Markus Sosnowski
Finding popularity for his first original nursery rhyme written for his young daughter, Markus Sosnowski made the decision to create a music video for YouTube with the help of Cartoon Animator, which he now has a loyal following for his collection of children’s music videos.
In his interview with Reallusion, Markus tells how Cartoon Animator, along with his passion for music and illustration, helped him realize his dream of becoming a successful story teller for children.
“I would never have dreamed that I would be able to produce such good quality videos without having any drawing skills myself. As a beginner with Cartoon Animator, you can start animating right away.. I can make cartoon videos in this quality without ever having studied animation or art and without a large team behind me.”
Markus Sosnowski – 2D Animator / Content Developer
Q: Hello Markus, can you tell us about the work you’re doing with Cartoon Animator?
Sure. I come from Reutlingen (Germany) and my great passion is my children’s song project, which I have been running on YouTube since the end of 2015.
When my first-born daughter Lea was born in October 2015, I wrote my first nursery rhyme for her; “Wenn der Mann im Mond das Licht ausknippst” [When the man in the moon turns off the light]. The feedback on the song was so positive at the time that I decided to publish the song with a video on YouTube.
The song was the starting point for my children’s song project, the ‘Kinderliedergarten‘. Over time, I also started developing my own content for my children’s channel and finally decided to sell it in the Reallusion Marketplace.
Q: Markus what made you choose Cartoon Animator as the platform to create your content?
When I started my YouTube channel in 2015, I had no idea about animation, not to mention 2D animation software. I was already active on YouTube by then, but I was more concerned with videography. The first videos that I produced for my ‘Kinderliedergarten‘ were therefore all kept very simple and yet incredibly complex and time-consuming to be animated with keyframes.
But my interest in animation grew steadily and so I looked for a 2D animation software that would allow me to expand my animation skills. I have been working with Cartoon Animator 4 (CA4) and the previous version of CrazyTalk Animator 3 since 2017. I would never have dreamed that I would be able to produce such good quality videos without having any drawing skills myself. The great thing about CA4 is that, as a beginner, you can start animating right away. If you then delve a little deeper into the program over time, there are also a lot of possibilities open to you. In addition to the relatively simple familiarization, I was most impressed by the fact that a large number of content is available for purchase on the Reallusion Marketplace, but that I can also revise existing content and develop my own creations.
Q: After many years of development, what would you say is your favourite genre or theme to work with?
Because I’ve been making music all my life, my great passion above all is the illustration of nursery rhymes. But I also love to write little cartoons and stories for children and then animate them with Cartoon Animator.
I especially like the classic Disney films. I would say that my own characters are mostly based on the Disney style. I work a lot with children’s characters, but above all humanoid animal characters like ‘Skippy’ the Frog or ‘Teddy’, a cute little bear.
Q: Based on your experience, do you find the process of creating characters and content for Cartoon Animator easy and enjoyable?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a great talent for drawing myself. The combination of Cartoon Animator and Photoshop enables me to create my own cartoon worlds and characters. I work a lot with vector shapes in Photoshop to build my content. Over the years I have learned a lot from other content developers by analyzing their characters. There are also a large number of tutorials and an incredibly helpful Facebook community that have always brought me forward. It is almost surreal that today I can make cartoon videos in this quality without ever having studied animation or art and without a large team behind me.
Q: What advice would you have for inspiring developers looking to break into the Reallusion Marketplace and sell their content?
Just do it. Create an account and get started. The Reallusion community is growing more and more and the need for new, high quality content is definitely there. For me, the focus so far has been on my own YouTube project. However, the sale of my content on the Reallusion Marketplace is a welcome additional source of income. No one presses you necessarily to sell anything. You have complete control over what and how much of your content you want to offer.
Q: Do you have plans for future content in the works?
I will continue to work on my “msossi Toons Family” in the future. ‘Lea Autumn’ is my first character who is already available to buy on the Reallusion Marketplace. But the family will definitely grow. I think there’s still room for some siblings and of course the parents and grandparents. The plan is also to give the characters different outfits for different occasions. I will also be adding a few of my humanoid animal characters to the marketplace.
Q: What advantages do you find Cartoon Animator gives you?
Cartoon Animator is really very easy to use for beginners. The Reallusion Store allows you to choose from a wide variety of characters and scenes to get started with right away. Or you can implement your own ideas about characters and create exclusive characters and scenes. With a little practice, you can also achieve very good results in a short time. For me as a YouTuber, this is an important factor in order to be able to publish new videos on a regular basis. I also love the layering 3D view, and how I’m able to quickly manage complex elements to achieve my goal.
Q: Recently, what projects have you most recently been working on?
My last project was the YouTube video for ‘Fünf kleine Frösche’.
It is one of my new German children’s songs for my Kinderliedergarten. A number of new characters have appear, which I will also publish on the marketplace soon. These include animal figures such as Skippy the frog or Teddy, a cute little bear. I’m also working on a bigger story for kids that hopefully will be on YouTube in 2022. It’s about a complete cartoon based on my children’s song “Lea, the little ghost”.
If you want to stay up to date, take a look at my Facebook page “msossi Toons“. There I will inform you about new content developments.
Follow Markus:
Website:
https://www.kinderliedergarten.de/impressum/?fbclid=IwAR2vn_Y7l22cCIIRo_JWhlEsOZDooCoXKjb8JstNNSNcPPqE9lfB3R3w__U
2D Marketplace:
https://marketplace.reallusion.com/cartoon-animator/author/msossi?fbclid=IwAR2vn_Y7l22cCIIRo_JWhlEsOZDooCoXKjb8JstNNSNcPPqE9lfB3R3w__U
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/msossiToons/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsHCDxSQFO3v4iUd8n2mh7g
