From your favourite childhood cartoon series to the latest advertisement videos, 2D animation is a significant part of our lives. In 2D animation, its vibrant colours and animation quality have long served as an effective way to entertain and communicate, captivating audiences since the late 19th century and continue to thrive today.
2D animation is a powerful tool for businesses and brands seeking to enhance their marketing, advertising, and promotional efforts. Its versatility allows it to seamlessly adapt to clients’ diverse needs, ensuring that their messages are effectively conveyed. Through engaging storytelling, 2D animation captivates audiences, making it an invaluable asset for communicating brand messages and promoting products or services.
This article will explore the aspects of 2D animation, from its production process—from pre-production to post-production—to the wide-ranging benefits it offers across various industries.
Key-Takeaways
- 2D animation’s versatility enhances audience or potential customer experience across platforms, from brand promotion to social media content, making it a valuable tool for businesses and brands.
- 2D animation offers versatility, cost-effective and captivating video, while ensuring timely delivery and budget-friendly, making it an invaluable asset for businesses and brands across various platforms.
- 2D animation remains relevant across industries, offering creative freedom for the animator and timeless appeal despite the availability of other animation services.
What is 2D Animation?
Commonly used in animated films, cartoons, marketing videos, commercials, business presentations, explainer videos, and even video games, 2D animation is an art produced by movement into a two-dimensional space.
Created by the animation team within two dimensions, height and width, the drawings are sequenced to create the illusion of movement. In contrast, 3D animation extends into depth, adding an extra dimension.
The essence of 2D animation video primarily revolves around character-based animation, a medium to convey narratives and even share information through interactive scenes.
In collaboration with Brother, a leading Japanese multinational electric company, SuperPixel has crafted a captivating 60-second 2D animated promo video showcasing their printers, bringing them to life with vibrant visuals and animated characters.
In a single second of video animation, there could be anywhere from 2 to 24 individual drawings, which vary depending on the style of animation.
Traditionally, the animators use a technique known as “animating on twos,” where a sketch is created every two frames. This approach promotes effective costing on animation production and delivers in a timely manner while maintaining a unique visual style.
Creating engaging 2D animation requires professional-level animation skills and animation techniques. Animators from the animation production company will carefully draw and shoot each frame to create the visual effects of motion that mesmerise the audience.
Types of 2D Animation Services
Understanding the various types of 2D animation available is crucial to selecting the most suitable approach for each project, guaranteeing the best possible outcome and contributing to a success story.
These are a few of the commonly used 2D animation methods.
Stop Motion Animation
This technique, common in TV shows and video games, manipulates objects to simulate movement. By making slight movements in each frame, the animation creates the visual effects of independent motion when played consecutively.
Cut Out Animation
Cut-out animation involves carefully removing and replacing different types of characters or objects to create the illusion of movement. It’s commonly used in cartoons and animated films due to its ability to provide precise control over the shape, colour, and size of the characters.
Computer Animation
In 2D computer animations, animators digitally replicate traditional hand-drawn techniques to create animations. This method, popular in advanced video games and animated films, allows for detailed adjustments and flexibility during production.
Process Of 2D Animation
Next, we will briefly go through the step-by-step procedure of 2D animation production.
Pre-Production
The creative team collaborates with production and clients to finalise storylines, and scripts, and create characters, and other elements. They start with rough sketches to outline key scenes, backgrounds, and action notes, serving as a creative brief for animators, the production team and even clients throughout the creation process.
In this project with GoBusiness IP Grow, SuperPixel used this guideline, also referred to as a storyboard, which serves as a visual representation of the sequence and organisation of events. It helps identify potential issues or necessary changes before starting the animation process.
Production
In this stage of animated video production, the professional team assembles pre-prepared elements to create the animated scene, bringing everything to life. An exposure sheet is crafted with detailed instructions for each scene, including action, timing, music, dialogue, animation layers, backgrounds, and perspective.
After completing the frames, they are scanned into a computer if they haven’t been digitally drawn. Then, the creative team will use animation software to combine all the visuals according to the exposure sheet.
Post-Production
The production team carefully manages every aspect, from music, and sound effects to frame durations, to ensure the final product effectively relays the client’s desired message.
After putting everything together, a video file that works perfectly on any platform will be produced and compressed. This ensures maximum quality, and accessibility and drives engagement for the targeted audience or potential customers.
Application of 2D Animation
The versatility of 2D animation allows application across diverse industries. With 2D animation adaptability, animators can create a wide array of stories, from light-hearted to deeply emotional.
Many companies and brands use 2D animation services to enhance viewer engagement. This vibrant animation excels in crafting engaging figures or mascots for business promotion, message delivery, e-learning, and social media content.
2D Animation In Marketing and Advertisement
Using animated videos in marketing and advertising makes perfect sense because they complement each other exceptionally well. 2D animation’s adaptability to create captivating visuals captures audiences’ attention and leaves a lasting impression making it high-quality and top-notch content.
Animated videos as digital marketing effectively communicate brand messages, product features, explainer videos, and promotional offers as they present information in a fun and easy-to-understand way. Incorporating familiar figures or mascots into 2D animations, allows an emotional bond with the target audience, creating a lasting connection.
AstraPay, a leading Indonesian payment service, entrusted SuperPixel to create 2D animated characters, representing its brand essence. These characters were thoughtfully integrated into different scenarios, enhancing relatability for AstraPay users.
This innovation in marketing tactics helps companies stand out in a competitive market. Ultimately, animated videos play a pivotal role in promoting brand awareness, fostering consumer loyalty, and driving sales.
2D Animation In Education
Its mesmerising and eye-catching graphics make 2D animation videos a great tool for modern education. The dynamic of animated video allows the audience or students of all ages to be more engaged.
SGX partnered with SuperPixel to produce a concise and informative 2D animated explainer video. The goal was to effectively communicate the implementation of digital tools aimed at reducing manual workloads, thus freeing up resources to deliver enhanced value to customers and stakeholders.
In education, animated videos serve as powerful aids in explaining complex concepts from various subjects such as science, history, mathematics, and others. By leveraging the flexibility and creativity of 2D animation, educators can transform theories and details into accessible and understandable forms
The interactive nature of animated videos encourages active participation and deeper understanding among learners. Through storytelling and visual demonstrations, students are not only entertained but also encouraged to explore and question the material presented making it an extensive experience.
2D Animation In The Entertainment Industry
The ability of 2D animation to portray realistic emotions, create expansive worlds, and convey complex plots makes it a top choice in the entertainment industry, extending from beloved animated cartoon series to captivating futuristic sci-fi movies.
Beyond animated series, feature films, and television shows, 2D animation services are extensively used in the gaming industry as well. The video animation’s immersive qualities enhance the gaming experience, captivating users and making it more enjoyable.
This shows that 2D animation video is among the top choices for expressing ideas and creativity, tailored to the needs of clients or production teams for any industry.
You might also like: 5 Reasons Why You Should Create Animated Sales Videos for Your Business
Benefits of 2D Animation for Your Business
In today’s competitive market, businesses and brands are constantly seeking innovative ways to drive engagement with their audience and communicate their message effectively. Among the many tools available, 2D animated video stands out as a versatile and powerful medium that can significantly elevate a brand’s presence and impact. The following factors are why you should think about using 2D animation services for your upcoming project.
Compelling Art & Technology
2D animation stands out for its attractive visuals with cutting-edge technology. In this project with Samsonite Asia for the Chinese New Year Campaign, SuperPixel has created a bold and modern pop art style animation to bring out the meaning of “Go The Way Of The Tiger”.
Leveraging the skills of the animation team and their expertise in advanced tools creates appealing animations that captivate audiences. These animations feature dynamic gestures that allow connections with viewers, enhancing the relatability and engagement of the content.
Moreover, the versatility of 2D animation empowers animators to unleash their creativity, experimenting with different angles, movements, and facial expressions to convey the video’s message effectively. This adaptability makes 2D animation suitable for a wide range of applications across various industries.
Graphic Storytelling
Animated video is a powerful tool for conveying ideas and messages clearly and engagingly. Simplifying the project’s complex concepts through images and straightforward narration, 2D animation enhances understanding and retention.
Partnering with Singapore’s Health Promotion Board (HPB), SuperPixel utilised visual storytelling to create a compelling 2D animation video for HPB’s mental well-being campaign. The narrative featured a diverse cast of characters, ensuring relatability to Singapore’s diverse population.
Whether in instructional films, brand stories, or explainer videos, visual storytelling uses metaphors and compelling characters placed in captivating environments to captivate audiences. This approach not only helps audiences understand the material more easily but also makes the video memorable in the long run.
Cost-effective and Efficient
2D animation services provide an efficient, budget-friendly solution. This allows you to meet changing market demands and effectively reach your target audience in today’s competitive market.
Adaptability and Application
2D animation services are versatile and widely used across industries like marketing, advertising, e-learning, and entertainment, offering diverse applications and multiple purposes.
Using techniques from classic hand-drawn to cutting-edge digital, 2D animation brings diverse stories to life, from making people laugh to serious narratives.
Teaming up with Si Jin Bali for their farewell video, Superpixel produced an animation for its final journey. Dynamic geometrics was incorporated to express gratitude and reflect on their overall venture.
Additionally, its seamless integration with other media types, such as live-action footage or graphic components, enhances its usability across multimedia platforms, making it a preferred choice for many projects.
Relevance of 2D Animation
In today’s digital landscape, the relevance of 2D animation services remains significant. While 3D animation may dominate certain sectors, 2D animation continues to hold its ground across diverse fields, contributing to numerous success stories across various industries.
From video games to business presentations and even movies, the popularity of videos utilising 2D animation persists. Its versatility and timeless appeal ensure that it remains a valuable tool for creative expression and communication in various industries.
Experience Our 2D Animation Service Today!
Whether for promotional, instructional, or educational videos, 2D animation is essential for success. SuperPixel, an animation production company, brings your vision to life with a talented team experienced in motion graphics and cel animation. We ensure client satisfaction by delivering top-notch content tailored to your unique needs and objectives.
When you’re ready to discuss your project and explore how our 2D animation services can elevate your content, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to collaborate with you every step of the way, ensuring that your vision is realised with creativity and excellence.
