SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN!
By KERRY CALLEN
When I worked as an artist at Hallmark, I had several opportunities to create lenticular images for various products. I always enjoyed it. Lenticulars can either be constructed to look 3D, and/or they can show movement. My favorite was creating motion. I always turned my Photoshop files into moving gifs just to see how things worked. The animation had to work in a loop. We didn’t put lenticular on tons of products, so I didn’t get to do them very often.
One day in 2011, it occurred to me I could make gifs at home just for fun! It also occurred to me to animate old comics covers! I believe there were a few lenticular images on actual comic covers in the ’90s, but they usually worked with limited success. They didn’t have the clarity of a gif seen on a screen.
March 20 was the 40th anniversary of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, so I thought I’d share one of my earliest gifs:
Here, of course, is the actual cover:
With AI now available to everyone, I probably won’t make any more cover gifs. It appears so easy to do, they no longer feel special to me.
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Want more SUNDAY FUNNIES WITH KERRY CALLEN? Come back in a few weeks! Kerry’s going on a brief hiatus.
Want a commission? Send an email to KerryCallenArt@gmail.com. You can also find other work at linktr.ee/kerrycallen.
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MORE
— These Comics Characters Are Just a Bunch of POTHEADS. Click here.
— SNAPPY ANSWERS to SUPER-STUPID QUESTIONS. Click here.
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KERRY CALLEN spent much of his career as an artist and art director, developing product for Hallmark, but has also dabbled in comics for many years. As a freelancer, he creates work for a range of needs, spanning from Mad Magazine to children illustrations. He has two graphic novels available on Amazon worldwide, Halo and Sprocket: The Definitive Collection, as well as Dirtnap: Mystic Spit.
March 29, 2026
Well. Kerry.
That is really COOL! Very captivating! Thanks!
March 29, 2026
Wow, that’s awesome
March 29, 2026
Amazeballs!
March 29, 2026
Thanks for sharing, Kerry. I thought it was cool, and I’m in that small minority of Bat-Fans that doesn’t like Dark Knight Returns.
March 30, 2026
I’m there with you too. Not a fan then and even more as I’ve seen the results of that new (then) direction taken with comics. But I can appreciate the design elements/approach that Frank tried. My version of BATMAN ended with Crisis. I also like what Kerry did with the cover.
March 29, 2026
Really cool. Was this article just to inform us that you quit. That you concede to your new AI overlord?
March 30, 2026
Thanks for your nice comments! I’m not really conceding to AI. I’m usually upbeat about everything, but was down when I wrote this, due to the passing of a good friend.
May 3, 2026
Thank you kind sir. I am trying to put together a gif using photoshop elements.