Crusader:
Sarah Johnson 

There’s about as much comedy as there is drama in capes, and no one knows that better than Sarah Johnson. Sarah needed a break from some tedious freelance work, and she indulged her then-newfound Batman love to make some animations. The result is an ongoing and adorable examination of what Batman does on slow days in Gotham. Suited up, of course.

In her Ordinary Batman series, Sarah Johnson  humanizes the Dark Knight without diminishing him. He may be pictured scooping out the litterbox, but hey, making the world a better place comes in all kinds of forms. —The Daily Dot

The classic:
Kerry Callen

“I’m not an animator,” says cartoonist Kerry Callen shortly before animating the shit out of these comic book covers. There have been only two blog entries into Kerry’s gif collection, and if he knew what was good for him—well, if he knows what’s good for the internet—he’d make some more. Please, Kerry?

The narwhal bacons at:
Jake Olimb

Following in the novelty account footsteps of Shitty_Watercolour and Reaction_On_My_Nub is Jake Olimb, AKA Animates_Everything. Jake has applied his animation savvy to Reddit, lovingly illustrating fellow Redditors’ stories—and probably making the OPs’ days along the way. The gifs’ simplicity comes down to them being time-sensitive replies…given a few days (see his downvote and upvote gifs), this film grad’s animations are serious business.

A lot of the time, pictures on Reddit will be the aftermath of something that happened. ‘Look at what just happened to me.’ ‘Look at who I ran into.’ I imagine the events that took place before the picture was taken. —The Daily Dot

Dark Knight strikes twice:
Clay Rodery

Where Sarah Johnson was inspired by Batman: The Animated Series, Clay Rodery takes his cues from the Nolanverse. His fanart captures the noir shades of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy while reminding viewers sharply of Batman’s roots in the illustrated world. (Another hat tip to Team Algeo for sending these babies my way.)