Flip Book Assignment

Todd Lambrix Parsons The New School for Design 2009

The flip book is one of the earliest forms of animation. Each page of a book has an image that changes slightly from one page to the next to create the illusion of movement much like stills in a film. For our purposes this works perfectly as we will be exploring how one composition with a clear figure ground relationship can “morph” itself into a full reversal, leaving us with a completely new image. You have already seen examples of this in our lecture and are currently working with figure/ground in the studio class.

Figure Ground Reversal Flip Book

Getting Started

There are several approaches in making your initial composition. You may use text, shapes or lines as the elements in your composition as long as the figure ground relationship is clear. Do we see the black elements in the piece as figure? Is there ambiguity here? Do the black and white elements still appear to be balanced even though one or the other reads as the figure?

Remember that the flip book will need a place for binding or staples and still have room for the image to be seen. Whatever format you choose, make sure to leave about 25% of the space blank for binding. A long format works best as it allows for easier flipping and a smaller book means the pages are less flimsy and will perform better.

Image HereStaple or binding here

Making the pages

Create the first page and the last page of your animation. One should read as black as figure, the other should reveal the white as figure. The two images should differ in composition, but incorporate the same elements. Here is an example:

Now imagine what must happen between these two images for one to become the other. Think of it as a slow ballet that transforms one shape and allows another to be revealed. Perhaps one comes from behind or one comes from off the page and enteres the scene. Make thumbnails in your sketchbook. You will make 36 images to make the transition.

Beginning End

D i g i t a l L a b


Making the pages (continued)

When you have an idea of how the transformation will take place, export your first image as a .jpg and title it image1.jpg. Place this image in a separate folder.

Now make the alterations to the first image and begin to push it towards itʼs final destination. As you complete each stage or still in your animation, export the image as shown above with the file nameʼs number increasing each time. Do this until you have 36 .jpgs saved.

Note: You may make more than 36 images if you really become involved with the project and want to push it a little further... 36 is the minimum.

Preparing to print

1. This part will take a little planning and preparation. Depending on the size of the pages in your book, you can calculate how many pages can fit on one 11”x17” piece of paper. Set up a new document in Illustrator and choose ʻTabloid” as the paper size.

2. From the Menu Bar at the top choose, Illustrator-Preferences-Guides and grids and set Gridline every 1 inch with 1 division. Hit OK and then choose View-Show Grid. Then choose View-Snap to Grid. You will now have a gridded document.

3. From the File menu, choose “Place” and pick the first of the saved .jpgs that you have in the folder you made. Move the image around on the screen with the arrow keys to the upper left corner of the document.

4. Repeat step 3 until you have the page filled and save as a .pdf.


Illustrator tools you should be using:

Selection Arrow Direct Selection Arrow

Type Tool

Shape ToolsPen Tool

FillStroke

Layers Palette


Resources and Readings

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/937007/amazing_flip_book_animation/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_book

http://www.pettyofficial.com/2006/10/squampkin-flip-book.html

http://gentlepurespace.com/blog/archives/flip-book-calendar-of-tree-

http://thescienceofcraft.com/?p=4












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Flip Book Assignment

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