Vaibhav Kumaresh, assisted by Mahboob Raja (Head of Animation Production at Vaibhav Studios) conducted a full day flip book making workshop for a group of 40 children from four different NGOs working towards the betterment of the disadvantaged children (NGOs: Aarambh, Doorstep School, Pankhudi Foundation and Vidya). The children were accompanied by their representatives and teachers. The workshop was organized by Mohile Parikh Center, NCPA  Mumbai on Saturday, 19 December, 2009.

To start off, they screened various kinds of animation films to the kids, followed by a demonstration of how animation is created frame by frame so that the basic process of this medium would be clear to the children. Using a digital tablet on a PC, Vaibhav drew a still image on a blank file. Then he placed a new page over it and drew the second image. Then the third, fourth and so on. After around 15 drawings, he hit the play button! Suddenly the drawings came to life and all that could be seen was the action of a fish that jumped out of the water and went in again creating a splash! Thus, the secret of creating the illusion of movement was explained to the young audience!

VIDEO Part 1:

next, they had to do the same thing on sheets of paper: draw multiple images page after page. Once done, instead of hitting the ‘play’ button, they would hold the pages together in their hands and flip them to see the ‘movement’ in their drawings! The rest of the day went in doing exactly this, with the pupils as well as their teachers totally immersed in creating their respective artworks!

VIDEO Part 2:

At the end, all the flip books were flipped and the resulting movement was captured on a video camera. Amidst heavy applause from the audience, each participant was awarded a certificate by the Mohile Parikh centre. Finally everyone posed for a happy group photo!

TASI Media Desk

VIDEO Part 3: