fliplesson2

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Objectives Students will depict movement using simple flipbook techniques and will be able to define basic animation vocabulary: persistence of vision, registration, key frames, and tweening. Introduction Begin lesson by having students view Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur. Gertie’s enormous bulk and her lovable, innocent nature won audiences’ hearts, establishing a beginning for the animated cartoon in 1914. Gertie is a delightful example of McCay’s beautiful, elaborately drawn characters and describes the journey into creating drawn animated Gertie the Dinosaur. After allowing a moment for reflection, lead a classroom discussion. Click Here to View Questions.
Describe the scene where we see the stacks of paper that McCay used to draw his animated character. He needed so many drawings because to trick the eye into perceiving smooth movement, he had to draw about 10 different frames per second (FPS), meaning the viewer sees 10 different images every second. Have students view other examples of student-made flipbooks. You can also buy professional made flipbooks such as those found in Fliptomania.
Materials Professional and/or student made flipbooks Long strips of paper (2 x 8 inches) for 2-page flipbooks Index cards (at least 10 per student) Pencils, markers Light table (to help view preceding image)(Note: can also use window) Registration devices such as clips or envelope corners
Get the hang of making flipbooks by trying a simple 2-page one!
Fold a long strip of paper, about 2 by 8 inches, in half. Lift up the top layer and draw an image near the bottom of the bottom layer. Using a fine tip black marker will make the images easier to see, but color pencil can also be added… Lay the top layer back down and look closely to see the image underneath. Trace it again, changing slightly its size, position or shape. Roll the top layer around a pencil and hold the paper down firmly at the top fold. Rolling the pencil back and forth will reveal the images in rapid succession to create a quick, easy animation!		Example of 2-page flipbook
CREATE MULTIPLE PAGE FLIPBOOKS WITH TWEENING Number all your sheets (I recommend 30 cards) and begin drawing on page one the first image of the flipbook. Draw final image of sequence and then stack the first and last together. Find the card that is numbered exactly halfway between the first and last images, and place it on top of these two, in a stack. Using a light source (window or light table) to see through all three cards, draw on the top card an image that approximates the midway point between the first and last images. These three cards (first, middle, last) are considered the keyframes that will be used to create the in between “morphing” stages. With each successive drawing, you will fill in the cards halfway between the ones you have already drawn, until all have been done. As you fill in the cards between the important keyframes, it is important to check your numbers and put cards back in order every now and then to make sure the images align well and the motion is progressing properly. The in-between cards represent the “morphing” stages and should have minor alterations to produce continuous movement. To see the results of your flipbook, place the cards back in sequential order, tap them gently on a surface to align them at a slight angle, then hold the book/ index cards in one hand so that you can flip through the pages with the other.
Click to View Multiple Page Flipbook Example Evaluation When the lesson involves learning new terminology the instructor should give a quiz to make sure students can correctly define these terms. In addition, to assess this initial exercise, consider asking the following questions: How well did the student depict movement in his/her flipbook? How effectively did the student use tweening in his/her multiple page flipbook? To what extent are students able to make connections between the tweening process and other animation concepts?


			© 2008 Karin Gunn. All rights reserved. Last Updated: February 2008