FRAME FRAME A beginner’s guide to animation
Use this publication as a flipbook for a cool animation
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If you can visualize it, if you can dream it, there is some way to do it. -Walt Disney
CONTENTS
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What is Animation
What is a Flipbook
12 Principles of Animation
Flipbook Tutorial
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What is Animation Animation is a method in which pictures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation can be used for stylistic
reasons, low bandwidth or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets or clay figures.
2 Commonly the effect of animation is achieved by a rapid succession of sequential images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion— as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon and beta movement, but the exact causes are still uncertain. Analog mechanical animation media that rely on the rapid display of sequential images include the phénakisticope, zoetrope, flip book, praxinoscope and film. Television and video are popular electronic animation media that originally were analog and now operate digitally. For display on the computer, techniques like animated GIF and Flash animation were developed. Animation is more pervasive than many people realize. Apart from
short films, feature films, animated GIF’s and other media dedicated to the display of moving images, animation is also heavily used for video games, motion graphics and special effects. Animation is also prevalent in information technology interfaces. The physical movement of image parts through simple mechanics – in for instance the moving images in magic lantern shows – can also be considered animation. The mechanical manipulation of puppets and objects to emulate living beings has a very long history in automata. Automata were popularized by Disney as animatronics. Animators are artists who specialize in creating animation.
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A Brief History -The history of animation started long before the development of cinematography. Humans have probably attempted to depict motion as far back as the Paleolithic period. Shadow play and the magic lantern offered popular shows with moving images as the result of manipulation by hand and/or some minor mechanics.
-In 1908, Émile Cohl’s Fantasmagorie was released with a white-on-black chalkline look created with negative prints from black ink drawings on white paper. The film largely consists of a stick figure moving about and encountering all kinds of morphing objects, including a wine bottle that transforms into a flower.
-Charles-Émile Reynaud further developed his projection praxinoscope into the Théâtre Optique with transparent hand-painted colorful pictures in a long perforated strip wound between two spools, patented in December 1888.
-During the 1910s, the production of animated short films, known as “cartoons”, became an industry and cartoon shorts were produced for showing in cinemas. The most successful producer at the time was John Randolph Bray, who, along with animator Earl Hurd, patented the cel animation process that dominated the animation industry for the rest of the decade.
-Some early filmmakers, including J. Stuart Blackton, Arthur Melbourne-Cooper, Segundo de Chomón and Edwin S. Porter experimented with stop-motion animation, possibly since around 1899. Blackton’s The Haunted Hotel (1907) was the first huge success that baffled audiences with objects apparently moving by themselves and inspired other filmmakers to try the technique.
-The first animation with full sound synchronization (both music and dialogue) was a short by Walt Disney’s animation studio called Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse in 1928.
-The first full-color animated feature film was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, also by Walt Disney. -Through the 1930s and 1950s, the golden age of American animation saw new animated characters emerge, including Goofy, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Betty Boop, Popeye, Sylvester the Cat, Woody Woodpecker, Tweety, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn,Yosemite Sam, Tasmanian Devil, Hunky and Spunky, Droopy, Little Audrey, Tom and Jerry, Barney Bear, Mr. Magoo, Mighty Mouse, Gandy Goose, Heckle and Jeckle, George and Junior, the Fox and the Crow and the animated adoption of Superman, Baby Huey, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Lulu, among others.
4 A projecting praxinoscope, 1882, here shown superimposing an animated figure on a separately projected background scene
The oldest known animated film created by using what became known as traditional (hand-drawn) animation—the 1908 Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl
Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie which was the first hand drawn animation to have audio with the visuals
Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was Disney’s first feature length film for theatres
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Sketch Section: use these pages to practice drawing
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Principles of Animation
8 Disney’s twelve basic principles of animation were introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. But the principles are based on the work of Disney animators from the 1930s onwards, in their quest to produce more realistic animations. The main purpose of these principles was to produce an illusion that cartoon characters adhered to the basic laws of physics, but they also dealt with more abstract issues, such as emotional timing and character appeal. The book has been referred to by some as the “Bible of animation”, and some of its principles have been adopted by traditional studios. In 1999, The Illusion of Life was voted the number one “best animation book of all time” in an online poll done by Animation World Network. Though originally intended to apply to traditional, hand-drawn animation, the principles still have great relevance for today’s more prevalent computer animation.
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Squash and Stretch The purpose of squash and stretch is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more complex constructions, like the musculature of a human face. Taken to an extreme, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect. In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect of this principle is that an object’s volume does not change when squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract correspondingly horizontally.
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Anitcipation Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the action appear more realistic. A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend the knees first; a golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first. The technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character looking off-screen to anticipate someone’s arrival, or attention focusing on an object that a character is about to pick up
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Staging This principle is akin to staging, as it is known in theatre and film. Its purpose is to direct the audience’s attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a sceneJohnston and Thomas defined it as “the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear�, whether that idea is an action, a personality, an expression, or a mood. This can be done by various means, such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, or the angle and position of the camera. The essence of this principle is keeping focus on what is relevant, and avoiding unnecessary detail.
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Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose These are two different approaches to the drawing process. Straight ahead action scenes are animated frame by frame from beginning to end, while “pose to pose” involves starting with drawing a few key frames, and then filling in the intervals later. “Straight ahead action” creates a more fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and to create exact, convincing poses along the way. “Pose to pose” works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance. A combination of the two techniques is often used.
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Follow Through and Overlapping Action Follow through and overlapping action is a general heading for two closely related techniques which help to render movement more realistically, and help to give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics, including the principle of inertia. “Follow through” means that loosely tied parts of a body should continue moving after the character has stopped and the parts should keep moving beyond the point where the character stopped only to be subsequently “pulled back” towards the center of mass. “Overlapping action” is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates (an arm will move on different timing of the head and so on). A third, related technique is “drag”, where a character starts to move and parts of them take a few frames to catch up.These parts can be inanimate objects like clothing or the antenna on a car. On the human body, the torso is the core, with arms, legs, head and hair appendices that normally follow the torso’s movement. Again, exaggerated use of the technique can produce a comical effect, while more realistic animation must time the actions exactly, to produce a convincing result.
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Slow in Slow out The movement of objects in the real world, such as the human body, animals, vehicles, etc. need time to accelerate and slow down. For this reason, more pictures are drawn near the beginning and end of an action, creating a slow in and slow out effect in order to achieve more realistic movements. This concept emphasizes the object’s extreme poses. Inversely, fewer pictures are drawn within the middle of the animation to emphasize faster action. This principle applies to characters moving between two extreme poses, such as sitting down and standing up, but also for inanimate, moving objects, like the bouncing ball in the above illustration.
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Arc
Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation should adhere to this principle by following implied “arcs� for greater realism. This technique can be applied to a moving limb by rotating a joint, or a thrown object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The exception is mechanical movement, which typically moves in straight lines. As an object’s speed or momentum increases, arcs tend to flatten out in moving ahead and broaden in turns. In baseball, a fastball would tend to move in a straighter line than other pitches; while a figure skater moving at top speed would be unable to turn as sharply as a slower skater, and would need to cover more ground to complete the turn.
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Secondary Action Adding secondary actions to the main action gives a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously swing their arms or keep them in their pockets, speak or whistle, or express emotions through facial expressions. The important thing about secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away from the main action. If the latter is the case, those actions are better left out. For example, during a dramatic movement, facial expressions will often go unnoticed. In these cases it is better to include them at the beginning and the end of the movement, rather than during.
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Timing Timing refers to the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film. On a purely physical level, correct timing makes objects appear to obey the laws of physics. For instance, an object’s weight determines how it reacts to an impetus, like a push ; as a light weight object react faster than a heavily weighted. Timing is critical for establishing a character’s mood, emotion, and reactio. It can also be a device to communicate aspects of a character’s personality.
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Exaggeration Exaggeration is an effect especially useful for animation, as animated motions that strive for a perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull. The level of exaggeration depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular style, like a caricature or the style of a specific artist. The classical definition of exaggeration, employed by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form. Other forms of exaggeration can involve the supernatural or surreal, alterations in the physical features of a character; or elements in the storyline itself. It is important to employ a certain level of restraint when using exaggeration. If a scene contains several elements, there should be a balance in how those elements are exaggerated in relation to each other, to avoid confusing or overawing the viewer
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Solid Drawing The principle of solid drawing means taking into account forms in three dimensional space, or giving them volume and weight. The animator needs to be a skilled artist and has to understand the basics of three dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc. For the classical animator, this involved taking art classes and doing sketches from life.[33] One thing in particular that Johnston and Thomas warned against was creating “twins�: characters whose left and right sides mirrored each other, and looked lifeless.
12 Appeal Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma in an actor. A character who is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic, villains or monsters can also be appealing, the important thing is that the viewer feels the character is real and interesting.There are several tricks for making a character connect better with the audience; for likable characters a symmetrical or particularly baby-like face tends to be effective. A complicated or hard to read face will lack appeal or ‘captivation’ in the composition of the pose or character design.
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Sketch Section: use these pages to practice drawing
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What is a Flipbook? A flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change.
24 Rather than “reading” left to right, a viewer simply stares at the same location of the pictures in the flip book as the pages turn. The book must also be flipped with enough speed for the illusion to work, so the standard way to “read” a flip book is to hold the book with one hand and flip through its pages with the thumb of the other hand. The German word for flip book — Daumenkino, literally “thumb cinema”— reflects this process. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and Websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.
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Sketch Section: use these pages to practice drawing
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Flipbook Tutorial Now it is your turn to try and make a flipbook. Flipbooks are easy and cheap to make so it’s very acessible for anyone wanting to try it. This tutorial will be a beginner friendly flipbook of about 25 pages. This tutorial will focus on: squash and stretch, anticipation, follow through, and exaggeration.
Things you will need: -25 3x5in pieces of paper or index cards -Pencil and black pen -A light pad or a brightly lit room (this is so you can see the paper underneath) -Sharpener -Two thick binder clips
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Step Using the blue lines on the back of the index, draw a tombstone on the bottom blue line a bit left from the right edge. Use the image as a way to see where that is. At the base of the tombstone, draw a zig-zag line to simulate dirt. Next towards the upper right, draw a circle with smaller circle inside of it (this is a moon).
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Step Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. (Don’t worry if it’s not exactly lined up). Next draw the top of the head of the ghost character coming out of the dirt.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Next draw the ghost a bit more out of the dirt with its head point downward like it’s asleep.
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Step Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Next draw the ghost almost out of the dirt still keeping its head point downward.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Draw the ghost in the same position as the previous card a bit higher from the dirt and add the eyes, nose, and mouth.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Draw the ghost, with its facial features, in the same position a bit higher from the dirt.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Draw the ghost a bit higher with its facial features.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Draw the ghost a bit higher to separate it from the tombstone.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Draw the ghost in about the same place and then add its arms shown above.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Now that we the ghost in the air, its time for an action, he’s going to yawn. Using anticipation, draw the ghost forward keeping him the about the same place.
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11 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Next draw the ghost in the same place, but its head is more forward.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Repeat Step 11, but his head is more forward and his arms are going more inward.
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13 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. He’s about to yawn, so draw his mouth a bit open and have the arms to go his sides.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Now draw the ghost straight up because he is going to stretch with the yawn. The arms are turning to the side, which is why they are straight down.
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15 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. The yawning is starting, bring his head back shown above. The arms are now on the side and are starting to stretch. This is using squash and stretch to emphasize the action and animating the character more.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Next is using the slow in method, this allows the action fully form without it feeling choppy. The head goes back a bit more and the arms stretch out more.
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17 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. It’s the apex of the action, really stretch out the arms, head, and mouth.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Alright the ghost has finished yawning, now return him to a resting position. Bring the head back and the arms to the body.
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19 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. He is almost at a resting position, the head is more straight and the arms in towards the body. Also his eyes are a bit open.
20 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Our ghost friend is at a resting position and fully awake.
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21 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Next draw the ghost looking towards the right with his body and arms in the position of where he is looking. His mouth is opened half way to show that he is a bit shocked.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Repeat Step 21, but not exact to give a slight movement.
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23 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. Now he’s looking towards the right, shift is face and body towards the right with still a shocked face.
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Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. He sees something and is surprised. This action is the same as the previous step, just a bit more towards the right to give a slight movement.
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25 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. With a smile on his face he floats towards the edge of the card.
26 Step
Put this card on top of the previous card and redraw the tombstone, dirt, and moon in the same place. He’s leaving the fram so draw about hald of his body. This concludes the drawing portion. Make sure to go back through in pen to make each frame look cleaner.
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Top
This is the order of the flipbook starting from the top frame and stacking each one by one until the last frame. This shows the sequential frames from top to bottom.
Bottom
Now that you have the flipbook in the correct order, next you’re going to stagger the stack towards the left. This makes it easier when flipping with your thumb so that each frame goes by without any hiccups. Then use the two binder clips to hold the stack together. Once that is done you got yourself your very own flipbook, CONGRATS! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and learned how animation works.
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Image Citation 12 Principles of Animation Images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4 What is Animation Images: Google A Brief History Images Google
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