Flipping Out: The Art of Flip Book Animation

Learn to illustrate & create your own animated flip books step by step

David Hurtado

• Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781633220713
• eBook ISBN: 9781633223240
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art Techniques

Learn to create an animated flip book from start to finish! Flipping Out: The Art of Flip Book Animation guides readers through the entire flip book animation process, from brainstorming and storyboarding, to drawing, adding color, and more.

Aspiring animators will learn all of the skills to create flip books of their own, including keyframes, in-betweens, animating characters, and binding their animations into a book. Using the enclosed drawing pencil and step-by-step lessons as a guide, readers can then animate and personalize the two blank flip books included inside.

Animating a Flying Superhero

Now that you’ve learned the basics of animation, you are ready to put them into practice with this fun exercise. The plot for this flip book is very simple: A flying superhero is attacked by his archenemy and gets transformed into ... a giant roasted chicken!

Materials

• an HB or a softer pencil

• colored pencils

• a sketchbook

• lots of paper

• a light box

• a ruler (optional)

Character Design

1 Use simple shapes to sketch the superhero, and then refine the lines and add details.

2 Sketch a few of his facial expressions. These will help you later.

3 Sketch the superhero’s archenemy in his flying saucer using simple shapes. Notice that the archenemy always has an angry frown on his face and that his pose remains the same, so you don’t need to draw different expressions or views of this character.

4 Add color.

Storyboard

This story has just four steps.

1 Introduce your superhero as he flies through the sky.

2 His archenemy, Alien Chicken, surprises him.

3 The superhero is zapped with a laser.

4 The superhero is transformed into a flying roasted chicken.

Background

Your background will be four times the width of the flip book.

Using the light bo...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Do It Yourself
• Tools & Materials
• Animating a Stick Figure
• Dynamics: Animating a Ball
• Timing
• Keyframes & Inbetweens
• Walk Cycles, Run Cycles & Jumps
• Anticipation
• Character Design
• Facial Expressions
• Acting
• Animating a Face
• Writing a Story
• Storyboarding
• Animating a Flying Superhero
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
• Animating Dancers
• Animating Animals
• Binding a Flip Book
• About the Author
• Copyright