Don't Underestimate Phil! (How to Make a Super Easy Baseball Animation for People Who Don't Know How to Draw!)

I made this short video where a character (a stick figure), plays baseball for the first time and accidentally hits a home run. For this project, I used flip-a-clip, which is a completely free app that you can download. I personally used a tablet, which really helped since I could use a stylus instead of my mouse.

FlipaClip is an app where you basically make a bunch of drawings where something moves. When put together and in video form, they form a little video that you can watch. The more drawings, the longer the video is.

DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO TO SEE HOW IT WORKS!

For this project, I downloaded the app "flip-a-clip." It is free in the App Store and on the Google Play store. It's really easy to figure out.

You might need a tablet and a stylus, but you can also just use a laptop or a computer, but it will probably be a lot harder and make the process somewhat tedious.

To make this, you don't really need any sort of drawing skills. I don't have any, and it didn't really come out that bad. You have the option to draw actual figures, but I ended up just drawing some stick figures because that's pretty much all I'm able to do.

First, go to your FlipaClip app and make a new project. I decided to title mine "Don't Underestimate Phil," but you can title yours whatever you want.

Then, you are going to make the settings to that there are 12 fps, which are 12 frames per second. You have the option to change this later on if you want, but this is what I decided on, and it works pretty well with this project.

Don't change the background unless you really really want to. Don't change the format size either.

Click "Create Project."

After clicking "Create Project," use the brush tool that can be selected on the menu to draw a line that will act as the ground. It doesn't have to be perfect, as imperfection gives it a bit of a cartoonish look.

Draw a stick figure holding a bat (look at the image if you need an example!) looking straight at the "camera."

I wanted to make him look intimidated, because it's supposed to be like a guy that hasn't played this sport every before. To do this, I drew the eyebrows facing down and kind of a sad face so that he looks nervous. You can also add a little hair, or a hat.

For the next frame (second frame), add on another frame. You should have like a lighter version of the frame that you just made. This is kind of like an "onion" effect. If you don't have that, click on the settings on the upper right corner and it should be the 3rd thing to pop up. Turn it on.

For this next frame, trace your last design using the onion effect, but change it slightly so that it's still the same image, but kind of deformed. Maybe you make the sad face a little more obvious, or change the shape of the eyebrows slightly. If you have hair on your character, maybe you change the direction the hair is pointing in. This way, we can alternate between the original image and this image so that it gives the video a more cartoonish quality.

After you have made the second frame, go back to the first frame and copy it using the copy button. Then, paste it so that it appears as the third frame (go to the second frame, click on it, and then click the button that says "paste." If you are having trouble figuring out how to do that, look at the images above!).

Keep alternating between these two frames (copying and pasting them) until you have 6 or more frames of this. If you want this scene to last more, then add more frames.

In this scene, we are going to portray the pitcher in basically the same way, but he's evil. Start by adding a new blank frame and drawing a line for the ground. I actually decided to not draw a baseball glove since I can't really draw, but you can draw him holding it. You definitely need to have your pitcher holding a baseball, though.

To make him evil, draw him with an evil face (angled eyebrows, malevolent smile). Then, you are going to do the exact same thing that you did with your other character and switch in between two frames that are slightly different to give it a cartoonish quality.

Keep copying frames until you have just 4.

By now, you should have 10 frames total, or more if you decided to make the scenes longer.

Next, you are going to draw the pitcher slowly raising his hand to throw the ball. I don't really know how people raise their hands to throw the ball, so it might be really off, but you can change it to fit your project.

I basically kept copy pasting the same image of the pitcher and changing its arm slightly so that it raises it up. Keep doing this until the pitcher has his arm raised up completely. You might want to change where the pitcher is looking to make it slightly more realistic.

Then, keep copy pasting the image of the pitcher for about 2 more frames so that he puts his arm back down just a little bit.

At the end of doing this, you should have spaced it out enough so that you have 17 frames total (or more if you decided to do more).

Next, we are going to portray the batter up close. Draw the batter the same way that you drew him before in a new frame, but just half of his body, like the picture.

You're going to want to do the same thing that we did before to make it look cartoonish, so make another frame that is the batter again, just slightly deformed. Copy past it until you have 22 frames total (at least).

Then, change his face so that he is super surprised and scared (mouth open, eyebrows raised). He should look terrified (look at second image for help!). Make another frame that is the same but slightly deformed. Alternate between these by copy pasting until you have 28 frames (at least).

This time, we are going to draw a close-up of the pitcher (evil guy). I decided to draw a side profile where we throws the ball. He starts out holding it behind him with a really evil smile (first image). Alternate between this image and another deformed one until you have 36 frames.

Then, start making new frames (continue copy pasting!) where the pitcher's arm moves forwards every time. You can make it really slow if you want to, but I decided to make mine fast. When you are done, you should have at least 43 frames.

This time, I wanted to portray the pitcher again, but he's really really terrified. Make a new frame and draw him with a scared expression where the mouth is big and wobbly.

Add on another frame and trace over the other one (but slightly deformed!) and alternate between these two until you have 49 frames total.

This scene is more difficult than the others just because you need to draw more (and copy paste more). It might get a little tedious.

First, add on a new frame and draw what you think are baseball stands in the background. Mine look more like blobs, but that's fine. Draw the batter on the right side looking up and looking scared. Make sure to not forget the bat. Draw the ball on the other side, near the bottom, with some lines behind it so whoever is watching it knows that the ball is going to go up.

Add on another frame and trace over the last one, just deformed. However, this time, instead of only going back and forth on these, you also have to move where the ball is. I moved it in an arch motion. By the end of this, you should have spaced it out so that you have 59 frames.

Click on "View 3 more" on the bottom of the third image to see more images to help you.

For the rest of this scene, you are going to draw the baseball going back up after the batter hits it. In my animation, I decided to make the batter hit it and accidentally throw the bat at the same time.

To do this, keep copying and pasting the same frames and changing them slightly so that the batter hits the ball and the ball keeps rising up. By the end of this, you should have at least 70 frames.

Click on "View 3 more" on the bottom of the fourth image to see more images to help you.

In this scene, add another frame. I wanted to do a close up of another character, someone who is watching. It's basically the same as the other close ups, but this one has a hat. Make another frame and trace the other image to make it deformed and alternate between these two until you've made 74 frames total.

Then, we are going to keep alternating, but add some letters in the background. Every frame, add on one more letter until you have "EVERYONE IS AMAZED!" in the background.

Even though I don't show everything, I did make a new frame for each letter. If you make it for each word, it ends up being too fast.

By the end of making this scene, you should have 91 frames.

Click on "View Two More" to see more images to help you!

Add on a new frame. For this scene, we are going to show the spectators. Basically, draw a bunch of stick figures (7 in my case) facing the "camera" with an amazed or surprised expression. Then, draw a really big exclamation point that is kind of angled on the left side.

Keep copy pasting this frame that you just made and adding more exclamation marks (one by one) until you have 4. At this point, you should have 95 frames.

Then, add on a new frame and trace the last frame that you just made (spectators with 4 exclamation marks). Alternate between these two until you have 105 frames total.

For this scene, we are going to do more text.

Add on a new completely blank frame and start adding letters one by one until you have "THE BALL".

Then, add on really big blocky letters one by one in the middle that spell out "FLIES".

Finally, add on normal letters one by one that say "OVER!!!".

By the end of this, I had 122 frames total.

This is the scene where the ball actually bounces.

To draw this, add on a completely blank frame and draw a line for the ground. Then, draw the ball in the upper right hand corner with some lines behind it.

Keep copy pasting this frame and replacing the ball more down and down. If you go too slow, it's not going to be realistic, so don't do that.

When the ball gets somewhat close to the ground, start shaping it less like a circle and a lot more like an oval. This is going to help with realism.

Then, when it touches the ground, draw it squished. In the next frame right after that, draw it super squished. However, don't do this for more than a couple of frames, because then it will not look realistic.

Finally, draw it bouncing upwards in the other direction.

By the end of this process, I had 134 frames total, but you may have more or less, depending on your choices.

Click on "View 3 More" for more images to help you!

This (technically last) scene is the batter celebrating his win. For this, add a new completely blank frame and draw a stick figure in the middle celebrating.

I decided to add the word "YAY" by adding the letters one by one. Make sure to alternate between this frame and another "traced" frame to give it the cartoonish quality.

After you are done making the "YAY," keep copying and pasting the two similar frames.

By the end of this process, I had 141 frames total.

This is the last scene, which are just the credits. For this, it's just going to be a text scene, so you just add the letters one by one. You can also decide to do word by word, but those end up being too fast most of the time.

For me, I put "MADE BY CHIQUISETAS."

After I wrote everything out, I alternated between the last frame that I just made and another slighlty deformed one until I had 164 frames total! However, this really depends on how long your name is.