Beginner Flipbook Tutorial
Welcome to my beginner
flipbook tutorial! I'm Future Andy
by the way (Regular Andy thinks I butt in too much, but what does he know? This place is way cooler with me here.) Anyway, if you've never animated before, you're in the right place. I'm going to show you how to make a
simple flipbook, and you'll
be on your way!
Items you'll need:
For your paper, I recommend starting with index cards. You could use a stack of Post-It notes or a note pad (or the corners of your math book!) But I recommend cards because they are thicker and flip better.
There are several options you can use for a light source. You could use:
- A light box.
- An LED tracing pad.
- You could hold the paper up to a bright window.
- The Light Pad included in my flipbook kits.
stack of paper
light source
Binder clips come in many sizes. I find medium and large clips the most useful. Use them to hold all the pages of your flipbook together. You can also use rubber bands or special screws.
binder clips or screws or a rubber band
How to make a stick man flipbook
We'll start with something simple. I'm going to draw a stick man and make him wave.
1. Draw a stick man on a piece of paper.
2. Next, place another sheet of paper on top of the first sheet and draw another stick man almost the same as the first, but move his arm to the right to start the wave motion.
3. Here's a video to show how it works. I'm tracing over his body and making his arm go back and forth about three times. I'll keep the stick man's body in the same place but moving his arm as he waves. After he waves a few times, I'll have his arm drop to his side and it'll be done.
4. Grab all of your pages, keeping them in order, and line them up so you can clip them together.
5. You can get binder clips in different sizes. This is a medium and a large. Let's see how it looks!
6. Tap the pages on a flat surface the align the edges. Then clip them together.
If you've never made a flipbook before, this is a really easy first one to try!
Here's the flipbook again, all together: