Animation is the art of creating movement by changing images, objects or digital elements over time.
Those changes might be drawn by hand, created with digital artwork, applied to a 3D character or made by physically repositioning a puppet between photographs. The methods can look completely different behind the scenes, but they share a basic idea: an animator controls how something changes through time so an audience perceives movement.
That makes animation much broader than cartoons. It is a medium used across film, television, games, visual effects, advertising, interfaces and other forms of visual communication.
What Is Animation?
In simple terms, animation is the process of creating the appearance of movement from a sequence of changing images or visual states.
Each individual image in a recorded sequence is called a frame. As what appears in those frames changes over time, the viewer can perceive continuous movement when the sequence is played.
The thing being animated does not have to be a drawing. Animators can work with:
- Drawings and illustrations
- Graphic shapes and typography
- Digital characters and objects
- Puppets and models
- Photographs
- Combinations of animation and live action.
Animation is therefore better understood as a medium and process than as one particular visual style.
How Does Animation Create Movement?
Consider a circle in the centre of a screen. Show the circle farther to the right in the next image, move it again in the image after that, and the circle can appear to travel across the screen when the sequence plays.
Position is only one thing an animator can change. An object can alter its shape, orientation, scale, colour or other visual properties over time. Characters can change poses and expressions.
Different animation techniques provide different ways of making those changes. A 2D animator might work with drawings or digital artwork. A 3D animator can manipulate a digital character or object. A stop-motion animator changes a physical object between photographs.
The tools are different. Controlled visual change over time is what connects them.
What about “persistence of vision”?
You may have encountered an explanation saying animation works because one image briefly remains in the eye until the next image replaces it. This is commonly described as persistence of vision.
That explanation is too simple. Persistence and afterimages are real visual phenomena, but they do not by themselves explain our perception of continuous motion from changing images. Motion perception involves more complex visual processing.
For understanding animation as a beginner, the useful principle is straightforward: when visual information changes across a properly presented sequence, we can perceive continuous movement.
Frames, Frame Rate and Drawings Aren't the Same Thing
A frame is an individual image within a video or film sequence. Frame rate tells us how many frames are displayed each second. Neither tells us, by itself, how many unique drawings or poses an animator created.
A drawing can sometimes remain on screen across more than one frame. Other animation methods can maintain or interpolate changing values between important states.
So a project playing at 24 frames per second does not automatically require an artist to make 24 completely new drawings for every second of finished animation. Exactly how the frames are created depends on the animation technique.
What Are the Main Types of Animation?
There is no universal rule saying animation must be divided into exactly four or five types. Different classifications sometimes mix production methods, mediums and visual styles. Some also count individual techniques as separate categories while others group them into larger families.
For a beginner, these five categories provide a useful map:
| Type | Basic idea |
|---|---|
| Traditional animation | Movement created through successive hand-drawn images |
| 2D animation | Animation created within a two-dimensional visual space |
| 3D animation | Digital characters and objects animated in three-dimensional space |
| Stop-motion animation | Physical objects changed and photographed incrementally |
| Motion graphics | Graphic elements such as typography, icons and shapes animated over time |
The boundaries are not always rigid. A single production can combine multiple animation techniques.
Traditional Animation
Traditional animation is most closely associated with successive hand-drawn images. Historically, commercial productions could transfer drawings to transparent sheets called cels, which were painted and photographed over backgrounds. That process gave rise to the term cel animation.
Digital tools have changed how artists draw, colour, composite and deliver their work, so hand-drawn animation no longer requires a completely analogue production pipeline. This is also why “traditional animation” and “2D animation” overlap without being perfect synonyms.
2D Animation
2D animation creates animated imagery within a two-dimensional visual space. It can include hand-drawn work, but contemporary 2D production can also use digital artwork and other techniques. There is no requirement that every kind of 2D animation use exactly the same production process.
That distinction becomes important once you move beyond the basic categories.
3D Animation
3D animation uses digital characters and objects that exist within three-dimensional computer space.
A 3D object has digital depth and can be viewed and manipulated from different positions within a virtual environment. This creates a substantially different production environment from successive 2D drawings, even though both ultimately produce animated movement.
3D animation is widely used across films, television, games and visual effects.
Stop-Motion Animation
Stop motion brings objects in the physical world to life on screen. An animator changes an object's position or form, captures an image, makes another small adjustment and captures another. Presented as a sequence, those photographed changes become movement.
Stop motion is itself a broad family. Puppet animation, clay animation and object animation can all fall under the stop-motion umbrella. This is one reason lists of animation types often disagree: one list may count these as separate types while another groups them according to their shared production method.
Motion Graphics
Motion graphics apply animation to graphic elements such as typography, logos, icons, diagrams and abstract shapes. They appear frequently in title sequences, advertising, interfaces, information graphics and explainer content.
Character animation often places particular emphasis on behaviour and performance. Motion graphics frequently place greater emphasis on visual communication, hierarchy and directing attention through moving design.
Both use animation. They simply use it toward different ends.
Animation Technique and Animation Style Are Different Things
Not every label associated with animation describes the same kind of category. An animation technique tells us something about how the work is produced. Hand-drawn animation, stop motion, 3D computer animation and rotoscoping are examples. A visual style describes characteristics of how the finished work looks.
This distinction matters because different techniques can sometimes produce similar-looking results, while the same broad production technique can support dramatically different visual styles.
It also helps explain why there isn't one definitive list of animation types. Different lists may actually be classifying different aspects of the medium.
What Is an Animated Movie?
An animated movie is a film in which visual movement and performance are created substantially through animation rather than captured entirely as live action. That does not imply one production method.
Animated films can be hand-drawn, digitally produced in 2D, created with 3D computer animation, photographed using stop motion or assembled through a mixture of techniques.
Animation can also coexist with live-action footage and visual effects, making the boundary less rigid than a simple division between “animated” and “filmed.”
Examples of Animation
A few familiar films show just how different animation production can be. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a landmark of hand-drawn feature animation. Toy Story became a landmark in computer-animated feature filmmaking. The Wallace & Gromit productions are closely associated with stop-motion character animation. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse demonstrates how contemporary animated filmmaking can combine visual influences and production techniques rather than fitting neatly into a single traditional-looking category.
Despite their differences, all solve the central animation problem in some form: creating meaningful movement from images or objects that do not move by themselves.
What Do Different Forms of Animation Have in Common?
Take away the software, pencils, cameras and puppets and animators still encounter some remarkably similar questions. How quickly should something move? Where should an action begin and end? What should the viewer notice? Does an object feel heavy or light? Does a character's movement communicate what they are doing or feeling?
Animation traditions have developed principles for thinking about problems such as timing, anticipation, staging and follow-through. Those principles can travel across techniques even when the production tools cannot. Understanding them in practice, however, moves beyond defining animation and into learning the craft itself.
Do You Need to Know How to Draw to Work in Animation?
Not necessarily. It depends on the discipline. Drawing is central to many forms of traditional and 2D animation. Drawing skills can also help with observation, posing, planning and visual communication.
Other areas work differently. A 3D animator can animate a prepared digital character rather than draw every image. A stop-motion animator manipulates physical objects. Motion designers may work primarily with typography and graphic elements.
So “Do animators need to draw?” has no useful universal yes-or-no answer. A better question is: What skills does the type of animation I want to make require?
What Does an Animator Do?
At its broadest, an animator's job is to create and refine movement. How that happens depends on the production. One animator might work with changing drawings. Another might manipulate a digital character. Another might reposition a physical puppet.
Animation also exists within a larger production process. Character design, storyboarding, 3D modelling, rigging, lighting, sound and compositing can all contribute to animated work. On larger productions, those responsibilities may belong to different specialists.
“Working in animation” therefore describes a much wider creative field than the single job title animator might suggest.
How to Become an Animator
Once you understand animation as a medium, the next question depends on what you want to understand or do. Different tools lead down different paths, but they begin with the same underlying idea: animation gives artists control over how visual change unfolds through time.
If you’re looking for industry animation training, explore Vancouver Film School’s 1-year diploma programs in 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Classical Animation, and Animation Concept Art.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is animation, simply put?
Animation is the creation of perceived movement by changing images, objects or digital elements over time.
What is an animation?
An animation is a moving visual sequence created using animation techniques. It could be a short clip, character performance, animated film, title sequence, motion graphic or another form of animated media.
What does animated mean?
In visual media, animated describes movement or visual change created through animation rather than simply recorded as naturally occurring movement in front of a camera. Outside this context, animated can also describe someone who is lively or expressive.
What is an example of animation?
A simple moving shape is an animation. So are hand-drawn films, computer-animated characters, animated typography and stop-motion puppets.
What are the five main types of animation?
A useful introductory grouping is traditional animation, 2D animation, 3D animation, stop-motion animation and motion graphics. This is a practical way to understand the field rather than an official universal taxonomy.
Is animation the same as cartoons?
No. Cartoons are one form of animated content. Animation also appears in games, visual effects, interfaces, advertising, educational media, motion graphics and many other contexts.
Is anime a type of animation?
Anime refers to animation associated with Japanese production and cultural traditions. It is not technically equivalent to production categories such as stop motion or 3D animation because anime itself can be produced using different animation techniques.