artist tomohiro okazaki sparks motion creativity with dancing matchsticks

tomohiro okazaki lights up the stop-motion animation world with a striking series of matchstick tricks and techniques. the tokyo-based graphic designer and artist uses a series of everyday objects from strips of paper to splashes of paint, whilst manipulating each, resulting into playful short studies of endless bending and buckling. what begun as a passing-time kind of project during COVID has evolved into moving frames of matches made in heaven. 

all images courtesy of tomohiro okazaki

with creativity on fire, tomohiro okazaki puts together bright clips unravelling numerous distortions spanning from simple sticks to complex and fully choreographed morphing. the short animations with the dancing matches demonstrate the precise work of cutting, moving, attaching and dragging in order to produce the smooth transitions. more fascinating videos can be enjoyed on the artist’s instagram page. 

project info:

project name: matches

artist: tomohiro okazaki / @oo_kk_aa

year: 2021