How to Make Animations of Your Drawings

Create an animation out of as many drawings as possible.

Animations consist of a series of drawings placed in order to create the appearance of movement. In most animations, there are between four and 24 drawings in each second of video. However, the typical animation uses 12 drawings per second, meaning each drawing takes up two of the 24 frames in a second of video. To create an animation from digital or paper drawings, you must use a video editing program to assemble and export the drawings.

Things You'll Need

• Video editing program

Instructions

1. Take a photo of each drawing, if the drawings are on paper. Lay the drawing flat on a desk or table and attach a digital cable to a tripod. Angle the tripod so that the camera is directly over the drawing. Take a picture of the drawing, remove it and place a new drawing in its place. Take a picture of this drawing and continue the process.

2. Connect your camera or memory card to the computer using its data cable or card reader. Upload the photos. If you are using digital drawings that are not on the computer, transfer them to your computer using a flash drive.

3. Open an animation or video editing program by double-clicking on its icon.

4. Click on the "File" menu and scroll to "Import." Highlight the drawings you wish to turn into an animation and press "Ok."

5. Highlight the first image you wish to place you the sequence and drag it onto the timeline. Click on the "Crop" tool and crop the image into the desired size by clicking on the area you wish to crop. In most cases, each drawing in an animation should take up one to four frames.

6. Drag the second image onto the timeline and slide it next to the first image so that it snaps into place. Click on the "Crop" tool and cut the image down to size.

7. Repeat this process for all of the images you wish to add to the animation.

8. Click on the "File" menu and scroll to "Render." Click "File" then scroll to "Export."

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your drawings well-lit when photographing them.

References

• HGA: Flip Book and Computer Activity
• Animationish: Make Your Drawing Dance
• Tutorials Room: Create a COmic Drawing Animation in Photoshop