Animating is a great hobby to have and you can make very cool videos using animation. A good way to start animating is to use the light box method as it is simple and produces great results. You can make it as hard or as easy as you wish.
Steps
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Plan the story of your animation in your head. What is the plot? It does not have to be really complicated, in fact the less complicated ones are usually most effective.
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Make preliminary sketches. If you have a more detailed animation storyboard it. Sketch what the main parts of your animation will look like so you have a plan to follow.Advertisement
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Obtain your light box. A light box is a flat box that shines light through to help you trace.
- If you don't have a light box you can buy a see-through plastic box and some little lights like a torch. Put the lights inside the box and switch them on when needed.
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Take your first piece of paper and put it on the box. Draw the first image. The basic idea of a light box is to draw something changing into something else--a bit like a flipbook. Take a flower for example. On the first image, you would draw the start of the flower (a little bud).
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Color in the pictures neatly. Adding colour makes your animation look more skilled. Keep the colors the same throughout the animation unless you are planning on having them change color for a reason.
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Take the next piece of paper and put it exactly corner-to-corner of the picture underneath. Trace what has already been drawn and make a little change (e.g. the bud has a shoot growing out from it). Color it in again.
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Take the first image and put it aside. That is the first image for your animation. Put the third piece of paper corner-to-corner on the second image. Trace what you have done so far and add another little bit to the image (e.g. the shoot is growing).
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Repeat the tracing process until your thing has completely changed (e.g. the bud has grown into a flower). Pile all the sheets of paper in order from the first (the beginning) to the last (the end).
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Find a stop motion app to use. IMovie and StopMotionStudio are recommended. Make sure they are working first and you understand how to use them.
- You can take the pictures on a phone or tablet and do it that way or you can use a professional camera and transfer the pictures to the device, it is up to you.
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Take a photo of each piece of paper in order. Take a photo of the first picture and then change to picture number two make sure the paper fits exactly into the outline of the previous one so that the paper doesn't move, that will make it look unprofessional. You can try drawing around the paper with chalk onto the table (with permission of course, you don't want to vandalise people's property) and keep the paper in that outline each time. Rub out the chalk when finished.
- Make sure you cannot see the table underneath it and you can only see the paper. If you avoid leaving background objects lying around in view of the camera, it will look more professional.
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Continue on with the process of taking photos of each part for your video in order. Keep the camera still and don't move it about, it's best if you have a stand.
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Edit the video . Experiment with different sound effects and music and whatever else.
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Play it through and see if you are happy. If you are completely pleased, feel free to edit it further until you are 100% satisfied. The more you edit it, the more professional it should look.
- If you wish, you can upload your video to YouTube.
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Tips
- Search up light box animations on YouTube to get a basic idea.Thanks
- Make sure you put them in the right order. If you are unsure write a number in each corner so you know.Thanks
- If you are making your own light box, remember the more lights you put in it the easier it will be to see through the paper when tracing.Thanks
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Things You'll Need
- Light box
- Paper
- Pencils/pens
- Camera
- Stop motion app on your device ie. iMovie or StopMotionStudio.
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