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How to Make a Flipbook
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Lrnkey
2022-02-08
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Are you looking to learn how to make a flipbook? Well, you are at the right article. When I was young, I always made small caricatures in the corner of my notebook. Today, we’ll learn how to convert that drawing into full-blown animation.
What is a Flipbook?
Tips to Get Started With Your Flipbook
How to Make a Flipbook
Other Techniques of Making a Flipbook
Take a Class
Flipbooks have been around for hundreds of years. It was one of the earliest forms of animation techniques. While learning how to make a flipbook, you need to gather all your supplies. Then you should think about a theme for your flipbook. Once you are ready, start drawing and painting your illustrations. Get your book bound, and your flipbook is ready.
In the article “How to make a flipbook,” we’ll discuss the traditional and the new digital techniques for making flipbooks. So, let’s dive in.
What is a Flipbook?
A flipbook is a booklet with a series of images. These images gradually change, making it look like the illustration is moving.
In simpler words, the book conveys a series of pictures in a progressive form of movement. When these pages are flipped in rapid succession, they create an illusion of movement. Hence, it is called a flipbook.
The concept of flipbooks has been around for over 150 years. Artist Pierre Hubert Desvignes is credited with creating the first version of the flipbook. Soon after that, an English-American photographer set up his camera to make a digital flipbook.
Flipbooks have been developing over the years, with different artists adding their twist to this old technique. In this article on how to make a flipbook, we’ll discuss other methods to make creative flipbooks.
Tips to Get Started With Your Flipbook
Started With Your FlipbookMaking a flipbook sounds complex. But if you properly execute your story and design, it can be done without any errors. In this section of our blog on how to make a flipbook, we’ll discuss a few tips you should be aware of.
Make Sure You are Drawing on the Right Side of the Book
While making a flipbook, there is a particular section of your flipbook which would not be visible. If you draw your illustrations in those sections, you’ll be wasting all your hard work. Before starting with your flipbook, make sure that you have figured out the space you’ll use to draw your caricatures.
You should also make sure that you leave a little space on the bottom right corner of the book. This will ensure that your thumb is not obstructing any part of the drawing.
Number Your Pages
It’s always a good idea to draw on single pages and then bind them together in a flipbook. While drawing your illustration, make sure that you number all your pages. It’s pretty frustrating to figure out the order of your illustrations later. Just number the backside pages while you are drawing.
Create Recurring Drawing Patterns Beforehand
If you have components in your illustration that are being repeated, then you should draw them first and keep them aside. This would help you save time while creating your flipbook. You don’t have to put in plenty of time meticulously drawing the frame or making it as neat as before.
Use a Pencil for Initial Drawings
Using a pencil and eraser is much easier while creating a flipbook. This way, you can erase your mistakes and keep drawing. When you use a pen, you have to draw the entire page again, even if you make a small error.
You can draw rough sketches of your illustration with a pencil and then outline them with a pen later. Once you get the hang of what you’re drawing, you’ll be able to sketch with a pen directly.
Prepare a Mini Storyboard
Keeping your thoughts organized is necessary while drawing your flipbook. A mini storyboard would help you find the ending to your story. Without a mini-board, there is a good chance that you’ll keep drawing without a purpose. In such a case, you’ll have to revisit your pages multiple times and make changes to your drawings.
You can create a good-sized and engaging story with around 50 to 150 frames. Anything above that will take you a lot of time and effort. Keeping your thoughts structured is the key to making a successful and exciting flipbook.
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How to Make a Flipbook
Make a Flipbook
Drawing little animations at the corner of your notebook is always fun. Making a high-quality flipbook can be super fun to make. Here you’ll learn the essential elements of flip animation.
Gathering Your Supplies
Before starting with your flipbook, you should gather all the different materials needed for its execution. These materials will help you make your book faster in a single sitting.
Blank index cards
Glue
Coloured Pens and Pencils
Binder clips
HB pencil
Eraser
Understanding the Basic Concepts of Flipbook Animation
The key to creating an illusion is replicating a character repeatedly, with slight variations. This replication will help you capture a moving visual sequence. In this section of our blog on how to make a flipbook, we will take you through the basic concepts of animation. It will help you to create a flipbook without any edits.
Replicating a complex illustration, again and again, can be pretty challenging. For instance, it isn’t easy to replicate a looney tunes bunny in 50 frames. But, it is easier to make a ball with slight variations in movement.
For your first flipbook project, we’ll suggest you start with something small and manageable. You can begin with a falling ball animation. When done correctly, it looks like an image has come to life. Here you do not have to worry about replicating different images over and over again. Instead, you just have to replicate a single image.
Before starting your flipbook, we will highly suggest you draw a rough idea on a blank notebook paper sheet. Once you have figured out how you want your ball to drop and bounce, you can number these images.
This will give you a good idea of what you should draw on your index cards. Once you are familiar with the concept, you can play around with different angles and projections.
Illustrating the Book
Once you have understood the basic concepts of animation, you’re ready to create it. Below we’ll discuss the steps you should follow while drawing and numbering your index cards.
Make sure that you have your reference sheet made and your ideas thought out. This sheet will help you get the work done faster without much editing. While creating a flipbook, it’s all about developing a rhythm. The more you practice how to make a flipbook, the better you’ll get at it.
For your reference, we are drawing a ball drop in this section.
Draw the initial position of your ball on the first index card. Make sure you number your card in the upper left-hand corner.
Now trace the next slide on top of the previous slide, but shift it slightly.
Use the frame you just made as the template for your next frame. This will help you ensure that you are following the pattern and not messing with the animation effect of the book.
Keep repeating these steps until you have traced the entire motion of the ball.
Make sure you keep checking your accuracy by keeping 3 or 4 frames side by side. They should look identical with a slight difference in their position. You have learned the most challenging part of how to make a flipbook. All you have to do now is make some final edits and give the finishing touches to your illustration.
Finishing Up Your Book
Once you have illustrated your book, you have to make final edits to your flipbook. In this section, we’ll discuss how to give your book the finishing touches to make it look perfect.
You probably have used a pencil to draw your illustration if you are a beginner. Now you have to outline the pencil with a black ballpoint pen. This will make your illustrations look sharper and not smudge out over time.
Fill in some colour for your drawings if you like. It is more of a personal preference. I prefer keeping my flipbooks black and white, as colouring so many frames can take up a lot of time. But colouring your illustration does bring your book to life.
Binding Your Book
Once you have completed colouring and outlining your illustrations, it is time to bring all your index pages together. Below we’ll explore the different binding styles for your flipbook.
Binding helps make your flipbook look more professional. The better you’ll bind your book, the more perfect it will look. You should make sure to bind the pages together as tightly as possible. There are different m