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with 2D Animation
2D animation services are the production of two-dimensional animated video, from script and storyboard to character design, animation, and sound design, used to explain products, train teams, and tell brand stories.
Use our 2D animation services to instantly humanize your product or service, simplify its value, and guide customers through a relatable story that builds trust and drives conversions.
We also create 2D promotional videos for product launches and campaigns.
TRUSTED BY TOP BRANDS IN THE US, CANADA, & AROUND THE WORLD
2D ANIMATION PRODUCTION, DISABILITY RIGHTS OREGON
Our 2D animation services use storytelling to connect with your audience and deliver a message that is relatable and easy to understand.
Across animated explainer videos, corporate videos, and social content, we use custom-made visuals while staying true to your brand.
We handle 2D animation video production end to end. One team takes your project from concept and script through design, animation, and final delivery.
When a project calls for custom characters, our character animation team handles character design, rigging, and performance.
We start by working out what the video has to do: who watches it, where it runs, and what they should do next. Those answers set the running time and decide how much character work the script can carry.
You get a short brief back covering the core message, the length we recommend, and the visual direction for the 2D style, whether that is illustrated characters, flat graphic shapes, or a mix of the two.
We write the script first and read it aloud against a stopwatch. A 60 second 2D video runs to roughly 150 spoken words, so every line has to earn its place.
Once the script is signed off we storyboard it scene by scene, then design characters, backgrounds and props in your brand colours. Redrawing a frame at this stage takes an hour. Changing it after animation has started takes days, so this is the point where we ask you to look closely.
Approved artwork is rigged and animated, with hand-drawn frames used where a movement needs weight that a rig cannot give it. Voiceover, sound design and music are mixed against the final cut.
You receive the master file plus the versions you will actually use: square and vertical crops for social, a subtitled cut for silent autoplay, and cutdowns for ads.
Explain what you do and deliver your value proposition with a 2D animation explainer video that uses high-quality character animation that is believable and relatable.
Short 2D ad cuts built for feeds. We design the first two seconds to read without sound, keep one idea per cut, and deliver square, vertical and landscape versions from the same artwork.
2D lets us show a product interface cleanly, then cut away to a simplified diagram when the real screen would be too busy. Useful for software, hardware and anything with a process behind it.
Onboarding, compliance and process training. Illustrated characters keep the tone human, and modular 2D scenes mean you can update one step later without reshooting or rebuilding the whole video.
Origin stories, mission videos and campaign films. A consistent 2D illustration style carries a brand across a series far more cheaply than filming the same people and places again.
Company profiles, annual reports and internal updates for staff, boards and stakeholders. 2D handles abstract material such as figures, timelines and org structures without needing a shoot.
Please fill out the form below and we’ll provide a free quote within 24 hours.
Most enquiries open with a budget question, so here are real numbers instead of a range wide enough to be useless. Everything below covers a finished 2D video: script, storyboard, custom illustration, animation, voiceover and sound mix. There is also an AI-assisted route at $2,500 to $4,000 for teams testing a concept before committing budget, though it trades away most of the custom illustration that makes 2D worth choosing.
$5,000 to $10,000 is where most projects land: a 60 to 90 second video, custom illustration, professional voiceover and two rounds of revisions. $10,000 to $25,000 buys premium work, bespoke character design and rigging. $25,000 to $50,000 covers enterprise series, multiple language versions and brand governance. For a wider breakdown, see our explainer video cost guide.
On a typical 2D project the budget splits roughly like this: script 10 per cent, concept and storyboard 25 per cent, design and illustration 15 per cent, animation and editing 45 per cent, voiceover and music 5 per cent. Almost half the cost sits in animation, which is why changes requested after animation starts are the expensive ones.
Number of unique scenes matters more than running time, because every new setup needs its own background. Each character needs design and a rig before it can move, and dialogue with lip sync costs more than narration. Illustration density, existing brand assets, extra versions and every added approver move the number too.
“2D animation” covers several ways of working, and they do not cost or behave the same. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason a video feels off brand even though every frame was drawn properly.
Illustrated people carry the story. Characters are drawn, rigged and animated so they can walk, gesture and react, with lip sync where the voiceover calls for it. Best when the video is about a human situation: a customer with a problem, a patient, an employee learning a process. Our character animation service covers design and rigging in more depth.
Shapes, icons, typography, charts and interface mockups do the work, with people appearing as simple figures or not at all. Best for software, finance, data and anything where the subject is a system rather than a person. It is faster to produce and easier to update later, because a chart or screen can be swapped without touching a character rig.
2D animation combined with live footage, screen recordings, photography or textured hand-drawn frames. Useful when you have real assets worth showing, such as a physical product or a real interface, but need animation to explain the parts a camera cannot reach. Budget extra time in the edit, since two source types have to be colour matched. See our guide to types of animation styles.
Showreels look similar across studios because everyone shows their best ten seconds. These are the checks that tell you more than a reel does.
You supply: brand assets such as logo files, fonts and colour codes, product screenshots or interface access if the video shows a product, one named approver who can sign off, and factual review of anything technical or regulated.
We handle: research calls, script, storyboard, character and background design, animation, voiceover casting and direction, music, sound design, subtitles, and the delivery formats you need for each channel.
The single biggest thing you control is approval speed. Most schedules slip because feedback arrives in pieces from several people rather than as one consolidated set of notes.
Agree this before work starts, because studios differ. On our projects you own the finished video and the artwork created for it, and you can use it on any channel for as long as you like.
Ask any studio three specific things: whether the licence on the voiceover and music is perpetual or expires after a year, whether you can have the editable project files if another team may need to make a small change later, and whether stock elements appear anywhere in the video, since those carry their own terms. Music licensing matters most, because an expired track can force a re-edit of a video that is otherwise still working.
A 30 to 60 second video takes around two to three weeks. A one to two minute video takes around four to six weeks. That assumes feedback comes back within two working days at each stage.
Rough shape of a 90 second project: a few days on research and script, about a week on storyboard and design once the script is signed off, the bulk of the remaining time in animation, then the last few days for voiceover, sound and revisions. Extra language versions add roughly a week each, less if they are subtitle only.
Usually, yes. 2D skips model building, texturing and lighting, and there is no render time to wait on. Revisions are also cheaper, since a redrawn frame does not force a whole sequence to be re-rendered. The gap narrows when a 2D video is heavy on bespoke characters, because character design and rigging take real time.
Sixty to ninety seconds suits most product and service explanations. Voiceover runs at roughly 150 words a minute at a comfortable pace, so a 90 second video is about 220 words of script. If your message will not fit, that is usually a sign it should be two videos rather than one longer one.
No. Most clients arrive with a rough idea, a deck or an old video they dislike. We write the script from a research call and your existing material. If you already have a script, we will review it against running time and flag anything that will not animate cleanly before we quote.
In most cases yes, and it is far easier if you can send layered vector source files rather than flattened exports. If your brand illustrations were drawn without animation in mind, we may need to rebuild them so that arms, faces and other moving parts sit on separate layers. We will tell you before quoting if that is the case.
Yes, provided we get editable files. Layered vector artwork can be separated and rigged. A flat PNG or JPEG limits us to moving the whole image, which looks like a slideshow rather than animation. Send a sample early and we will tell you what is workable.
Two rounds at each stage: script, storyboard, and animation. Consolidated notes from one approver keep a project inside that. Where revisions run over, it is almost always because the script changed after the storyboard was approved, which is why we push for a proper script sign off.
An MP4 master suitable for web and social, plus the aspect ratio crops you need, such as 1:1 and 9:16. Subtitle files and burned-in subtitle versions are available for silent autoplay. Broadcast or presentation formats and editable project files can be supplied on request.
It works well, because every frame is drawn and can be adjusted to fit compliance wording without a reshoot. Build one extra review point into the schedule: legal or clinical sign off at script stage, before anything is drawn. Catching a wording problem in a document is far cheaper than catching it in an animated scene.
We have offices in Vancouver, British Columbia and Vancouver, Washington, and we run projects remotely with clients across Canada, the United States and further afield. Calls, storyboard reviews and approvals happen over video and shared review links, so time zone is rarely the constraint. Feedback turnaround is.
If you’re weighing up whether to hire in-house or bring in an animated video agency, the deciding factor is usually how often you need this done, not where anyone sits.
Different visual approaches for different stories.
Bold typography and graphics that capture attention.
Clear, hand-drawn storytelling for complex ideas.