In this two-part tutorial, J. Schuh demonstrates how to animate a flying bird using Illustrator and Flash. In Part 1, he goes over the process of creating the vector assets in Illustrator.
If you want to follow along with the tutorial, the source files from J Schuh are available for download. Click here for the Illustrator file and click here to download jpegs.
Looking forward to part 2.
[...] Jay Schuh – Animate a Bird in Illustrator – Part 1 [...]
Great job. Clear narration and nice pencils for the bird. Looking forward to part 2.
Jay…. GREAT stuff….
Hi Jay, your tutorial is starting out pretty good but, I have a question. Why use illustrator to do the tracing of the original drawings and then move them to Flash?
Some years ago I purchased some Flash tutorials from Justin at Cartoon Smart and one was on drawing in Flash. In the tutorial Justin brings a pencil sketch into Flash and starts out using shape fills and the selection tool to create a cartoon character from the sketch, at no time in the tutorial did he ever use the pen tool. All fills and strokes were manipulated using the selection tool and the ability to change a stroke to a fill made it easy to change the strokes shape by dragging them into position using the selection tool.
The process of shaping fills and strokes just using the selection tool in Flash seems to be easier than manipulating fills and strokes using the pen tool and the selection tools in Illustrator.
So not to confuse the people that are new to Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash, the pen tool is one of the most important tools that you want to learn and master.
Thanks
Scott Rudy
Hey Scott, thanks for the great feedback.
The short answer is that it is a workflow issue. I have been using Flash since about v2 and Illustrator (until lately) has always allowed me better control over the creation of my initial drawings. (NOTE: I edit the heck out of them once I get them into Flash)
Also from a practical stand point when I hire interns or art students to help in asset creation I have found it is easier to have them work in Illustrator then port their work over to Flash.
Just as there is more than one way to skin a “rat” (that is for the cat lovers out there) there is more than one way to create content for flash.
I totally agree about what you said about the pen tool. The pen tool is totally useful especially if you are dealing with Masks in just about any Adobe program! So the process has made myself and the folks that have worked with me really good at using the pen tool.
Thanks again for the feedback!
J.
hello, great video and just the example I am looking for. just want to thank you for the time u spendt on this. when is part 2 out?
And yes,. there are many different ways to do one thing in illustrator/photoshop etc. I dont mind watching how you did it!
[...] video tutorial demonstrates how to animate a flying bird using Adobe Illustrator and Flash. Part 1 goes over the process of creating the vector assets in Illustrator, Part 2 shows how to animate the [...]
Hey!ive noticed that its a few differences between flash CS3 n 4. maybe you can help me with a question since my teacher doesnt know how it works. its really simple but I’m a beginner! Ok, if I wanna make for examlpe a ball to bounce in cs 3 ive learned 2 do to do it with a new layer with a guide line n then connect them, but when i tried on CS4 the part of connecting the layers doesnt work. You might even know an easier way to do this? I wourd really appreciate if you would and can help me?It’s a school project to do a small flash movie…thank you/Sofia
Hi… I must be missing something here… When I try to play the video, I get the first minute or two, then it flashes to an ad, and the tutorial never comes back!
I don’t have the same problem with part 2, it downloads and plays just fine…
Any thoughts?
[...] Flying Bird Tutorial [...]
You are the digit Bob Ross
Debra, I have the same issue here.
I just downloaded the latest flash, but still it doesnt play.
[...] Animate a Flying Bird [...]
Hi! Your tutorial for this animation was just the thing I was looking for! The only problem is… that I can’t even figure out how to use Illustrator! Would you have any videos regarding the actual drawing of the bird, or perhaps something similar?