How to Draw a Flip Book

Whether it is stick figures in the corner of a school workbook or a more complicated animated sequence designed solely to be a flip book, almost every American student has made a flip book at some point in their life. A flip book is created by drawing the same picture over and over with slight changes from frame to frame so that when the pages are turned rapidly, or "flipped," the book tells a story. Making a flip book is fun for any age group or artist level. It just takes some patience and a little bit of time.

Things You'll Need

• Notebook
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Create a story that can be told in one or two actions. Since each movement in a flip book requires a new drawing, it's good to limit the number of actions in the story. One of the most popular, standard flip book stories involved a person swinging a baseball bat. the motion of the bat swinging bat be the main action of the story.

2. Draw the base line picture. Depending on which way you prefer to flip, this is either your first or last picture.

3. Trace your first picture, articulating the beginning of any movement that will happen in the book. The smaller the degree of change in your pictures, the more naturally-looking the movement will be. Larger movements will make you book look as though the action is happening rapidly, as when a character is running.

4. Continuing tracing one picture after another with minor changes from one to the next until you have reached the final drawing. A minimum of 10 drawings is a good starting point, but more is better. Many flip books have at least 100.

5. Bind your book together, and you're done.

Tips & Warnings

• Tracing the pictures by placing one sheet of paper over the next helps you remember details and have the picture place precisely in the same place on the page in each instance.

• Flip books are the most basic form of animation cells. This is a good way to begin if you would like to consider professional animation.

• Avoid trying to draw each picture freehand, as that can result in a picture that moves all over the page and a choppy flip book.