Open Flash and start a new project by navigating to "File," "New." Determine the size of your animation. Plan a motion and determine what you want your character to do throughout the story on the stage. The "stage" is the area where the animation takes place. Once you start a new project in Flash, a white window with a timeline on top will open; this is the stage. The stage will be used to create animations and the timeline will position the animations you make.
Use the drawing tools on the left of the stage to draw an image. Import images into Flash by going to "File," "Import" and "Import to Stage." If you are drawing images, use the paint or pencil tool in the toolbar. When you change colors, create a new layer by navigating to "Insert," "Timeline" and "New Layer." This will also allow you to edit each layer individually instead of having to redo entire images.
Create a symbol and then animate your images. Select all of the layers in your timeline and "right click" on them. Select "Convert to Symbol." This will allow you to animate everything at once. This will also create a subsection under your main "Scene." Double-click on the blue outline to access the subsection. Animate your images by pressing "F8" and selecting "Movie Clip." Hit "OK" to convert your image. Click "save to library." If you use the "F8" key to animate your images, animate each image one at a time.
Name your symbol by going to the properties bar at the bottom of the screen. Click on the first drop down option after you select your symbol. Select "Movie Clip" as the type of symbol and enter a name.
Insert keyframes into the timeline. Go to "Insert," "Timeline" and "Keyframe" or select "F6." A black circle will appear and that will confirm that a keyframe can now be used to position a movie clip image. Each keyframe represents an amount of time.
Click on your keyframe. A box appears in the properties bar; this will list your animation states. Select "Create Motion Tween" in the drop down box. Draw a straight line between the two frames.
Test your movie by pressing "Ctrl" and "Enter." If you are satisfied, export your cartoon by going to "File" and "Export." This will create a "swf" file that you can upload to the internet, store on a drive or save to your desktop.