Laughing Man

An attempt to recreate the animated "Laughing Man" avatar from "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex". I just thought it would be a cool test of simple animation with Inkscape.

This is an original execution using Inkscape to create a multi-layer SVG (I drew the whole thing based on what you see on screen in the TV series). The frames were created by the simple expedient of rotating the text ring and saving successive steps. The result was combined into an animated GIF by ImageMagick and then optimized and timed with Gifsicle.

AFAIK, fan art like this (original execution) doesn't infringe copyright although there may be trademark issues affecting it (it's common for studios to apply a blanket trademark statement to characters and other elements of a series). However, I've released this file CC-By because I'm not placing any additional restrictions on it. Attribution: "Terry Hancock".

The text of course, is from Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" as is revealed in the series. Apparently Japanese English students often read this work. I suppose it's because it's supposed to be elevated literature, but is written with a very small vocabulary (?). References to "Catcher in the Rye" crop up now and then in other anime if you pay close attention (I can't remember where I saw it, but there's at least one "Pitcher in the Rye" book revealed on screen in some series I've seen recently).