Create a digital animation

Description and Materials

Description

Create your unique digital animation with a vintage look using pixel art.
The kind of style you can see in Minecraft or vintage 2D games.

Materials

Piskel app website:
https://www.piskelapp.com/

Paper and pen (optional)

Instructions

Instructions

Go to https://www.piskelapp.com/

Click the button “Create sprite” (you do not need to sign in)

Start drawing your first frame.
If it’s easier, you can design your drawing with pen and paper first (squared paper is perfect).

In Piskelapp you can use the “pen tool” to draw.
And the “paint bucket” to fill in wider areas.
There is also the “eraser” if you need it.

To change colour, click on the first square at the very bottom of the page, on the left.
Then choose the color you’d like.

Frame by frame you can create your own animation by adding details and some tiny modifications.

Exactly as we did for the paper flip book animation that you can find here:
https://www.mathsweek.ie/2024/your-first-flip-book/

You will see the result in the upper right corner of your screen.

Some extra TIPS:

  • In the lower corner of the single small frame preview, you can find the “duplicate this frame” button. It allows you to create a copy of your frame, very handy.
  • You can add as many frames as you like!
  • You can also adjust the speed of the animation by changing the value FPS (frame per second) on the right side of the platform.
  • You can also “Export” your work as a gif.
    Choose the option Export and change dimensions to at least 500×500 or 700×700 or even bigger if you’d like.

What are we missing?

Share with us your version of “Merry Christmas”!
Use the tag #adventSTEAM, so we can repost your fantastic wishes.

What’s behind? STEM tips

What’s behind? STEM tips

Pixel art is a vintage style. It comes from the past when screens, at that time, hadn’t the beautiful resolution they have now. Screens are a matrix of pixels, a single pixel is a tiny light that can be switched on and off. Each pixel is coloured because each tiny light (LED) has at least three other ones inside of it. One Red, one Green and one Blue (RGB). How you combine them determine the colour you can see.