A few months ago we interviewed the incredible Darren Pearson, aka Dariustwin – a photographer, light painter and animator based in Southern California, USA. He’s made a name for himself through a series of incredibly time-consuming stop-motion animations where he draws in the air using light.
One video can take months and months to record, as Darren has to plan the shoots around the weather and moon phases as well as scout out locations and storyboard his ideas. For someone who’s not particularly good at drawing even just on paper, it blows my mind that Darren is able to create such detailed drawings, mid-air, without even being able to see what he’s doing.
• Best cameras for stop motion animation
It’s no surprise that on both Instagram and TikTok Darius has gained a huge following, and rightfully so. It’s the first time I’ve ever stumbled across light painting stop animations and, clearly, I’m not the only one who finds it inspiring. He now has more than 185K followers on Instagram and gathered 4.9million likes on TikTok, where he regularly shares process videos alongside final pieces.
As well as working on self-directed series and short films, Darren has recently started asking people in the comments what he should draw next. Responses so far have included everything from Pikachu, to Kermit the Frog, to a mariachi skeleton band, a hummingbird and even an octopus.
Every time I see a video he posts I think to myself, “surely there’s no way he’s going to be able to light paint that,” and every time, I am proved wrong. In one incredible animation, he even incorporates a person into the light painting who moves with the animation, transforming from an angel to a devil.
To create these jaw-dropping works of art, Darren uses a Sony A7R III, a tripod and a light painting tool he invented called a Night Writer. It comes with a range of colored tips that you can use to create your masterpieces in all the colors of the rainbow. Darren’s been perfecting this craft for the last decade so don’t expect to be as good straight away but you might be surprised with what you come up with.
People’s creativity never ceases to amaze me and Darren's art goes to show a little patience goes a very long way. From the short films he posts on YouTube, to behind-the-scenes clips he posts on TikTok and Instagram, it’s needless to say I’m hooked and I’m sure you will be too.
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