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videos that drive action
Whiteboard animation is a video style in which illustrations are drawn on a white surface in sequence to explain an idea step by step, making complex concepts simple and memorable.
Our whiteboard animation services easily explain your business, captivate your audience, and simplify complex concepts, with stunning visuals and creative storytelling.
Our whiteboard animation studio creates videos tailored for businesses, non-profits, and educators to:
Take a look at some of the amazing clients we’ve worked with and the whiteboard animation videos we’ve produced for them. Our whiteboard video production services cover industries such as healthcare, oil and gas, technology, government, nonprofits, and more.
We transform complex ideas into clear, engaging visuals with our 100% custom whiteboard animation explainer videos. Create whiteboard Ads, whiteboard explainer videos, educational videos, sales, and marketing videos.
81% of people said they were convinced to buy a product or service after watching a marketing video, HubSpot.
Whiteboard animation is ideal for showcasing how your product works, turning technical specs into clear, step-by-step visuals. It allows customers to see features in action and grasp value quickly, making it easier to convert interest into engagement.
Use whiteboard storytelling to explain business ideas, financial models, or market potential in a visually compelling way. The format builds clarity and confidence in your vision, helping convince investors and backers.
| Package | Starting price | Best for | Typical turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $3,000 | A single, focused idea explained simply | 4 to 6 weeks |
| Professional | $5,000 | Complex topics, custom illustration, licensed music | 5 to 7 weeks |
| Custom / Enterprise | Custom quote | Longer or multi-video projects, advanced animation, multiple languages | Varies |
Every whiteboard animation is 100% custom, so final pricing depends on length, script complexity, and the level of illustration. Get a free quote for an exact figure.
See standout work in our whiteboard animation examples.
A 30 to 60 second whiteboard video usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. A 1 to 2 minute video usually takes 4 to 6 weeks. Heavier illustration, technical subject matter, or several rounds of internal sign-off push it toward the longer end.
Whiteboard has one timing quirk worth knowing: because every drawing is timed stroke by stroke to the narration, the voiceover has to be locked before animation starts. Late script changes mean a re-record, which is the single most common reason a whiteboard project slips. If you are producing a series, we stagger delivery so the first video is live while the rest are still in animation.
Whiteboard animation with us starts at $3,000 for a single, focused idea, and around $5,000 once the topic needs custom illustration, licensed music, and a longer script. Multi-video or multi-language projects are quoted individually.
Length and drawing density move the number more than anything else. A busy frame with twenty hand-drawn elements takes far longer to illustrate and time than a frame with three, so two videos of the same duration can sit at opposite ends of the range. For a wider view across styles, see our breakdown of explainer video cost, or request a quote with your script or outline attached.
Whiteboard tends to attract organisations with something genuinely complicated to explain: software and fintech teams, healthcare and insurance providers, universities and training departments, nonprofits explaining a programme to donors, and founders walking investors through a model.
The common thread is not company size, it is subject matter. If the idea takes a diagram and a paragraph to explain in a meeting, it usually works on a whiteboard. We run projects remotely from our studios in Vancouver BC and Vancouver WA, so location is not a constraint.
Most whiteboard videos run 60 to 90 seconds. That is long enough to explain one clear idea and short enough to hold attention. We’ll recommend the right length for your topic, your audience, and where the video will be shown.
Yes. We’re a full-service studio, so scriptwriting, storyboarding, illustration, professional voiceover, music, and sound design are all handled in-house. You work with one team from concept to final delivery.
Every whiteboard video is 100% custom. We build the illustrations, color accents, tone, and pacing around your brand and your message, with no templates or stock scenes.
We review and refine at each key stage: script, storyboard, and animation. You give feedback before we move to the next step, which keeps revisions focused and the final video on brief.
You receive a broadcast-quality MP4 that is ready for web, social, and presentations. We can also provide alternate formats and aspect ratios, such as square or vertical cuts for social, on request.
Yes. We work with startups, nonprofits, and enterprises across North America and beyond, running the whole process remotely with regular check-ins and shared review links.
Both, and the choice changes the feel. A filmed hand holding a marker reads as warm and human, and suits stories about people, care, or community. A digital hand or a line that simply draws itself reads as cleaner and more modern, and suits software and technical explanations. We also do hand-free reveals where the line grows on its own, which is the most flexible option because it never blocks the artwork.
We pick one approach in the storyboard stage and keep it consistent for the whole video. Mixing styles mid-video is the fastest way to make a whiteboard piece look unfinished.
Yes, and for social feeds it is often better. A silent cut relies on on-screen text drawn in sequence, tighter pacing, and larger lettering, because the viewer is reading rather than listening. It usually needs a shorter script: roughly half the words, since reading a drawn sentence takes longer than hearing it.
Most clients commission both from the same build: a narrated master for the website and a captioned silent cut for social. Deciding this before animation starts costs nothing. Deciding it afterwards means re-timing every scene.
Plan on about 150 words per minute of finished video. A 60 second whiteboard explainer is roughly 140 to 160 words, and a 90 second piece is around 200 to 230. Whiteboard narration runs slightly slower than other styles because the drawing needs time to land, so scripts that read fine on paper often need trimming.
If a script comes in long, we cut ideas rather than speed up the read. One idea explained properly beats three ideas rushed, and a hurried whiteboard video is exhausting to watch.
You own the finished video and the custom illustrations we draw for it, with full commercial rights. Licensed elements are the exception: stock music and stock voice talent come with their own licence terms, which we pass on to you in writing so you know exactly where the video can run and for how long.
Project files stay archived on our side. If you need to change a figure, a price, or a logo next year, we reopen the project rather than rebuild it, which is far cheaper than starting over. Ask for the working files at the start if your team wants to hold them, and we will include them in the scope.
Yes. Bring a script, a deck, a one-pager, or a recorded talk and we will adapt it. Existing material usually needs restructuring rather than rewriting: decks are built to be presented by a person and tend to carry more detail than a video can hold, so we cut to a single narrative line and move the rest to the page around the video.
If you supply a finished script we still storyboard it before animating, because a sentence that reads well is not always a sentence that draws well. That pass is included.
The plain marker-on-white look from a decade ago does read as dated. What keeps it current is treatment: brand colour used sparingly on a white ground, cleaner line weights, selective flat-colour fills once a drawing is complete, and camera moves across a large canvas instead of cutting between static frames.
The underlying reason whiteboard works has not changed. Watching a picture being built holds attention because the viewer wants to see what it becomes. That is a property of the format, not of a particular era.
A whiteboard video lives or dies on the idea underneath it, so we start by finding the one thing the drawing has to teach. In the kickoff call we ask what the viewer already believes, where they get lost, and what you want them to do after 90 seconds. We write that down as a single sentence.
From there we agree on length, voiceover style, and where the video will run, because a video embedded on a pricing page and a video shown at a conference booth need different pacing. You leave the session with a running order, a delivery date, and a fixed scope.
Whiteboard scripts are written for the ear and the hand at the same time. Every line has to be sayable in one breath and drawable in one continuous move, so we cut adjectives, keep sentences short, and give each idea its own beat. Roughly 150 words per minute of finished video is the working rule.
Then we sketch the frame map: the sequence of drawings that fills the white space, what gets erased, and what stays on screen to build the final picture. You see the sketches in low fidelity first, which is when changing a metaphor costs an hour instead of a week. Once you sign off, the illustrator draws the final line art in your brand accent colours.
Animation is where the hand comes in. We time each stroke to the narration so the drawing lands on the word it illustrates, add the pan and zoom moves that carry the eye across the canvas, then layer the voiceover, music bed, and small sound cues that mark each reveal.
You review the animatic, then the near-final cut. When it is approved we master the audio, burn captions if you need them, and hand over an MP4 plus any alternate crops or a transparent-background version for your own edits. Source files stay archived with us in case you want to update a figure or a price next year.
Most whiteboard studios show a reel of polished work. A reel tells you what a studio can draw, not how it behaves when your script changes in week three. These are the questions that actually separate one supplier from another.
Ask any studio for the storyboard behind a video in their reel. It shows whether they think in sequences or in isolated pretty frames. One sketch should grow out of the last so the canvas builds toward a single final picture. Whiteboard is unforgiving of crowded scripts, and the editing judgement matters more than the drawing.
There is a real difference between custom illustration and a stock library. Stock whiteboard assets are cheap and fast, and they are also why so many whiteboard videos look identical. Ask directly: are these drawings made for this project, and can I see the raw line art? If the answer is vague, assume a library.
Confirm three things before you sign. What you own: the finished video, the custom illustrations, and any restrictions on licensed music or voice talent. What formats you receive, including a captioned cut and any vertical or square crops. And whether project files are archived, plus what an update costs in a year.
Whiteboard is a specific tool, not a default. It earns its place when the viewer has to follow a chain of reasoning, and it gets in the way when the job is to make someone feel something.
Whiteboard is strongest when one thing leads to another: a process with stages, a system with parts that connect, a concept that only makes sense once three pieces are on screen together. Say your core message out loud. If explaining it makes you want to draw a diagram, whiteboard is right.
If the video needs a character the audience identifies with, an emotional arc, or a recognisable brand world, whiteboard will feel thin. Line art on white is deliberately neutral. Brand campaigns, product launches, and anything meant to make a viewer want something are better served by 2D character animation.
Numbers, dashboards, comparisons, and app interfaces belong in motion graphics. Charts drawn by hand look charming and read badly. Some projects want both, with whiteboard carrying the explanation. If you are still weighing formats, our guide to types of animation styles lays out the trade-offs side by side.
Two videos of the same length can be quoted weeks and thousands of dollars apart. The pricing table above gives the starting points. What follows explains what moves a project within and beyond them.
Every element on a whiteboard canvas has to be drawn, timed, and often erased. A scene with three simple objects is quick. A scene with a labelled diagram, six figures, and a chunk of hand-lettered text can take a full day to illustrate and another to time. This is why length alone is a poor predictor of cost: a sparse two-minute video can be cheaper than a dense sixty-second one.
The practical lever is script tightness. Cutting a paragraph removes scenes, and removing scenes removes illustration hours. Editing before production is the cheapest budget control you have.
On a typical project the split runs roughly: script 10 percent, concept and storyboard 25 percent, design and illustration 15 percent, animation and editing 45 percent, voiceover and music 5 percent. Nearly half the money sits in animation, which is why approving the storyboard properly is worth the extra day. Every change after that point lands in the most expensive part of the process.
Costs also rise with custom character design, hand-lettering in place of typeset text, licensed rather than library music, named voice talent, and additional language versions. Additional languages are cheaper than they look if planned upfront, because the artwork is reused and only the narration and timing change.
An AI-assisted production route exists for teams with tight budgets and simple scripts. It suits internal or short-lifespan content rather than anything customer-facing that carries your brand. For how whiteboard compares with other formats on price, see our explainer video cost breakdown.
From you we need four things, and none of them have to be polished. A clear objective and the one action you want the viewer to take. Any existing material: a deck, a one-pager, a recorded webinar, or a rough script. Brand assets, meaning a logo in vector format, brand colours, and fonts if you have them. And a single approver with authority to sign off, which is the most underrated item on the list. Projects run late because of committee feedback far more often than because of animation.
We handle everything else: script development or rewriting, storyboard, illustration, voiceover casting and recording, music and sound design, animation, captions, and final delivery. You review at three points, script, storyboard, and animation, and each approval closes that stage.
For a 1 to 2 minute video, expect roughly a week for script and kickoff, a week to ten days for storyboard including your review, then two to three weeks for voiceover, illustration, and animation, ending with a final review and delivery. Thirty to sixty second videos compress into two to three weeks.
The two things that reliably add time are late script changes after the voiceover is recorded, and feedback arriving in several separate rounds instead of one consolidated set. Both are avoidable. Neither is a production problem.
Different visual approaches for different stories.
Story-driven character animation that converts.
Bold typography and graphics that capture attention.
