Flipbook Island - This Site Will Help You Build A Better Flipbook.

2012-01-28T20:59:00.001-08:00

Welcome!

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Drawing Using Kid Analog Concepts

2011-11-22T15:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks East Rock!

2011-09-17T12:31:00.001-07:00

Not sure how this was accomplished, but somehow a robotic arm was instrumental in getting kids interested in flipbook technologies!

Use this here website to give you ideas on how to make your own flipbooks that are as rad as the ones that you saw. Take video and put them online, and then share them on this here site.

Also, please consider spreading the word about the kickstarter fundraiser, since the time expires at the end of the month.

Thanks to everyone who payed a visit to my table today. The solar electrical information you saw is also available at SolarEducational.Blogspot.com

From the New Yorker

2011-09-01T12:22:00.001-07:00

The New Yorker published a cartoon by Gregory and it contained an awesome 3-part illustration, depicting a rather lazy-looking gentleman in a reclinable easychair.

Consider this: your task is to determine, by your own observations, how to animate the illustrated easychair.

First, note the parts that stay the same. Basically the base of the chair. The backrest moves up, the footrest can swing in.

Use your skills and animate a easychair retracting into the unreclined position. think anchor points and other points of connection.

Deejaying Skills: Illustrated

2011-08-31T18:20:00.001-07:00

Two things to know how to do as a deejay:

1. Be able to coordinate beats per minute.

2. Comprehend midi drum sequences and speak the language.

Not many Deejays can do both. What's remarkable about the art of deejaying? Almost everyone learns on their own!

Im not going to show you everything, but if you search ye olde website (spacepirate.co.uk) you will find detailed information about how to deejay.

Beatles FB

2011-08-31T18:13:00.001-07:00

Still formulating the last remaining elements of this potentially powerhouse flipbook.

1. Cross Abbey Rd.
2. Get into Beetle VW
3. Drive
4. Go to Yankee Stadium
5. Play Show
6. Fly away in spacecraft.

Paper Computer And The New Blog

2011-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks for visiting Flipbook Island. Remember to pre-order your favorite flipbook and vote. All flipbooks pre-ordered will be mailed December 1, provided the funding goes through.

In the meantime, stay tuned for our next program: Paper Computer! It's a computer, but it's on paper.

Does that mean it could work? Maybe!

Lots of new and innovative ideas for young, creative minds.
Even if you're 9000, your mind can still be young.

-LS Aristotle, spaceman.

[link to paper computer]
just click image

click here for Pecha Kucha Presentation

Presentation August 24th at Bentara (preview)

2011-08-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

Kickstarter Begins! Pledge by October 1.

2011-08-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

Be a part of the Flipbook Revolution!

It's been really great to have this opportunity and if all goes well, quality hand-drawn flipbooks will be mailed to your house by December 1, if you decide to support.

That's kind of the point.

Hope you enjoy this project and Flipbook Island is really counting on your support. Thanks and read on to find out more about the potential rewards to this project.

Kickstarter Rewards

If enough people "pledge" to buy a flipbook, it would make it affordable to print. In this case, I would need a thousand people to do so. You are essentially pre-ordering a product that will be mail delivered. If the fundraising is unsuccessful, you don't lose any money. Give it some consideration.

Here are some of the incentives I will be offering:

PLEDGE $5 OR MORE

Flipbook Soundtrack. Get a URL link to a ZIP file with a 15-song instrumental album for you to write your own flipbooks while listening. A flipbook soundtrack! Head over to the Island to preview the songs for free.

PLEDGE $10 OR MORE

Get the winning flipper sent to your home in a neatly wrapped package, signed by the artist. it will be mailed via USPS and arrive with your regular mail by December 1, 2011. Please visit Flipbook Island to check on which flipbook is winning the vote. Also includes a link to download the complete soundtrack.

PLEDGE $20 OR MORE

This pledge reward reflects international shipping. Select this if you are from a country other than the US and you would like to have a flipbook mailed to your doorstep. Also includes soundtrack link.

PLEDGE $25 OR MORE
LIMITED REWARD 100 of 100 remaining
Creator's Pack. Get yourself the flipbook and a toolkit, and some instructions, plus a great soundtrack to draw to. Probably one of the best rewards options. Again, in the mail by December 1, 2011.

PLEDGE $30 OR MORE

Multiple Copy Gift Set. If you'd like to receive 4 flipbooks, try this reward. Also includes soundtrack link for each of the 4 copies, and shipping for each of them as well.

More will be announced. See ya this weekend! Spend some time on Saturday Morning drawing cartoons, just like you used to watch 'em. Soon enough you'll have your own.

Images from Old Flipbooks

2011-07-28T21:09:00.001-07:00

A few tricks on writing flipbooks

1. Start on the bottom page of a bound set of pages.

This will help you see the page behind it slightly, which chronologically is previous and happens to contain the locations of where all the movement is based, if you can see through it a little.

Sabotage version 3

2. Map It Out First

Draw a sample still frame of what you would like to see over the course or duration of the animation sequence. That's known as "Sequences" and there are examples of these in the tag cloud on the lefthand bar, underneath the Facebook "Like" on this page.

Solar Educational 2

3. Draw One Completely. Then draw it again.

Note how there are "2"s and "1"s next to the names of the flipbook. Dunkasaurus 2 means that I already had drawn a Dunkasaurus prior to this. That also means this is only the 2nd Dunkasarus flipbook I've ever drawn. Not bad. Look where I'm at with Turtle on a Bicycle.

Dunkasaurus 2

4. Leave Parts Unfinished For Others.

Empty Park is missing something... It's missing Skateboarders! Where are they? For the next person to draw, leave parts unfinished. Then it becomes a collaborative flipbook.

SkateboardMusic 3

How To Surf 2

Futbol 1

Mathematrix 1

Awesome Drummer 2

Futbol 1

Flarfball 1

Turtle On A Bike 7

Original Guide, Part 6

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Original Guide, Part 5

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Original Guide, Part 4

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Original Guide, Part 3

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Original Guide, Part 2

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Original Guide, Part 1

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Please Comment.

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Why did you like the one you selected?
Hey! Don't forget to Pre-Order. There's other goodies awaiting.

Sequence: Tornado!

2011-07-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

watch tornado flipbook

My Journey To Flipbook Island

2011-07-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

I took the photos in the section found on the "Soundtrack" page, way back in 2009, when I still had a job as a solar electrical installer. The president of the company I worked for lived in Oregon. He invited me and my girlfriend to stay at his house while he was away on business. He also helped us construct the path we would take when we arrived in Portland, and it sure didn't involve spending the whole week in the city up there, or looking for treasure ships in Astoria, where Goonies was filmed. I grew up on the East Coast in New Haven, Connecticut, so I had never really seen Oregon before. It was a truly eye-opening experience.

Turtle Mountain is acutally Mount Hood. It's out in the distance, there in the shadows. A wonderful place. I see clouds, I see snow. This photo was in April. We drove by on our way from Portland to Bend. We took the Columbia River to the Hood River, and then drove south along that until we got to Mt. Hood. After that, it turned into High Desert until we reached Bend.

I miss my job. Used to think I was pretty good at it. Things didn't work for the better in that field, I guess you might say, but that's okay. Maybe it was for the better. This vacation was taken during a time when I was typically working 50 to 60 hours per week, often only being paid for 45 of them. I was accepting of this because it was more important to me that I did a good job than I bankrupted the company by charging them more than they could afford for the labor. Plus the hourly was good. It was all fair, in my mind, but this week was the first week in my life, at age 29, that I had a paid vacation. It was the farthest away from home I had ever been, and also the most beautiful. The colors were more bright than I can remember, and the natural beauty around me was more detailed than I had ever seen.

I stayed at places I could afford, with money that I had earned by working hard in the hot sun and freezing cold. I was really into construction although new to the field, having only been in there for 2 years. So being in these locations made me curious as to how they were built, and I learned tons of information about building treeforts from real experts, and expect at some point to dig into actually building my own someday. Mike over at Treehouses.Com actually manufactures these parts he's engineered, for their structural support. The bits look like an augur with a hole saw attached to the back of it. This pulls out a chunk of tree. Another part fits into it. It's threaded at the end, but it has a bolt on it that turns and tightens into the tree. That part has been signed off by an Engineer and is getting treehouses passed by building inspectors in many jurisdictions around the world. Their website might say some of this, but it's part of many bits of obscure information that you cannot find on the internet.

Crater Lake was among the places I had seen on this vacation. It stands out in my mind as the most remarkable because of a thought I had, while standing there in awesome admiration for its purity. I thought to myself that I was meant to do something different. And it was a voice in my head that was a little bit difficult to believe, because at the time my job as a solar electrician was quite secure and I had no intentions of leaving. But I felt a presence tell me that I was meant to be doing something else, more directly involved with my creation and purpose as a being. That's why I associate these images with flip books. And perhaps I will create a place as pure. If I am successful, it would be called "Flipbook Island."

More has been done with less, but the important thing to remember is that we are all here for a reason. If you work at Walmart, I want you to know that you were not put here to work at Walmart. Maybe you were meant to draw flipbooks, like me. Maybe you were meant to see Crater Lake, only if you have the common sensibility to leave alone the things that you cannot touch without compromising the purity of. Certainly that's not a lesson ever learned by the United Corporate Entities of Romstar. We're here to teach that lesson. Learn how to draw awesome flipbooks with me and let's start this counter-culture. I will never sell out to anything people aren't voluntarily buying into. That's why I love Kickstarter.

Kickstart this revolution right here. Get the engine revving. In the end, all we have are achother and the stars at night when the lights are off. There's no sense in feeling afraid for the movies that you've watched about the frightening things that happen in the dark; there's nothing to be afraid of at all out there. We have no terrorists, no bogeymen. But the TSA would have you imagine them until they become real, all while making you feel really insecure. It's not that their bosses are evil or that the government wants to feel you up. All it's based on is irrational fear, just remember that. We can counteract all of that by making it clear that there's nothing to be afraid of, especially us. We are only living creatures, alive beings walking this land. Government infringes on the right of personal sovereignty by claiming rights over our own bodies, and stuff. So fight for your right like the Beastie Boys, look to the stars at night, and never forget the story that was told about Flipbook Island.

Understanding Objects

2011-07-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Alright now, you've heard mentioned the terminology known as "Objects" thrown around quite a bit, by this point. What if I said to you that an object is anything on screen that keeps a consistent set of characteristics. Would you know what that meant?

What if that "screen" meant somewhere in the sector of a page within a flipbook timeline? I wonder if you would understand those terminologies.

Being capable of comprehending terminologies in the context they're being used is what makes it possible for you to use the skills unlocked by those ideas. If you were into Zen literature, you will find that it's full of that. Flipbook Island is applied zen.

Soundtrack

2011-07-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Each Complete Work has an original soundtrack. All of the songs that you will hear were produced by Ian Applegate, who created the animation sequences in the video.

The songs are available if you click the album cover image. It will take you to a page where you can listen to the songs, download them and save them into your iTunes library.

When they're downloaded (click the "archive" graphic to begin saving the album to your computer), they will arrive at the same location the attachments in your emails are generally located. When you import them into iTunes, they will contain all the correct information regarding artist, album, and song information, as well as the original album cover, which you see here. All of this is free to you, just for showing up. The songs that were created each have meaning behind them, and link up to the flip book they were created for. In addition, many times the song is made prior to the flipper. Even more incredible, it is very frequent that the flipper is drawn while listening to the song. Go check 'em out! and get back to people about whether it's worth it, by commenting on this page.

StickfigureMatics

2011-07-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here are some more advanced features of the flipper stickfigure, the humanoid shape that we are all quite familiar with. This page shows you how the average flipbook character should move, in the event that it could or would move. On a computer, you could program such a thing to move only in a specific way... such that it maintains its shape and its balance by establishing parameters for each arm to follow.

Basics of Stickfiguring

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Remember, the lessons we learned about how an object can move around the screen? It helps to position that object by drawing only the most prominent feature of that particular part of the object first. For example, just drawing the head of a stick figure for the duration of a sequence will indicate just how little that head will change over the course of those pages. Please do not harm the stickfigures. They did nothing wrong to you, so leave them alone and make them play basketball but do not dismember them because you will lose interest in drawing flipbooks if that's all you want to draw, and it will draw people away from you.

Note how the classic Analog person here in this page is indicated by the head, torso, and legs as you see in the ratio of the body. This is just a souped up stick figure, but if you will notice the similarity between that and the other (1:1:1) is taht the head is precisely the same size and shape in each version, both the basic and the advanced.

Patterns of Shape

2011-07-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

This goes along with the lesson on splitting of shapes. Just by rounding edges or changing corners, you can make a square become a circle, or a circle become a triangle.

None of these skills are really that complicated, but when you take them to a bigger scale, you will see that having shapes that you can recognize will indicate what those shapes actually represent. That's the meaning behind this page, and all of the exercises that you can imagine yourself pursuing, following the path that this page directs you to.

Shape Splitting

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This is an example of morphing a shape into multiples of the same shape. The fact is that shapes have certain mathematic and visual characteristics that cause them to behave differently from eachother. That's why things in nature also have commonplace behavior based on appearance. The shape itself dictates how the material behaves, whether it's rock that is breaking from a wall, or a cell that is dividing. The circles and squares in the molecular structure of these things determine how they connect, and how they break.

Homewerks: To get better at this, practice dividing circles and squares into multiple circles and multiple squares. Do a separate exercise involving triangles. Try not to let the triangle evolve into a square or a circle.

Resolution (PPS)

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This is a page also related to resolution, and it's known as Pages Per Second. You can try this at home, just do it yourself.

Read this page real closely. It will give you some ideas on how to make your flipbooks totally awesome.

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If you have a high-resolution flipbook, the objects on it both contain a detailed number of lines within their pages. As well, the movement within the book itself is not very distant from page to page.

The distance in objects between their locations from one page to another determines the frame resolution that defines the quality of the animation.

The intelligence level of the flipbook is determined by whether each line follows a course of action that is consistent in its design by the direction and flow of its movement.

Resolution that are followed in the flips to come will be quite detailed in their design. You will see a sharp contrast between the difference in their styles as your skills progress. It may take time, but that's what you learn when drawing high-res flipbooks: life is really, really long.

Inanimate Objects

2011-07-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Try not to draw too many inanimate objects. They're real pointless. You can go on for pages, drawing the same square in exactly the same space, but why on earth would you ever want to go ahead and do something like that?

Once you can imagine that you can do anything, that's when things really start to have life when you see them on page. Without the animate, there is no life. That's what the Zen teach with flipbooks.

So, stay away from inanimate objects. Learn how to avoid those unchanging shapes by picking up the way that a unit can go through an animation loop constantly. Find out how to create panning, where the scenery can change at different speeds. Put together this little puzzle in your head. I know you can do it. Just make sure that you follow all the rules, except the ones you have written.

Musical Sequences

2011-07-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

Remember the page about the Awesome Drummer? Also, you can't forget about how that flipbook teaches you how to read another different language that other people know: the language of musical sequences! Look at him go!

What do those little red and yellow blocks mean? The top *yellow means "hi-hat." The next, which should be *orange, is the "snare." And at the bottom, you have this little red square next to BD which means *bass drum. That's what is going on inside of the screen.

To the side, you'll witness green blocks, lighting up whenever the little man hits a cymbal and plays something on it. That's the indicator that those symbols are "Active" and you will note that they are lit up to the side of where the HH and BD are. That, within itself, is a reminder that you can play sequences by reading flipbooks. Not only that- you can also essentially get away with making real music by organizing your songs into these Audiomatic Expressions, like the ones you see below. Here they are.

Objects of Space Wars

2011-07-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a few objects from the Space Wars! flipbook that you can see whenever you would like to draw one.

You can draw these units... You can also animate them! That's the whole point of it being a flipbook.

Homewerks:

Get in there and fight some action in a sequence.

You can easily gravitate one object towards another.

Just be mindful of what you're trying to describe.

Only things with meaning actually get seen and heard.

The tree that falls and is not heard had hardly any meaning.

-Obi Tzu Applegate

The galaxy that vaporized and was never noticed is hard to imagine having ever existed." -LS Aristotle

New Terminology: "unit" is a self-contained animation loop within an animation sequence. The conept of "loop" relates back to the music concepts of Midi.

Pro Wrestler

2011-07-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the objects in the Pro Wrestler flipbook. You can draw one on your own as well. As you can see in this stage (or set, if you would like to refer to that page...), there are three faces of the Pro! Wrestlers you might encounter as you traverse across the world of animating professional wrestlers.

So here we go. In addition to just that, there is also a stage up there on which you can add your wrestlers. That is a mighty good set, wouldn't you say? It could include information about the wrestler, as well as a Life Meter.

It is up to you to determine what moves cause how much life to detract from the top rings. You can choose.

As you can see at the bottom, there is a little tiny sequence built in over there, for the average contest.

See the world as a series of sequences. It will help you think better about your life, and assist you in understanding why things happen the way that they do.

Sets: The Background Layer

2011-07-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

In order to design your own videogame world, you must design sets. These are like stages and act as themes in the background of your flipbooks.

Arguably, you might consider the concept that runs as the theme for a flipbook to contain all of the elements of a set. But just remember that it's necessary to consider that you can't have too many inanimate objects in a flipbook or else it will become tedious to draw.

The philosophy of a flipbook can be quite extensive. Remember the concepts of Analog Basic.

Flarfball: Objects Lesson

2011-07-21T21:15:00.000-07:00

These are the objects of Flarfball. As you can see, the parts are clearly identified as having certain dimensions which stay the same over the course of the animation. Animate the bouncy element underneath the trampoline after drawing all of the other action, accounting for the "sinking" feature of the person that is bouncing on it.

Also mentioned in this page is the concept of the circlehead. That within itself is essentially a method of drawing characters that involves drawing a circle, which is the head of the character, indicating the location and position of that character as it changes throughout all of the animation's frames. The additional parts to the circle are what make it into a character, and not just a circle, but those can be added later once the "layer" of the circlehead has been drawn.

That's a little trick that can help you out with yours.

Tank Object and Sequence

2011-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

In this illustration, a tank rolls over a hill. Note that its scope changes position over the course of the animation. First, identify the parts of the object that change over the course of the sequence. Just the top, right? The bottom just moves linear, the top part rotates. In the upper four frames of the illustration, we see what the thank looks like in its completion over the course of this short bit of time. Note how the second row of animations display that the bottom of the tank rotates as well. Below that, we see what the tank appears like as its upper part pivots 180˚. This part illustrates how to make a thin cylinder turn from sideways to facing, in just a few frames.

note: The tank later became known as the "Paco Bell Cannon" when it was announced that one of the rules of drawing flipbooks via the Analog Basic illustration method involves never demonstrating anything actually destructive. Paco Bell Cannon plays one song constantly and serves Mexican food.

Introduction to the Guide.

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How To Read This Guide. As you will notice throughout the course of the manuscript, there are often a series of different objects, marked with different numerals, letters, or other identifiers. Those numbers play out the difference in location of an object throughout the course of a sequence. Here is a good example of how to break down a sequence.

Sequences are differences in position of an object. Objects can be anything, but in this case, it's just a grey circle. It could be something as complicated as a giraffe, or could contain gaffes, such as intricate text in bubbles that surround it.

Objects within themselves can be animated into a sequence. In this case, though, the object is a circle and it's only meant to move very slightly, in order to show you how evenly distributed motion in a sequence makes the appearance of change of position in animation move much smoother in transition.

Fut-Bol: A flipbook retrospective

2011-07-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

Fut-Bol! was drawn around the time of the World Cup of 2010. The jerseys worn by the cartoons sort of resemble Uruguay and Ghana, if you want to believe that. The flipbook itself can be seen here but there's much to say about drawing soccer matches.

You know that you can draw your own, right? Just follow the rules that you see in the Guide. They will help you create awesome looking flipbooks, on demand whenever you would like one.

You can even make the players look like your favorite football stars, wearing their appropriate colors.

Terminology: Aria

2011-07-21T20:50:00.000-07:00

Aria is a term that was devised to describe the organic shakiness that has become a distinguishing characteristic of a truly hand-drawn flipbook.

It encompasses the way that the human eye makes an effort to correct the differences in frame-by-frame which are caused by human error. That difference in itself is what makes us like flipbooks over the smooth automation of a computerized animation sequence.

Analog Basic

2011-07-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

Does "Analog Basic" actually replace phonetic written language? Not sure, but if my theory is correct, symbols could replace what we see on paper. Language impacts the way that we see the world. So much of what we write is subjective, even this very paragraph. Could we unify the world with one universal language? Possibly. Maybe. Then some would argue that the world is already united, if not by love, then by these digital communication devices.

Either way, Analog Basic defines the graphical style developed by the Original Analogues for the next Age. You may already be somewhat literate if you can draw a picture of an apple, and have others identify that symbol as an "apple" without any phonetic language in place to assist.

That is the meaning behind Analog Basic.
See Also: Objects, Symbols.

Build A Better Flipbook!

2011-07-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

Aside from giving you the best paper entertainment in the form of these highly detailed hand-drawn flipbooks, Flipbook Island also offers the most comprehensive information to help you get better at drawing your own.

The Dunkasaurus doesn't want to have to draw these cartoons all by himself, you know! Dunka needs a team of draw-ers, all pitching in to beat the computer in time to save the Island!

Here, to the left, is a scene from Flarfball, which is how to play dodgeball on a trampoline. It's a 3-player sport.

Tour Info

2011-07-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is where I find out if I am an artist.

I only take the back-roads when I'm on my motorcycle.

I hide out on the rooftops of Boylston Streets and Newberry.

What I used to do for work. In this box, 4kw of Solar Power.

I use my Iphone Maps Feature to find hidden spots to camp out.

When I get there, I park the bike and set up camp.

After I set up Camp, I can chill on a big log and write a blog.

If it rains, I pull over and park somewhere dry until it passes.

I live in the trees high above your heads.

Stickfiguring Basics

2011-07-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

This is how to "dress up" your stick figure into an analog circlehead.

Object Dependency

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Concepts: Stickfiguring

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Please Comment.

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Which did you vote for... And Why?

Dunkasaurus Rex? Please Vote.

Paco Bell Cannon. Is that driving on the page, or what?

Maybe You Liked the Awesome Drummer?

Voting is something that you should know about. It's important because it helps change the course of the future,

I'm not talking about voting for people. I'm discussing now the presence of the functionality when you vote for ideas. A person that you vote for can then go and do whatever they want. However, an idea that you vote for can actually happen, if it's popular enough.

The idea, in this case, is Flipbooks. Do you think it's relevant to print them, to sell them for $10, to mail them to your door? Would it be useful to you, to learn how to draw them yourself, using the methods that I have ascribed here in this blog? More importantly, do I deserve to be a flipbook artist?

If you say yes, then watch all the flipbook animations. Then, click on the one that you want the most. If enough people pre-order, that will be the one I print. So it's real important to vote.

It's even more important that you pre-order, because Flipbook Island will sink under the ocean without your support, never to be seen again in history. It's that important: you decide if Dunkasaurus survives.

Dunka doesn't have enough room on the island to grow food. All he has are trees that make paper, and shells that make ink. With those shells and that paper, he brings you these flipbooks. He ships them to the mainland, in hope that the mainland will send him food. Does it work?

Concepts: The Rule of Lines

2011-07-10T16:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, so there are a few simple rules that Kid Analog artists abide by when illustrating things.

Here is the "Rule of Lines."

According to the Rule of Lines, it should require fewer penstrokes to compose the drawing. Illustrations should become easier to compose on paper than the phonetic symbols.

Read below to understand.

Concepts: What is a vector?

2011-07-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

You can learn how to understand vector graphics.

"Vector" is a term used to describe geometric visualization.
May of the greatest discoveries in Astronomy were made using vector lines.

"Vector Lines" contain mathematical properties. The properties are:

Length. Quantify how long your line is, in units.
Angle. What is the angle in relation to the grid?
Intersects. Where do lines cross? At what angle?
Curve. Does the line have any curve to it?

ALSO... Can you name any additional properties of a line?
For example: color, thickness...

F(x) Animation: Vector Animation Properties

Over the duration of time, a vector image can change any of its properties.

The properties can stay the same, or change intermittently. They also can change irregularly, but it looks very choppy when you do that. The smoothness of an animation all depends on how regular (patterns) the changes in the lines' properties are.

Serious flip-bookers also relate the changes in properties to the changes in other elements.
Get flippant!

Understanding Concepts Part 4

2011-07-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

On another episode...
Of...

Flipbook Island!!!

Hey, flippers. You are probably out there, somewhere, searching for ideas on how to make your flipbook just a little bit better. Maybe even simpler to draw. I'm here to help you wtih that.

The position of one object in a flipbook can be greatly influenced, if not entirely based on the position of another. That's known as "Object Dependency." It's where one object is dependent on another.

In order for the basketball to move correctly, this head belonging to the basketball player "King Solomon" needs to be in coordination with its position. Zoom in on the little drawing below and see what i'm trying to describe.

Paco Bell Cannon

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Click Image to Enlarge.

The first appearance of Paco Bell Cannon was in the cartoon for the Broccoli Bomber. It drives across the foothills of Tora Bora, playing music, essentially blasting them out of their holes. It was an extreme tactic but for some reason it actually worked. We make dreams here at Stereomedia. We share social dreams. Paco Bell draws on the attention given to a certain Mexican fast food chain. But it also relates to Pachelbel, the great composer. I hope I'm spelling his name right. Imagine a weapon of war, that did nothing but play the same song endlessly. It would drive out the enemy with ease. I can guarantee that.

That's the message behind the Pachelbel Cannon. Weapons of peace can have a better effect on cooperation when compared to weapons of war. And if we are to evolve as a species, we will need to eliminate all of our weapons of war. That is one of the goals of our lifetimes.

Stereomedia stands for Peace And Sustainability!

Don't look so surprised!

2011-07-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

Flipbook Island is doing better than ever, mainly because the motivation is there to bring you the best in educational entertainment from Kid Analog.

There are many little steps that go into drawing flipbooks, but the approach that makes their compositions easier are the techniques that also make them look better. Solid lines and clear colors are actually easier to draw.

The point of greatness, in a Flipbook, is where people get lost in the details. You don't want your viewer to become confused by extravagance. Somebody awesome like Bruce Lee said that the beauty is in the simplicity. And I avidly believe that.

So the next time you're rocking around on a bus or a train, and you're tired of reading the same old news, why don't you make your own cartoon? There's nothing shameful about being good at expressing yourself, and what better way than to express an emotion than through animation?

If you can think of one, please be a wisenheimer and comment below.

Soundtrack

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Special Offer limited time

Here on this website, I would like to offer you access to the database of music created by the same young Jedi that established the style called Kid Analog, and the approach towards animation known colloquially as taking a road trip to "Flipbook Island."

Enter [songs]

Exercise 3. Draw some sequences.

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A sample sequence.

Remember how things work when you sequence them? You must remember, because you studied the [timeline / sequence] section already, didn't you?

A timeline differs from a sequence, because the duration of a timeline is the entire animated flipbook.

A sequence is a drawing of just one particular object, and how you want it to move or interact with other objects.

Concentrate most of your energy on composing sequences in anticipation of moments where objects interact. Get good at determining when those events will happen in your timeline (see next exercise), and you will have some very amazing flippers in your back pocket. And that's for real.

So go ahead, draw some sequences. Listen to some songs while you do it.

Exercise 4: Write out a timeline.

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Alright, so I know you've seen this image before, but this is what a timeline looks like. I could give you timelines of all of my flipbooks in this series, in fact at some point I will probably have to draw that in order to make this site complete. But in the meantime, the point is that I want you to draw your own timeline so that I can take a look at it and understand your flipbook and maybe even be impressed and inspired by yours. Here is the technique. Just figure out how many pages you have in the notebook. Have faith that you are going to finish the entire notebook and it's going to work out, and you're not going to rip out any pages. If you're working with the standard-issue Rhodia notepads, then just get down with the 80-page limit, like in this one.

Take your objects and background themes in the last previous exercise, and determine how you want those things to interact. The flipbook needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Keep in mind that it takes a little while for some of your sequences to transpire, and you should know how many pages each of those are. This technique would later help you with film editing.

Go on, try writing some timelines! Go ahead!

Exercise 2: Compose a selection of background themes.

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Not to hint at where this is going too much, but just figure that from this point, you're going to need to determine what kind of backgrounds you're going to want to have, so that your flipbook looks more complete.

Think about the setting of your environment. Also, remember that in flipbooks, there is no such thing as "background." Everything is an object on a different layer, and the layer that is the furthest back should be drawn last, unless it interacts with layers that are above it. If that's the case, better shut your door and turn off your phone because those can be very difficult to compose.

Flipbook composition is like writing a symphony. You want your tubas to do the same (or at least a similar thing) to what your clarinets are doing, while keeping their characteristics apart. That's helpful, right? I'm only trying to help.

Here's another example of something that you might consider to be analogous to a "background theme." In the Flarfball cartoons, note that the trampoline and the grass stay essentially stationary throughout. That doesn't look that bad, and because it's fairly incidental that it is a "fixed" object, that kind of makes philosophically the background. In this case, you can draw it first because it's made even simpler. It's technically in the same plane as all the other objects, unless you want one of your characters to go in front of it.

Remember that even a trampoline can become an animated object in a flipbook. It remains stationary because you draw it the same on every page. If you want it to get bigger, that could just mean that you are zooming in. If it walks away, that's another issue.

Hills are background, ramps are background. Whatever you want to consider your setting could be considered your background, and it's good to have a pallete of drawings that could be considered background objects (things that are technically inanimate, or incapable of moving without interaction from other animate objects).

Exercise 1: Compose a Selection of Objects.

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This is an example of a selection of objects. Note how there are many different ramps in the image you see above. It's pretty cool, right? Your selection could be way different. If you like clothing, your objects sheet will be full of articles of clothing. If you were drawing a car race, you would have several different cars to choose from. Right?

That's what we're going for here. In fact, if you wanted to make an object with a ton of detail, then you could create something that looks like a sequence of an object. Here we have the way that a dunkasaurus is sequenced into turning 180° and it also shows the Prismacolor #'s.

Here is yet one last example of how a series of objects could be drawn to reinforce the notion that you can maneuver them now that you know how to draw them. Just remember that each of your objects contain a number of lines, and that those lines consist of a certain amount of detail. The more detailed each individual object is, the more work you're going to find yourself doing over the next 80 pages.

[back] to Exercises / Lessons?

Lesson One: Stickfiguring

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Lesson One: Stickfiguring.

or skip to Lesson 2

We all think that flipbooks are cool. At least they have lots of potential.

You have alot of potential. That's why you're reading this, right?

My goal is to turn your potential artistic energy into something more kinetic.

Flipbooks are sort of like literature, except they require movement to "work."

By "working" they create the illusion of things moving, in such a way that you are willing to believe that you are watching something that has life. The root for the word life in Ancient Latin is animus.

Beginner - Intermediate - Advanced

Maybe just a stick figure.

You might want to start with something simple. This is a stick figure, and it's a shape that we are all very familiar with. if you were going to explain a human being to an alien and you had five seconds before it zapped you with a phaser, I suggest you'd draw a stick figure.

A humanoid form, is its linguistic definition in the Pictorial Dictionary. I like to keep the proportions of my stick figure the same. That way it keeps its shape. In very small humanoids, I like the head and the body to take up about the same amount of space. However, in larger humans, the space is divided into thirds, with a head, torso, and legs (as well as limbs, see breakdancing robot).

The humanoid is the foundational framework on which you will build your actual cartoons. All you need now is to "dress up" the humanoid as a more characterized being, with detail.

Turning Stickfigures into Characters

Then, you can take a stick figure, and just add more detail to the parts to make it not just a vector graphic, but a full-out shape that people can recognize and you can identify as a "character."

It's important that you characterize your drawings with names for them which correspond with their distinguishing characteristics.

Sequence Pages

The page above is an example of a Layout Page, and that's something you draw on a single, large-sized piece of paper which maps out all of the ways that certain things will change. As you can see from the layout page above, all of the objects in the flipbook have been mapped out. It shows you how the circle for the head of the stickfigure turns into a space ship. Then it describes how the rest of the body, meaning the limbs, turn into a tree. It really helps, when making flipbooks, to have a layout page, and you can see some other examples of that [here (link to layout pages].

Exercise 1. Draw a Humanoid Flipbook.

It might cost you a brunch, in supplies. Yes, brunch.

So if you want me to draw it for you, you can buy it from me for $5.

As soon as I get the printing press to work again.

Otherwise, you can use the index margin of an old book you find at a tag sale or a used book store. Never mind the content, if it's uninteresting; or you might use the contents as inspiration. Perhaps you could illustrate a scene from your favorite Shakespearian play?

If drama isn't your specialty, then maybe you can get a book on taxidermy and learn how to animate that. I went to a taxidermatologist once and the experience was not a very good one. My skin looks great but it costed me 35% of everything i own.

Here are some additional helpful pointers and hints.

"Animus" in Latin means "Life."

Give some life to your drawings!

You can animate Romans, if you'd like.

They're the ones who came up with Latin.

Continue to Lesson 2

This was composed by a real Solar Electrical Installer.

5kw. 3 Days. BroadBrook, CT (2008). LineLoad.Org

Timelines / Sequences

2011-07-05T12:51:00.001-07:00

[Objects / Layers] [Timelines / Sequences] [Lessons / Exercises]

An Introduction to how to map out your animations

You can only imagine what it must feel like, for a circle to split and become two circles. Ouch.

Or can you guess what a deep and significant feeling it might be, to be a tree and grow?

If you can imagine or guess any of these things, then you can grasp the next concept I'm about to describe. Flipbooks can help you organize your imagination. By mapping out the details of what you want to see over the course of a timeline, by plotting a sequence with specific events to occur at precise page #'s (moments), you can create something that is totally intense and beyond words incredible, so please post with your YouTube videos in the comments below. I always appreciate that.

A timeline is like an itinerary of sorts for flipbooks. If you were drawing a flipbook of a train, for example, and you were working in a Rhodia notebook that was exactly 80 pages, you would know that if you wanted the train to make 4 stops, it would be a bit rushed if you made each stop exactly 20 pages a piece. You end up rounding off all the stops such that maybe there'd be a 10 page intro, then an average of about 15 pages per stop will get you at around page 70, just in time for a 10 page outro.

That's how my brain calculates pages, and yours can, too. What made this process much simpler was that I was able to consider that by mapping it out on a single sheet of paper, you can really get into having expectations, when it came to the final outcome of a flipbook.

Think of it this way: it's bad enough that you can't copy and paste images on paper in real life with the same amount of ease that a computer can. But that doesn't mean that you should cave in and just start browsing the internet again. Get back out there with your pen and try again, my friend. Timelines save valuable energy, by helping you to not make mistakes. What also helps? Try not ever using pencil. It's a waste of time to rely on the fact that you can erase something. When you can't erase, you make less mistakes. I know it sounds very zen, but I'm trying to share with you my creative process here so give me a break. I'll give you a break from my words and put up a picture.

Here is an example of a timeline. As you can see, there are different events which take place. You know which flipbook this is, right? Click here if you want to watch it real quick.

Timelines are great, but you'll notice there's a terminology called "morph." If you look really closely, somewhere between 20 and 40, the yellow thing morphs from being boxy to being circular. Also, noteworthy is that the other blob at 40 becomes purple at 60. I'm not sure what "run title" means.

Anyway, so that's what a timeline looks like. I'm sure you can come up with hundreds on your own. Just remember, that timelines and sequences go hand in hand. They work together like a point guard and a forward should. With synergy. Wade and James could stand to use a lesson from the Dunka.

Did you know that Alex English was the top scorer in the NBA during the 1980's?

Sequences : Timelines Without Numbers

Example: Greetings

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back to [examples]

Greetings has been gifted. It no longer resides in my collection.

Timelines / Sequences

2011-07-05T00:18:00.000-07:00

[Timelines / Sequences]

[Objects / Layers] [Timelines / Sequences] [Lessons / Exercises]

An Introduction to how to map out your animations

You can only imagine what it must feel like, for a circle to split and become two circles. Ouch.

Or can you guess what a deep and significant feeling it might be, to be a tree and grow?

If you can imagine or guess any of these things, then you can grasp the next concept I'm about to describe. Flipbooks can help you organize your imagination. By mapping out the details of what you want to see over the course of a timeline, by plotting a sequence with specific events to occur at precise page #'s (moments), you can create something that is totally intense and beyond words incredible, so please post with your YouTube videos in the comments below. I always appreciate that.

Objects and Layers

2011-07-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

[Objects / Layers] [Timelines / Sequences] [Lessons / Exercises]

An Introduction to how to map out your animations. More illustrations are ahead in the sections.

Objects and Layers are inseparable... Actually objects are separable only by layer. Find out what I mean by reading ahead into this area. By the time you are done with this part of it, you should then be ready to start applying what you know about objects and layers to your timelines and sequences.

Objects

You're quite capable of imagining your drawings actually moving. So why go through the hassle of actually performing the great task of copying it into a flipbook? Because you can.

That's right. You should do it just because you're able to, and I'm going to show you just how able you are. But first, follow me through a series of steps. Some will seem familiar, others not. Please concentrate on the areas that seem unfamiliar. These are probably the points that will help you the most.

An example of how a computer draws flipbooks

First of all, you should understand that the terms "Object" and "Layer" come from computer programming. They're terms used when designing animation in certain software (the kind like these people use). Only for now, I'm applying it to things that you draw on paper. It works the same way.

1. What is an Object?

Section: Definition of Objects

An "Object" can be just about anything in a flipbook. Some are more animate than others. You can draw an object the same for 80 pages, and then flip it, and this will look the same as if you were not flipping the pages. Why would anybody do this?

So you need to be able to identify objects, as such that they are able to be distinguished.

2. Objects can move.

Section: Motion of Objects

Though it is important to identify that an object is capable of moving, it is also necessary to distinguish whether it moves on its own, something else is causing it to move, or it is merely sitting still and you are the one that's moving. Each of these characteristics will cause you to understand why things move.

Because the art of animation is the illustration of intelligence in a seemingly unintelligent world. While you are sitting there, staring at a notebook, there is something that is triggered by your brain to make you believe or imagine that you're seeing something moving.

3. Objects can change chape.

Section: Morphing

3. Objects affect eachother.

Section: Object Dependency.

Could you imagine the excitement of the people who made the first flipbooks, once they realized that the same effect could probably be achieved with photographs? Those people knew movies were going to exist, well before they did. And I wonder if they had any idea what kind of impact it would have on us.

Let's face it. The world isn't perfect, and the only reason we have a concept of "perfection" is because we see it in our minds. Let's find a way to share our personal perfection with eachother, shall we?

So establish an object. Let's start with a simple one. A square. Now picture that square, turning into different shapes. It could turn into a triangle, or it could split into two separate squares. You should try this as an exercise.

Waiting To Upload

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HTML (how to make a living)

Lesson number one. Don't sit there and wait for the world to happen for you.

You need to get out there and do what you have to in order to survive.

I can feel bad for the things I say. You might call it a vulnerability.

I'm not sure if I can call i that though, because it saves me from thinking that I need to feel right all the time. There's this feeling I get, when I look to the west.

Right now I'm waiting to upload my next flipbook. These things are taking forever, and my laptop is running at a fair temperature, finally 60˙ (on a Mac, that's shift+option+8). Try pressing [ctrl+h] sometime when you're writing something.

While we're waiting, let me give you a special indication as to where language is going.

You have a Mac, right? Hope so. Maybe you don't and there's another way, but in Chrome there is a feature at the end of "Edit" (next to "File" and all, "view history" and stuff). In that edit menu at the very bottom you'll see "Special Characters." You can open it with [shift+apple+T]. This is a character menu.

Phonetic language still has a future. And I doubt English is going away anytime soon, the way that the British Empire is going. I suggest if we really want to rebel once more, we change our language and come up with a new American Language.

It should be based on Native America and all that we should have learned, before they disappeared. And it could be built on a new foundation for language, with all-new platforms that had never been considered by the ancients.

I mean, let's face it. English is an ancient language. So are many of the languages around the world, but just remember one thing about language: it's constantly evolving. And if you know a thing or two about evolution, it happens occasionally very suddenly. That's just the way the world works.

"I need processors!" He said, in a semi-alarmed state. Nobody really knew what this meant. the laptop increased to 74°C as he worried, are all my files fried at this point???

"Yes, sir. 74°C is a bit warm for your processor. I believe you should get this for your laptop. There was an Apple feature known as "dashboard" and it was pretty much where the concept for the iPhone first started. The idea that there could be multiple little windows, all running things, summonable by the push of a single button.

Try it right now. If your computer is just like mine, it's the F12 key, right up there next to Eject. Push it and see what it does, if you have never tried. Not bad, eh?

It brings up a menu. You can download these little "widgets" from one place: the Apple website. Sound familiar? And you can get them to do all different things. It's fairly remarkable, when you think about it. This is where I'm going with this.

Do a web search for "iStat Pro." Or, there. I did it for you. Get it, it's free, it's not going to make your computer run slow. It's a diagnostic tool, and now you can open up a little window whenever you press F12. Mine says:

As you can see, I was smart to cover up my IP address on this little screen shot, but you can see that too. Here are a bunch of different temperatures inside of my machine. If your computer is on your lap for too long, or it's sitting on a surface that has maximally absorbed all the heat that it can, then you are going to come across some problems in the longterm with your computer if the internal circuits reach a state where they are so soft that they melt a little into eachother. We wouldn't want that. So keep an eye on it, would you?

If you're concerned about your ability to translate the C temps into F, then consider this other possibility: maybe there's a dashboard widget that can help you determine a thing or two about measurement conversion.

Now I got things moving. Think about it. Video is by far the heaviest kind of weight, when it comes to files.

High quality video takes up an enormous amount of space. When you think about how much storage space it would take to save every ounce of video in the universe, the machine would have to be the size of the universe. I think we're on to something here.

A BPM is worth a thousand TXT's, you know.

Example: Cup Game

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back to [examples]

I don't know what's in their cups, but they look pretty young so I want to say it's juice.
That's all. I'm not encouraging you to go and play this game of revelry (and rivalry). But I am suggesting at the end that you will fall down.
On that note, and on the reverse side of the flipbook, you will find instructions on how to draw your own, using the math and art techniques that were employed to compose the one that i haven't uploaded yet.

Example: Solar Co.

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back to [examples]

Save the Planet! Rally the Troops!
[flipbook video requires upload]

Example: Quarters Up!

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back to [examples]

A timeline, as well as a sequence, for this flipper.

Example: Empty Park

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back to [examples]

This is another interactive flipbook, where you are given a bunch of skateboarding ramps, and you can do whatever you want with them.

Imagine you get up early in the morning, and you go to the skatepark, and nobody's there.

Now, also imagine that you can do anything!
Then, you are prepared for what you can do with the Empty Park skateboard flipbook.

Example: Rolling Hills

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back to [examples]

Are you trying to learn how to draw flipbooks? Use Rolling Hills to give you a jump start on drawing "Turtle on a Bicycle."

The "Rolling Hills" flipbook is one where the hills have been drawn for you already. Now, it's up to you to install the turtle on a bicycle. Or, a tractor trailer. Or a giraffe.

Whatever you'd like to run around on these hills, you can add it. It's an interactive flipbook for your enjoyment (and inclusion).

You could find this flipbook on the backside of "Turtle on a Bicycle." Who knows? It's a blend of intelligence and elegance.

Example: Freestyle Skateboarding

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back to [examples]

Below is a guide on either how to skate, or maybe how to draw an animated skateboard.

Not really sure what it actually is, but I drawed it.

Example: Breakdancing Bot

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back to [examples]

A conceptual drawing for the Dancin' Bot

Example: Tornado

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back to [examples]

A Layout/Sequence for Tornado

this is the frame where the cow gets picked up

If you count the sticks lifted up from the houses, does it match the wood in the lettering?

If you put a computer TV effect on it, it really does look like a cartoon on video.

Example: How To Surf

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back to [examples]

Example: Dunkasaurus Rex

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back to [examples]

see [sequences] to learn how to use these drawings to help you draw your own.

Print Suggestions

Double-sided, one to imply that you are supposed to play the controls as Magic, and the other side as Dunka. Interactive, in that you are encouraged to fill out the directions of the controls to indicate that you understand how to play this, if it were a real videogame.

Example: Awesome Drummer

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back to [examples]

The "Awesome Drums" flipper is supposed to teach you what a midi sequence is all about. Eventually there are going to be a ton of midi flipbooks, and hand-written sequences on paper, as a way for musicians to communicate via language about how the construct their songs. Music has a langauge. This has also been the same for a very long time.

Language changes over time. We do not create this change arbitrarily, but it happens due to various circumstances. In the case of music, the language changed once we started computerizing it. All of the great jazz musicians essentially told us, you don't need to read music to play it, because music is its own language. And I agree with that sentiment.

I also think you need to learn to play the drums.

Can you improve your drumming skills just by watching this? I think you can. Note how the hi-hat and the snare are both green, on the left. That is to say they are also active in the sequencer bar. Then note how they are in the last frame of the sequencer. And our blue-hatted friend, Kid Analog, is hitting both the snare and the hi-hat. Right on, my man.

What do you think is going to happen next?

A. Pause for a second, then both the high hat and the bass drum at the same time.

B. A whole lot more random drumming

C. The hi-hat will walk away and so will the snare.

If you said A, B, and C, then you are right. All of those things are going to happen. Now that you know how to read that language, you can transcribe and write your own:

Example: FutBol

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back to [examples]

Example: Turtle on a Bicycle

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back to [examples]

See also: Rolling Hills (link: coming soon).

This is a Turtle on a Bicycle. You can draw your own. Here are the elements that were used in the construction of this flipbook. I didn't use a computer. There were no special techniques.

You are as good as a computer. Your mind is more powerful than any computer in the world.

Don't believe me? Prove it to yourself! Just try to build your own flipbook, using Ralph as a lesson.

Ralph is a turtle. He is slow. But you can make everything appear to go faster, because you control the pages. When you take away the motion, Ralph is on every page. He has a body and a helmet and a shell. It's all good if you have a helmet.

You are going to need some pens and markers. Click [tools] at the top to order, and check below at the image to determine what Prismacolors you need to buy.

Maybe you have a difficult time drawing the hills. You could take the easy route, and just buy a "Rolling Hills" flipbook, one with things partially drawn for you.

Or you could try to learn how to draw it yourself.

That will teach you how to animate waveforms.

(might also cost you a couple books in mistakes... practice in margins).

Flarfball

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Example Flipbook: Flarfball

Have you ever played Flarfball with your friends before? It's fun.

All you need is a dodgeball, a trampoline, and two of your friends.

The person on the trampoline is vulnerable towards getting flarfed.

You do not want to fall or hurt yourself, so remember to yell "flarf."

There are strategies and a few other rules, but that's basically how it works.

I wrote a little bit more about it below, if that interests you.

Ned Lamont examines Flarfball.

Flarfball: Rules and Strategies

Here are some strategies for winning Flarfball. Actually, these are more like configurations of positions of people. The "Diameter-Radius" tactic is one where you must pass the flarf to your temporary team-mate on the other side of the trampoline. That's a diameter. If you connect, that's a radius. This technique demonstrates why basketball and other sports keep records of a statistic called "an assist."

Another technique, the high bounce, involves getting on the trampoline with the other player and bouncing up there with them, trying to throw their timing somehow. It certainly changes the rules around a little bit, and every group can decide on their own bunch of rules.

When a Flarfer gets off the trampoline without getting hit by the flarfball, that's a time-out. This can be used if the flarfer is getting too tired to hop around. Time-outs can last 2 minutes, or a water break, a swimming break, an hour, or maybe even a day or two. Hey, these are just the rules.

Flarfball: How to Draw the Flipper

This is how I drew the flarfball flipbook. As you can see by the lines on the page, note how the detail is added in layers. That's a common technique described in the section on layering, here on Flipbook Island, and I suggest you give that a read-through, if you would like to draw your own to teach your friends how to play Flarfball.

Flarfball: A guide on how to play

And these are the rules. They're the only rules that can ever exist about the game, because the rule-making days of game development are over. All you Flarfheads out there can improvise from these guidelines that have been given, but you must not waste your afternoons writing elaborate rules everyone must follow. -Dunka

Lessons and Exercises

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[Objects / Layers] [Timelines / Sequences] [Lessons / Exercises]

This is all about lessons and exercises. Apply what you have learned from the previous two sections into these activities and you will make progress as a flipbook artist. I really had to dig deep into the vault to find this stuff, and I will probably not write a follow-up to this one, so this is it.

None of this stuff is in any particular order, but if any of the terminology baffles you, get into the sections where you see similar words being used, and there you'll find answers. More than anything please just have fun, and leave Mr. Twiggy alone; he's died a hundred horrible different ways at the hands of you peoples' pens. Thank you and good day.

Lessons

These are some guidance tools that could help you learn how to avoid making mistakes.

I recommend transcribing some of my flipbooks to improve your animation skills.

Stickfiguring
Turtle on a Bicycle
Music Box
Draw Your Own Videogame

Enjoy these lessons and feel free to comment on what types of meditative exercises you have come up with to help you improve at the art of composing hand-drawn animation sequences.

Thank you for taking this seriously!

Exercises

These are steps I take before drawing any new original flipbooks.

They are listed by the order in which they are usually completed.

The skills taught here cross-reference in relevance with the mental skills required to have a solid grasp on other tasks such as film production, as well as musical orchestration.

Nobody can "teach" patience, but these steps are truly "exercises."

In the same way that you would strengthen yourself physically, these tasks strengthen your mind.

Give them a try! Please comment, tell me what a Dutch Unkle I am. I don't really care.

Recommended For Making Flipbooks

2011-07-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

[Pens] [Markers] [Notebooks]

Rhodia Notebooks - 5x5 graph paper, 2"x3".

I like to use the Rhodia notebooks.

They are each 80 pages, which works with the timeline standards.

In addition, these contain quadrille "graph" lines in a very faint blue.

Occasionally people ask:

Markers

2011-07-04T08:13:00.001-07:00

[Pens] [Markers] [Notebooks]

PrismaColor Markers - a select number of colours.

Prismas are GREAT, but it's also recommended that you get a piece of paper in between your pages while you are coloring, or else they will often smudge onto the page behind the one you're coloring in.

You will notice on occasion that I include the catalogue #s of the markers I use.

Pens

2011-07-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

[Pens] [Markers] [Notebooks]

Micron Pens - 005, 01, 02, 03, 05, 08.

Why so many pens? Don't they all look the same?

These are the pens that I use. You might find them to be quite useful, as well. They work great with the types of markers that I find also to be top-notch.

It's important to recognize that you can use the technique of different line thicknesses to draw attention to certain shapes. I use this technique all the time, with my flipbooks usually consisting of a Micron #01, a #05, and then usually a #02 or a #03 for additional details.

Flipbook Island Presents...

2011-07-03T14:36:00.001-07:00

Learn how to draw flipbooks that are about as good as these are...!

The Illusory Senses

2011-07-03T13:47:00.000-07:00

What makes us sense "motion" with vision?

Yes, we sense motion. But, why?

Your eyes see the world, and convert it into a series of images that you then visualize in your mind. Your mind then translates those images you see, and converts it into something you understand based on what objects and shapes you recognize. You can also recognize patterns in motion which take on their own identies, in a way. Illusion becomes a part of taking advantage of where human senses are limited.

Flipbooks and Stopmotion

Flipbooks are one way of creating the illusion of motion from objects that are technically stationary. Stopmotion of physical objects are another method that you can put in place.

In modern times, it's the same thing as "magic" and people who can do this well are largely considered to be contemporary magicians. Some people's magic is good, and it helps the world. Others cast spells on others for their own temporary gains.

"If I had superpowers, I would spread helpful and optimistic messages to the people of Earth."

ion

Instruction Manual

2011-07-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Lesson 2

Turtle on a Bicycle.

For the next lesson, you are going to construct a flipbook known as "Turtle on a Bicycle." This is a great way of showing that you have some newfound skills, homeslice!

First thing, examine the drawing above. can you see how the turtle goes along all of these different hills that have objects on them, such as trees, fences, and gates?

Remember that you have to draw all of these things, so make a layout of everything you expect you're going to see on the course. Come up with clear ways of drawing the things that you want to see. You can copy from me, because I'm just copying what I see. Nobody holds the answers to the questions on these tests.

Intermediate

This is an example of how the turtle on a bicycle rolls up and down the hills. Note how at the very top, there are only three lines. That is the Top Layer. On the second drawing, you can see that I've added a shrub, and three circles. The three circles are filled in and added with detail, every time drawing the same three circles on each of the 80 pages (for a total of a whole bunch of circles).

Do you want a color guide?

Color guides contain all of the serial numbers for the markers that you should use, when drawing this remarkable turtle. See how each of the numbers are listed, as well as what those colors represent? This can definitely help you if you want to make a really awesome flipbook, and not have to wonder about whether the markers are going to look good or not. I already did the research and development for ya.

Advanced

You can buy a Rolling Hills flipbook from me, if you would like to. Then, you'd be an intermediate flipbooker. If you would like to really make things amazingly though, learn how to draw the moving hills yourself. It might cost you a few notebooks, but there will come a point where you will be able to get the hills to do the "flow" movement, which then you can apply to other flipbooks like ones involving water, electrical current, or any kinds of waves.

Life is in the details.

Use Existing Objects

2011-07-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Breakdancing Robot For Beginners

So anyway, I try to make it ineresting by showing you various different ways of animating things. You can make a robot dance any way you want, but the kind of important thing to remember is that ultimately, people have to identify it as a robot. Therefore I offer the following visual suggestions in standardizing the appearance of "the bot."

First, his head must be square. I like him to have very simple eyes. Usually I use 2 or 3 shades of gray:

(prismacolors)
warm grey 20%, 30%.
cool grey 30%, 40%.

Now you have your own super disco breakin' robot.
It costs you only a couple bucks to buy a rhodia.
And you can make it do anything. So get started.

Intermediate

Advanced

Layering is an advanced Concept.

Other New Flipbook Originals

2011-07-03T09:27:00.001-07:00

July 2011 Update.

A collection of the latest and greatest in animated sequences from Kid Analog.

Watch a total of # animated notebooks in this video, shot at the Cornercopia in New Haven, CT.

1. "Tornado!" The most remarkable feature of this little notebook is that it is the only piece of literature where you can actually feel a small breeze that has been generated by the tornado while you flip it. Just like a real tornado, watch this entire neighborhood get destroyed in all of about 10-15 seconds, depending on how fast you flip it. It's possible you might want to search it for memorable freeze-frames if you ever get a copy of it in your hands.

2. "Breakdance!" Breakdancing is fun, but it's even more fun when you are watching the Bot, because it moves in a robotic "pop and lock" "can't stop it" type of way. Kid Analog is the Deejay, and as soon as the record is on, the Bot begins to move. These are only a few different moves that the bot can do. This flipbook is based on the code for a videogame that I invented. Unfortunately, I can only create analog videogames, the kind that do not need computers to work.

3. "Breakdance Instructional" Aside from just entertaining you with a dancing robot (which should be good enough in of itself), Kid Analog encourages you to get down with at least trying to make your own. Ultimately, it's cheaper than buying my expensive crap, if you can make it yourself. Everything you are reading right now was written to help make that process less payingful. Maybe more eventful, if you are able to create your own events.

4. "Futbol." It's Africa VS Europe for the final GOOOOOAAL! Rock out and follow the moving objects, as you go across the screen to the place that you need to. That's called the GOOOOOAAL!

This was inspired by the world cup of 2010. It stays as part of my personal collection of good ones, and while you can go ahead and watch it over and over, nothing beats going outside and playing soccer.

5. "Sabotage." An oldie but goodie, this one began as a sketch in a notebook in high school. This one has some licensing issues, with the fact that there's a Pac Man on it, and I'm not sure if I have to pay a licensing fee for even mentioning PacMan, but maybe I should watch out. Hey, however it's a very enteratining flipbook and it reminds you that it's a videogame, and you should be careful of who and what you play. Because especially with flipbooks, you might learn that the game is playing you.

6. "How To Surf." The original How-To-Surf flipbook was inspired by the one and only Dunkasaurus, who never knew how to surf, but would watch the waves, and knew very well how to draw flipbooks because he spent all of his time on the island. When Kubla Kai went back to take over the rest of Asia, Dunka had tons of time to practice imagining what it would be like to get all surfy, but couldn't get in the water because Dunka can't float. Therefore, when Dizzy arrived one day (for the first couple days he seemed a little out of it, then it became evident that this was a permanent condition) Dunka shared with him the flipbooks that he made, about how to surf. This actually helped Dizzy learn how to surf, and as he said later on in life, "I would have never imagined such a thing. Thanks, Dunka!"

7. "Dunkasaurus Rex." Legend has it, that there was a boy who created these things, and he came from a time and place where the world worshiped a barbarian tribe of Canadians. And at that show, in his back pocket, he kept an unfinished copy of this original flipbook in his pocket, disregarding the danger of it being damaged or destroyed. And at that show, he met one of the leaders from the Canadian tribe and offered him the original "Sabotage" flipbook. This is a true story (see 2:39).

The real history of Flipbook Island has yet to really unfold, but you will be sure to show you how it all goes, over the series of many illustrations and animations.

Original Guide, Part 8

2011-07-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

Original Guide, Part 7. Click Any Drawing To Enlarge.

2011-07-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

A preliminary look at the Flipbook Manual

I would like to publish some sort of manual, but it would need to be edited by someone else because I don't know when I'm not making sense. That's what editors are for. In the meantime, I can only post as much as I write, and hope that some of it catches your attention and enlightens you to something you previously did not understand about animation, making you potentially slightly better at it.

There's more writings here over at Concepts, and they're a bit easier to understand because there's more commentary. Check out some of the writings below. These were some of my first impressions of explaining how to make flipbooks. As you can see, it's been a long process. Hopefully some of the material on this site will show you a thing or two about making your own. It'll certainly show you how I made mine.

Facebook Channel

2011-06-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

Want occasional updates on new entries here on this blog? I promise that it'll all be good info.
Please consider also pre-ordering during this limited time while liking this project on Facebook.

Kickstarter is the fundraising platform where I'm trying to raise money to publish a flipbook. I offer you all educational support in exchange for the financial support in this endeavor. Thanks!

Friendship is free. We all know that, and it's well-organized on FB.
Whoever thought a friendship organization service would be so successful?

Many would say that flipbooks would not be successful, in a world full of iPads, computers, phones... But I believe that now is the time to remember books. We are very reliant on this web of information for our news about what's happening. It's only been available to us for less than 2 decades. But books have been around since the invention of paper by the Egyptians.

Earlier people wrote on animal skin, and it's no wonder we don't know what they wrote, because it didn't last for long. However, the cave paintings have still lasted, and prove to stand the test of time, describing that the first scribes were actually just old-school graffiti artists. Nobody owned caves, at that time, but now it seems that everything's owned. We couldn't have a La Croix nowadays because there's just not enough space. All the roads need to be paved, and you might think that art is just frivolous stuff to be forgotten and cast aside while we take in stride this 21st century wild ride.

Flipbooks cannot be denied! We subjugate our lives to the CGI while the actual events that define our existence get swept under the rug of irrelevance. Find a way to encapsulate your thoughts into neat little orange notebooks that you bought, and then you can show them to your friends. Just don't get caught writing one that contains violence or nobody will want to see your thoughts! They'll think you want to see that sort of thing. Keep it clean, and be a mean lean flipbook machine. Eat more stringbeans than jellybeans, and less jelly donuts than a bunch of old robots.

The new robots run on coffee... The old robots ran on JellyBeans. It's a fact.

Giving Life To A Drawing.

2011-06-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

This is how to give life to a drawing with mathematics. If you can give an illustration life with math, imagine what we can do in science for the human condition!

Oscillation is just one pattern of movement for making things appear to have life. You can use it in many different ways, such as in the Rolling Hills aspect of flipbooks, as an oscilloscope in those flippers, which are quite good, or many other processes and scopes of creating amazing drawings.

Go for it! I'm sure it seems confusing but if you think about it, it's not. Your mind is just trying to grasp the parameters of how complicated it can think. And by pushing the limits of what it is capable of, you can help yourself become smarter.

Flipbook Island - This Site Will Help You Build A Better Flipbook.

Welcome!

Drawing Using Kid Analog Concepts

Thanks East Rock!

From the New Yorker

Deejaying Skills: Illustrated

Beatles FB

Paper Computer And The New Blog

Presentation August 24th at Bentara (preview)

Kickstarter Begins! Pledge by October 1.

PLEDGE $5 OR MORE

PLEDGE $10 OR MORE

PLEDGE $20 OR MORE

PLEDGE $25 OR MORELIMITED REWARD 100 of 100 remainingCreator's Pack. Get yourself the flipbook and a toolkit, and some instructions, plus a great soundtrack to draw to. Probably one of the best rewards options. Again, in the mail by December 1, 2011.

PLEDGE $25 OR MORE

PLEDGE $30 OR MORE

Images from Old Flipbooks

Original Guide, Part 6

Original Guide, Part 5

Original Guide, Part 4

Original Guide, Part 3

Original Guide, Part 2

Original Guide, Part 1

Please Comment.

Sequence: Tornado!

My Journey To Flipbook Island

Understanding Objects

Soundtrack

StickfigureMatics

Basics of Stickfiguring

Patterns of Shape

Shape Splitting

Resolution (PPS)

Inanimate Objects

Musical Sequences

Objects of Space Wars

Pro Wrestler

Sets: The Background Layer

Flarfball: Objects Lesson

Tank Object and Sequence

Introduction to the Guide.

Fut-Bol: A flipbook retrospective

Terminology: Aria

Analog Basic

Build A Better Flipbook!

Tour Info

Stickfiguring Basics

Object Dependency

Concepts: Stickfiguring

Please Comment.

Concepts: The Rule of Lines

Concepts: What is a vector?

Understanding Concepts Part 4

Paco Bell Cannon

Don't look so surprised!

Soundtrack

Exercise 3. Draw some sequences.

Exercise 4: Write out a timeline.

Exercise 2: Compose a selection of background themes.

Exercise 1: Compose a Selection of Objects.

Lesson One: Stickfiguring

Timelines / Sequences

Example: Greetings

Timelines / Sequences

Objects and Layers

Waiting To Upload

Example: Cup Game

Example: Solar Co.

Example: Quarters Up!

Example: Empty Park

Example: Rolling Hills

Example: Freestyle Skateboarding

Example: Breakdancing Bot

Example: Tornado

Example: How To Surf

Example: Dunkasaurus Rex

Example: Awesome Drummer

Example: FutBol

Example: Turtle on a Bicycle

Flarfball

PLEDGE $25 OR MORE
LIMITED REWARD 100 of 100 remaining
Creator's Pack. Get yourself the flipbook and a toolkit, and some instructions, plus a great soundtrack to draw to. Probably one of the best rewards options. Again, in the mail by December 1, 2011.