Interactive characters in Flash

Character creation has really caught on, and can be applied to a wide range of media while remaining true to the original conceptualisation. Animation is a natural progression for character art to take, because dynamic, well-designed personalities just burst with life on the page and benefit hugely from the addition of movement.

Flash makes it possible to take your characters to the next level, with fluid animation and interactivity that enables you to fully engage with your characters and really grab the attention of your audience.

The following tutorial takes one of my Swinging Seesaw characters and uses the power of Flash to create a small animated scene in which the character's gaze reacts to your cursor movement. All it takes is a bit of imagination and a pinch of ActionScript for ultra-smooth animation. When you're finished you'll have a number of techniques to add to your skillset, which you can then apply when animating your own characters.

Click here to download the support files (265KB)

Click here to download the tutorial for free