5 Different Animation Styles: A Simple but Comprehensive Guide

Shanoon Cox

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

To whatever generation or kind one could belong to, animation style videos attract people of all ages, and you will be one of them for sure. Rather than ordinary videos, animated ones provoke diverse impacts on the audience utilizing kinesthetic, illustration, and aural. But the reality or fact is, due to overexposure to social media sites and technological advancements, we have forgotten its importance. They are on the verge of existence at present. Are you an art lover who wishes to know more about animation styles? Want to know some of the software tools that can bring out the artist in you? Here is a complete guide that is all you need.

• Part 1: 5 Different Animation Styles
• Part 2: Create Your Animation Videos with Professional Video Editor

5 Different Animation Styles

Ready to enter into the world of animation along with us? We are all set to take you through a ride of different animation styles, their importance, and some of the videos that one should give a try!

1. 2D Animation

Let’s start with 2D as our fist animation style, which is the traditional or oldest form in practice for more than 100 years since 1908. 2D has widely been in usage to create animated short films, cartoon characters, games, marketing videos, and educational materials. In 2D animation, the characters or items, creatures, and backgrounds get crafted in a two-dimensional space. It produces a graphic of movement with the drawings played serially one after another.

Recommended Software: At present, various free animator tools like Creatoon, Blender, and Pencil 2D, whereas, for professionals, Encore, Flash, Toon Boom Harmony, and Adobe Photoshop can be handy!

The above 2D animation style video is a short film “Dark Dark Woods” directed by the students at “The Animation Workshop.” It is all about the young princess, Maria, drenched, and tired of living a royal life being filled with rules, duties, lessons, responsibilities, and customs. One night, she enters into an adventurous event where she finds herself in a mysterious monster-filled dark wood. Watch the film and find did she find out there!

2. 3D Animation

As the next version of 2D, in the animation industry, 3D revolutionized the market since its first appearance in 1972. Like 2D, 3D finds applications in varied platforms like a business, education, and entertainment. Still, the difference is they are unique and created in three-dimensional space using computer graphics and cinematography techniques as well. The pictures or characters look perfected with cutting-edge technology where toy story movie is an outstanding example.

Recommended Software: One can try some of the 3D modeling software packs like Maya, Houdini, Modo, ZBrush, and Lightwave 3D.

Do you know how it feels if you are trapped alone on a deserted island? "It's a Cinch!" is a fantastic, funny 3D short film that is an adventurous movie made by the ESMA team at CGI. For sure, you will like this funny movie all about atrocities happening with a man and a pelican and enjoy it as much as I did!

3. Motion Graphics

Our next animation style is motion graphics of the animated graphic design, where text appears to be the main enhancing factor. It is a piece of animation or digital footage that illuminates a motion or notation incorporated with audio. It is a new way of communicating to the audience and in driving them deep into the story. You can categorize it under the visual effect technique, which involves the movement of graphic images or elements like logos or text, sound, music, and motion. Motion graphics are best to be found in action and finds a place in multimedia projects, advertising agencies, branding, television title making, and storytelling.

Recommended Software: Tools that are best for motion graphics is Mocha AE, After Effects, Illustrator, and Cinema 4D.

The world is a great place, but we always forget another beautiful hidden green world behind the fantastic buildings we reside in. Yes, “Beautiful World” is a motion graphic video by Blasterjaxx & DBSTF feat. Ryder presents how we humans have developed a great empire by destroying the other beautiful part of the world.

4. Stop Motion

Stop motion is one of the traditional animation styles that is the most popular filmmaking technique that uses hand-crafted or manipulated objects, mostly clay models. Puppets, silhouettes, and cut-outs can also be implemented as stop motion aids to produce animation. It is labor-intensive, a form of art, and has its flavor in animation, although 3D and visual effects have replaced it quite a long time before. But still, filmmakers like Tim Burton use stop motion in their films, making it to withstand the animation industry.

Recommended Software: You can make your stop motion video with software like Dragon frame, Stop Motion Pro Eclipse, and IKITMovie.

Although stop motion has gone before ages, there is still a fantastic introduction. Here is an award-winning short film, "Tokri (the basket)," which is a clumsy accident that leads a juvenile girl onto Mumbai's streets with the trust of making things correct. Studio Eeksaurus, an Indian bastion animation company, has depicted a father and daughter's tender emotive tale.

5. Paint-On-Glass Animation

Here is a Paint-on-Glass animation style that is a technique used for making animated films that gives a lot of fun. Artists paint short stories on glasses using oil paints and film them by recording it frame-by-frame. Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov is a famous artist well known for making award-winning paint-on-glass animation. Animators use different objects like brick dust, sand, pastels, and charcoal, to create outstanding drama in their films.

Recommended Software: You can also become a paint-on-glass animator now with tools like Pencil 2D, Blender, Krita, and GIMP.

Suppose you are wondering whether you could find any paint-on-glass animated movie on social media sites. In that case, there are numerous animated films, like "The Old Man and the Sea," and "My Love," produced by the experts of pictures of Aleksandr Petrov animation. Surprisingly, this bind-blowing introduction is a result of oil paints on a sheet of glass.

Conclusion

Do you aspire to become an animator and come up painting bright colors to videos? Choose animation styles that you most enjoy, find attractive today, and start working on it. Lastly, do not forget to give Filmora a chance to uplift your creation and give your animation style a life!

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox