• 150 ideas

Animation Ideas Sorted by Length, From Loops to One Minute

Three premises per press, each small enough to finish, with its length in seconds and a hint on animating it.

Animation Ideas Sorted by Length, From Loops to One Minute

All 150
  1. One walk across four kinds of ground30 s. Mud, ice, wind, trampoline. Keep the same character and let each surface change the cycle.
  2. Three cups and a ball12 s. Cups shuffle on smooth arcs, just fast enough to lose track. Reveal: under none of them.
  3. Text conversation that goes wrong12 s. Only bubbles and typing dots. Beats: long message, long typing, one-word reply.

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All 150 ideas

Loops, 3 seconds or less 51

  • Ball on a string dragged side to side 2 s loop. The hand leads, the string drags, the ball arrives last. Keys: both extremes and the crossover.
  • Bird flapping in place 1 s loop. Keys: wings up, level, down, level. The body rises on the downstroke and sinks on the up.
  • Blinking eye 2 s loop. Keys: open, half, shut, half. Shut for one drawing only, then hold open for over a second.
  • Bouncing ball that never stops 1 s loop. Keys: contact squash, stretch away, top of the arc. Bunch the drawings near the top.
  • Campfire with rising sparks 2 s loop. Three flame shapes, never the same one twice running. Sparks climb on wobbly arcs and fade.
  • Candle flame flickering 1 s loop. Keys: tall lick, lean left, split tip, lean right. The base stays still, the top moves.
  • Cartoon heart beating 1 s loop. Two swells and a rest: big, small, pause. When it grows taller, make it narrower.
  • Cat loaf with one twitching ear 3 s loop. Hold, ear flick in 3 drawings, hold. The stillness is what sells the flick.
  • Character breathing while standing still 3 s loop. Keys: chest up, chest down. The shoulders rise a little late. This is a moving hold.
  • Character typing furiously 1 s loop. Hands alternate on twos, head still, eyes scanning. One smear drawing per hand.
  • Circle to square to triangle morph 3 s loop. Keys: the three shapes. Hold each for 6 drawings, morph in 6. Corners grow out of the curve.
  • Conveyor belt of identical boxes 2 s loop. Belt and boxes slide one box width per loop. One box is upside down, never explained.
  • Cube tumbling edge over edge 2 s loop. Keys: flat, balanced on an edge, flat. Slow up to the balance point, fast falling off it.
  • Dancing sprout in a pot 2 s loop. Sway left, sway right, leaves trailing behind the stem. Add a small bounce at each end.
  • Dog sitting and wagging its tail 1 s loop. Keys: tail left, tail right. The tip drags behind the base, so it is always late.
  • Endless zoom into a picture on the wall 3 s loop. The picture shows the same room. Scale up until it fills the screen, then cut to the start.
  • Eyes following a fly you never draw 3 s loop. Pupils trace a figure of eight. The head follows late and moves less than the eyes.
  • Fish swimming in place 1 s loop. An S wave runs head to tail. Keys: tail left, centre, right. The head barely moves.
  • Flag flapping in a steady wind 1 s loop. One wave travels from the pole to the free edge. Keys: wave at the pole, the middle, the tip.
  • Four-legged walk cycle 1 s loop. Front legs and back legs are two walks, half a step apart. Keys: the four contacts.
  • Frog hopping on the spot 2 s loop. Keys: crouch, full stretch, tuck, land in a squash. Hold the crouch longest.
  • Ghost bobbing up and down 2 s loop. The body floats on a slow wave and the ragged hem trails a quarter beat behind.
  • Hamster running in a wheel 1 s loop. A four-drawing run, spokes turning the other way. Let it stumble once per loop.
  • Hand waving hello 1 s loop. Keys: wrist left, wrist right. Fingers drag behind the palm and the forearm barely moves.
  • Head nodding along to music 1 s loop. Keys: down on the beat, up between beats. The chin leads, hair and headphones arrive late.
  • Heavy ball and light ball bouncing side by side 2 s loop. Same keys, different timing: the bowling ball barely rises, the beach ball hangs in the air.
  • Idle pose for a game character 2 s loop. Breathing, one weight shift, one blink. Nothing travels and the feet stay planted. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Jelly wobbling on a plate 2 s loop. Lean, overshoot, settle, repeat. The top moves most and the base stays glued to the plate.
  • Jellyfish pulsing upward 2 s loop. Keys: bell open, bell squeezed. Quick squeeze, slow open. Tentacles trail and catch up.
  • Juggler with three balls 2 s loop. Every ball follows the same crossing arcs, a third of the loop apart. The hands only catch. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Loading spinner with a personality 2 s loop. Dots chase round a ring. One keeps falling behind, then sprints to catch up.
  • Long hair blowing in the wind 2 s loop. A wave runs root to tip. Keys: three S curves. The tips drag a few drawings behind the roots.
  • Newton's cradle clicking away 2 s loop. One end ball swings out and back, then the other. The three in the middle never move.
  • Pendulum swinging 2 s loop. Keys: left extreme, bottom, right extreme. Slow in and out at the ends, fastest at the bottom.
  • Planet with an orbiting moon 3 s loop. The moon passes in front, then behind. Shrink it slightly on the far side for depth.
  • Rain running down a window 2 s loop. Streaks outside fall on ones, drops on the glass crawl on fours. Two speeds make the depth.
  • Run cycle on the spot 0.5 s loop. Keys: contact, push off, both feet in the air. Lean the whole body into the run.
  • Small wave lapping a beach 3 s loop. Keys: swell, curl, flat foam, pull back. The pull back is slower than the arrival.
  • Snail that exits right and enters left 3 s loop. The body stretches forward, the shell catches up. It leaves the frame as it re-enters.
  • Sneaky tiptoe cycle 2 s loop. Keys: high knee, long reach, toe touch, weight shift. Slow reach, quick shift.
  • Spinning coin that never falls 1 s loop. Keys: full face, three-quarter, edge, three-quarter back. The edge drawing is one thin line.
  • Steam rising off a mug 3 s loop. A wavy ribbon rises, thins and breaks up. Start the next ribbon before the last one ends.
  • Still portrait with shimmering lines 0.25 s loop. Trace one drawing three times and cycle the tracings. The lines shimmer, nothing moves.
  • Three gears turning together 2 s loop. Neighbours turn opposite ways. A gear with twice the teeth turns at half the speed.
  • Turntable of a character head 3 s loop. Keys: front, three-quarter, profile, back. Keep the eye line level all the way round.
  • Walk cycle for someone carrying a full cup 1 s loop. Normal legs, frozen upper body, eyes locked on the cup. The cup leads every step.
  • Walk cycle on the spot 1 s loop. Keys: forward contact, passing, back contact, passing. The head dips at each contact. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Water drop and ripple 2 s loop. Keys: drop stretches, splash crown, rings spread and fade. Each ring is thinner than the last.
  • Wax blobs rising in a glass lamp 3 s loop. A blob stretches, pinches off, rises and merges at the top. Keep the total volume steady.
  • Yo-yo going down and up 2 s loop. Fast drop, a spin at the bottom, faster climb. The hand flicks one drawing before the rise.
  • Your name with each letter hopping in turn 2 s loop. Every letter copies one hop, offset by 2 drawings. The offset makes the wave.

3 to 12 seconds 56

  • Animated signature for your own videos 5 s. Your name draws itself on, overshoots in scale, settles. Put one sound on the settle.
  • Ball rolling down stairs 6 s. One bounce per step, each a little lower. It rolls out slowly along the floor at the bottom.
  • Balloon inflating until it pops 7 s. It grows in pulses, one per breath. One white frame at the pop, then scraps drifting down.
  • Bee lands on a flower 6 s. Beats: hover wobble, landing, petal dips under the weight, take-off, petal springs back.
  • Bubble gum bubble that pops 6 s. Beats: chew, blow in three pulses, pop, gum on the face. Hold the covered face for a beat.
  • Camera orbit around a still object 6 s. One slow half circle round a teapot or a shoe. Slow in, slow out, no other motion.
  • Car braking hard at a line 4 s. The body pitches forward over the wheels, rocks back, settles. The aerial keeps whipping.
  • Cat pushes a cup off the table 8 s. Beats: looks at the cup, looks at you, slow paw, tap, watches it fall. No remorse.
  • Catching something hot 6 s. Beats: catch, realise, juggle hand to hand, drop. Fast hands, slow face.
  • Character blown away piece by piece 6 s. Beats: lean in, hat goes, scarf goes, feet lift, gone. Things leave in order of weight.
  • Character hears a noise off screen 6 s. Beats: relaxed, freeze, slow head turn, bolt. Hold the freeze for a full second.
  • Circle and square become friends 10 s. Beats: bump, recoil, circle each other, copy each other's bounce. No faces needed.
  • Cocky ball meets a wall 8 s. Beats: bounces in proud, hits the wall, shakes it off, tries again smaller. Attitude is all timing.
  • Dog discovers its own tail 8 s. Beats: glance, stare, slow stalk, spin. End on the dog dizzy and the tail still wagging.
  • Domino run with one stubborn domino 10 s. A steady rhythm of falls, then one rocks and stays up. Hold. It falls.
  • Double take 4 s. Beats: glance, look away, freeze, snap back wide-eyed. The snap is two drawings and a smear.
  • Drawn line gets up and walks off 10 s. A pencil draws a squiggle. The squiggle shakes itself, stands and strolls off the page.
  • Egg hatching 10 s. Beats: wobble, crack, stillness, beak, the shell cap lifts like a hat.
  • Firework bursting 5 s. Fast streak up, one bright frame, sparks fly out then droop on arcs. The fade takes longest.
  • Flower leaning after a butterfly 8 s. Beats: butterfly passes left, flower leans, passes right, leans, ties itself in a knot.
  • Frog catches a fly 4 s. Beats: eyes track, hold, tongue out in two drawings, back in three, gulp, blink.
  • Heavy box that will not budge 10 s. Beats: confident push, strain, give up, lean on it, it slides. Show the weight in the legs. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Ice cube melting in fast forward 8 s. Corners round off first. The puddle spreads as the cube sinks, so the volume stays believable.
  • Ink drop spreading in water 8 s. Tendrils curl outward and slow as they thin. Work straight ahead, with no key drawings.
  • Jump over a gap 4 s. Keys: crouch, launch, tuck at the top, land, recover. The crouch takes longer than the jump. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Leaf falling from a branch 6 s. It rocks side to side on shallow arcs, quick in the middle of each swing and slow at the ends.
  • Lightning strike over hills 3 s. One white frame, the bolt for two drawings, then an afterglow that fades for a second.
  • Lights go out and eyes stay on 5 s. Beats: click, black, two eyes blink, a third eye blinks beside them. Cut.
  • Marshmallow catches fire 8 s. Beats: calm toasting, flame, panic blowing, charcoal lump, shrug, eats it anyway.
  • Morph between two things with one silhouette 6 s. A snail into a cinnamon roll, a cactus into a glove. Match the big shape, swap the details.
  • Nervous flour sack 8 s. No face, no limbs. Beats: peek, shrink, inch forward, flop. All the emotion comes from posture. 3D: needs a rig.
  • One spoken sentence with lip sync 5 s. Record yourself first. Key the wide vowels and the closed M, B and P shapes, then fill between.
  • Paint drip becomes a creature 8 s. Beats: the drip stretches, splats, gathers itself up and opens one eye.
  • Paper plane launch and crash 8 s. Beats: throw, long glide, stall, nose dive. The flight path is one arc that steepens at the end.
  • Penguin belly slide 6 s. Beats: waddling run up, flop, long slide that slows out, one lazy spin at the end.
  • Picking up something heavier than expected 6 s. Beats: casual grab, jolt, reset the stance, heave. The second crouch is the joke.
  • Pop-up book opening 10 s. The cover swings, layers unfold back to front, and each one overshoots and settles.
  • Robot arm moves a block 8 s. Straight paths and hard stops, the opposite of a living arc. No squash anywhere.
  • Robot powering on 8 s. Beats: eye flicker, head lifts in steps, overshoot, settle, look around. 3D: rigid parts.
  • Shy character peeks round a door 5 s. Beats: fingers appear, one eye, half a face, quick retreat. The retreat is far faster than the peek.
  • Slow push-in on a worried face 5 s. The only motion is the camera creeping closer and one swallow. An exercise in restraint.
  • Sneeze that builds for far too long 8 s. Beats: ah, ah, aah, false alarm, tiny sneeze. Each wind-up is bigger than the last.
  • Snowman tips his hat as he melts 10 s. He sinks in three slumps. The hat tip is the last thing the stick arm can manage.
  • Spotlight searching a dark stage 8 s. The circle wanders, passes something, snaps back, finds nothing. Draw only what the light touches.
  • Standing up from a chair 4 s. Keys: lean forward, weight over the feet, push, settle. Nobody rises straight up. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Stuck inside a jumper 10 s. Beats: arms in, head lost, flailing, head pops out of a sleeve. Animate the lump, not the person.
  • Tasting something sour 5 s. Beats: bite, chew, pause, the whole face pinches to the centre, shudder.
  • Text conversation that goes wrong 12 s. Only bubbles and typing dots. Beats: long message, long typing, one-word reply.
  • Three cups and a ball 12 s. Cups shuffle on smooth arcs, just fast enough to lose track. Reveal: under none of them.
  • Throwing a ball overarm 3 s. Keys: wind up, release, follow through. The arm keeps travelling after the ball has gone. 3D: needs a rig.
  • Toast pops and lands on a plate 5 s. Beats: lever down, wait, pop, arc, land. The wait is the anticipation.
  • Tree hit by one gust of wind 6 s. The trunk bends least, the twigs most. The gust crosses from one side and the leaves settle last.
  • Turtle rocks back onto its feet 10 s. Beats: three rocking tries, each bigger. The last one tips it over. Build the swing on arcs.
  • Waiting for a lift 12 s. Beats: press, wait, press again, check watch, press ten times. The doors open behind them.
  • Walk in, change of mind, walk out 10 s. Beats: walk, slow to a stop, think, turn, leave faster. The thinking pose tells the story.
  • Weightlifter and a feather 8 s. Treat the feather as if it weighs a tonne. Beats: chalk, grip, strain, lift, tremble.

30 seconds to 1 minute 43

  • A day in the life of a houseplant 60 s. Locked camera. Window light sweeps the room and the plant leans after it. Nobody notices.
  • A mug's view of Monday 40 s. Locked camera on the desk. Filled, drained, filled, knocked, rescued. The owner is only hands.
  • A rock's thousand years 60 s. The rock never moves. Forest, village, city and forest again rise and fall around it.
  • Alarm clock versus sleeper 45 s. Beats: ring, snooze, ring, pillow, ring. The clock grows legs and leaves. The sleeper wakes late.
  • Animated self-introduction 30 s. Record three sentences. Beats: wave, one hobby shown, sign-off. Lip sync only the key mouth shapes.
  • Animatic of a dream you remember 60 s. Still storyboard frames timed to your narration. No inbetweens: the cutting does the work.
  • Ant carries a crumb home 60 s. Three obstacles: a twig bridge, a puddle, a sleeping cat. The crumb is for a tiny birthday.
  • Armrest war 30 s. Locked shot, two seated figures, one armrest. Escalate in three steps and end with both losing it.
  • Astronaut loses a sandwich 40 s. In free fall things drift in straight lines at steady speed until touched. The lettuce escapes first.
  • Balloon moves in next to a cactus 45 s. Beats: balloon drifts in, cactus waves, near miss, cactus puts corks on its spines. Friends.
  • Bird builds a nest from the wrong things 50 s. Twig, twig, spoon, sock, somebody's glasses. Last shot: the bird wearing the glasses.
  • Chase around a single tree 30 s. Two characters, one circle. The chaser tires, the chased laps them and taps a shoulder.
  • Crossing figures swap places 45 s. The standing red figure envies the walking green one. They swap at night. Chaos at dawn.
  • Dot that wanted to be a line 40 s. One dot on white. It rolls, stretches, snaps back, then runs fast enough to smear into a line.
  • Four seasons over one tree 40 s. Locked frame, four 10 second sections. Only the leaves, the light and the ground change.
  • Ghost and the person in headphones 50 s. Three failed scares, each bigger. The person turns and says boo. The ghost faints.
  • Goldfish plans an escape 50 s. Beats: blueprint in bubbles, run up, leap, lands in the next bowl. A bigger fish lives there.
  • Hermit crab moving day 50 s. Beats: shell too tight, tries a can, a cup, a boot, settles in a teapot. Waves from the spout.
  • Hiccups that move the furniture 40 s. Each hiccup is bigger. Beats: cup rattles, chair hops, the whole house leaves the ground.
  • The last leaf on the tree 40 s. Beats: a gust fails, a bird fails, the leaf sneezes itself loose. It lands on the pile.
  • Monster under the bed is scared of the child 60 s. Beats: a noise above, the monster hides, a teddy is lowered down, a claw accepts it.
  • Morning routine at double speed 30 s. Eight shots of about 4 seconds: alarm, teeth, toast, keys, door. Cut in the middle of each action.
  • New fish in the tank 50 s. Beats: bag floats, old fish inspects, bag opens, a chase, then both hide from the net together.
  • One dish cooked in 30 seconds 30 s. Top-down view. Ingredients hop into the pan one by one, each landing with a small squash.
  • One walk across four kinds of ground 30 s. Mud, ice, wind, trampoline. Keep the same character and let each surface change the cycle.
  • One-minute explainer of a hobby you know 60 s. Six steps of 10 seconds, one idea per step. Storyboard it as six thumbnails first.
  • Owner comes home, seen by the pet 40 s. Low camera. Beats: key sound, ears up, sprint, slides past the door, recovers, jumps.
  • Paper boat down a gutter stream 45 s. Beats: launch, rapids, stuck on a leaf, freed by the rain, out onto a puddle sea.
  • Paper crane folds itself and flies 40 s. Every fold is a hinge turn with a crisp stop. The flight at the end is the only soft movement.
  • Pencil and eraser disagree 45 s. Pencil draws, eraser removes, faster and faster until the page tears. They tape it together.
  • Robot learns to dance 40 s. Beats: stiff copies of a move, a fall, then the stiffness becomes the style. End on a pose. 3D: rigid parts.
  • Sandcastle against the tide 40 s. Locked shot. Three waves, each nearer. A crab leaves with a suitcase before the third.
  • Shadow that stops copying its owner 40 s. Beats: in sync, one beat late, waves when the owner does not, walks off along the wall.
  • Shapes dancing to a rhythm you tap out 30 s. Record yourself tapping a desk. One shape per sound, and every hit is a squash.
  • Sheep counting the sleeper 30 s. Sheep hop a fence over the bed, then stop, puzzled, and start counting the snores instead.
  • Small cloud that cannot rain 45 s. Beats: strains, one drop, big clouds pour, it cries, and the tears count. A flower opens.
  • Snail enters a race 40 s. Beats: start gun, the others vanish, the snail crosses the line at sunset to one clapping ant.
  • Snowman builds a snowman 40 s. Beats: child leaves, snowman looks round, rolls a ball, builds a friend. Both freeze when the door opens.
  • Street lamp afraid of the dark 45 s. Beats: dusk, nervous flicker, moths arrive as company, the light steadies.
  • Three attempts to reach the biscuit tin 45 s. Beats: jump, stack of books, fishing rod. The tin lands in their lap, empty. Rule of three.
  • Title sequence for a film that does not exist 30 s. Five title cards and one motif that transforms between them. No characters needed.
  • Two strangers and one umbrella 45 s. Beats: drip, glance, shuffle, share. The bus goes past without stopping. They laugh.
  • Vending machine keeps the snack 45 s. Beats: coin, snack hangs, shake, second coin, two snacks hang. They walk off. Both drop.

How it works

These animation ideas are sorted by what decides whether you finish: length. The list holds 150 premises, from split-second loops to one minute stories, each with its running time and the key frames to draw first. Filter by Beginner, Funny, Cute or 3D-friendly, then press Pick 3 new ideas.

Read the full guide

Read the running time first

Loops of three seconds or less suit a GIF or a game idle pose. The middle group, 3 to 12 seconds, holds short animation ideas with one joke each. The longest holds tiny stories with a setup, a turn and an ending. Seconds times 12 gives the drawings needed on twos at 24 frames a second, so a 6 second gag is about 72. Draw the key frames named after the time first.

Exercises disguised as premises

The Beginner group gathers simple animation ideas, many of which drill one of the twelve basic principles of animation from the 1981 book The Illusion of Life: the bouncing ball teaches squash and stretch, the pendulum slow in and slow out, the jump anticipation. The 3D-friendly group marks 3D animation ideas of two kinds. Most are hard objects and camera moves that need no character rig. Eight are body tests such as the walk and the jump, and their hints say a rig is needed. All 150 also work as 2D animation ideas.

  • Small films die from extra shots, not extra drawings. Keep one location and a locked camera.
  • Hold the pose before a punchline for a full second. A hold costs one drawing, and it is where funny animation ideas get their laugh.
  • With the Cute group chosen, give each idea two minutes and thumbnail its last pose. Animate whichever of the cute animation ideas reads as a silhouette.

Questions and answers

What are good animation ideas for beginners?

Start with the Beginner loops, the truly easy animation ideas: the bouncing ball, the pendulum and the blinking eye. Each needs 24 drawings or fewer on twos and isolates one principle, so a mistake is cheap to redraw.

How many drawings does a 1 minute animation need?

About 720 on twos (12 drawings a second). Few films are drawn that evenly: slow passages can sit on threes or fours, and a held pose costs a single drawing. That is why the 1 minute animation ideas here lean on locked cameras and pauses.

Will these work in FlipaClip or Procreate?

Yes. Nothing on the list depends on one program. Any app with a timeline, a frame rate setting and onion skinning, which shows neighbouring frames faintly under your drawing, will handle every drawn premise. The loops suit a GIF.

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