Character animation
Character animation services with a director’s eye
Characters designed once, held consistent across every shot, and performed so that audiences believe them, from gods and heroes to mascots and storybook children.
Part of animated video production · Also in this family: 2D animation · explainer videos · devotional films · children’s and family videos · See all 88 animated films →
What we make
Animated characters for every kind of story
A character carries a film. These are the characters we design and animate.
Mythological characters
Gods, goddesses and heroes designed from scripture and tradition, and recognisable from film to film. Explore mythological characters.
Brand mascots
A character your audience remembers, designed to work in commercials, social films and print.
Storybook characters
Children’s book characters brought to life for trailers, read-alongs and series.
Music video performers
Animated performers who carry a song from the first bar to the last.
Explainer presenters
A friendly guide who walks the audience through a product or a process. Explore explainer presenters.
Series casts
Character sheets and rules that keep a whole cast consistent across episodes.
Why good character animation starts with design
Good character animation begins before a single frame moves. Each character is designed, approved on a locked sheet with turnarounds and expressions, and given a voice and a way of moving that fits the story.
That discipline keeps a character recognisable from the first shot to the last, and from one film to the next in a series. It is how the studio’s Krishna, Radha and Kali stay the same across films watched by millions.
On the record
Characters on the record
- Krishna, Radha and Kali across the studio’s devotional films, two of them past one million views
- Animated features My True Love and Sleeping Beauty
- Animated shorts Neer Ki Jeet and Stay Away My Love
- Close to 200 actors trained for camera, so performance is directed, not guessed
How we work
Performance is direction
A character is believable when its acting is believable. The director of this studio has trained close to 200 actors for camera, and directs animated characters the same way: intention first, then movement.
Each character gets a locked design sheet before animation starts, so the face, costume and colours stay the same in every shot.
How it runs
Character animation tests on the record
A facial animation retargeting study: one performance carried across characters to test consistency, the groundwork behind every animated character the studio builds.
How a character is built
- Brief: who the character is, who it speaks to and where it will appear.
- Design: sketches, then a locked character sheet with turnarounds, expressions and colours.
- Performance: voice and acting choices agreed before animation.
- Animation: shots animated and reviewed at named gates.
- Delivery: the film, plus the character sheet for your future use where rights allow.
Every stage has a named review gate. See the full process.
On the record
Character-led animated films
Animated short films carried by their characters: a romantic comedy and a time-travel love story set in eighteenth-century India, each cast, designed and performed shot by shot.
Questions
What makes an animated character feel alive
Audiences forgive simple drawings; they do not forgive a character who feels empty. These are the parts of character animation production that decide whether a character lives:
- A clear silhouette. A strong character is recognisable from its outline alone, even small on a phone screen.
- A personality before a design. We write who the character is, what they want and how they move before anyone draws them.
- Model sheets and turnarounds. Front, side, back and three-quarter views, so the character looks the same in every shot.
- An expression sheet. Joy, fear, anger, doubt: the faces a character needs for the story, approved before animation.
- Acting, not just movement. Weight, timing and small hesitations make a performance believable.
- Voice and lip sync. The voice is cast and recorded first, and the mouth and face are animated to it.
Over more than twenty years of filmmaking, the studio has learnt that consistency is what keeps a character alive across a series: the same face, the same costume and the same way of moving in every episode.
Character animation production with today’s tools
The studio’s character work joins traditional design discipline to new tools, always directed. Each character is designed and locked on a reference sheet; reference images are developed with Nano Banana and corrected until every view matches the approved design. Shots are then animated from those references in Kling and Seedance, and each one is checked against the sheet for face, costume, colours and proportions. A shot that drifts is redone.
Voices are cast and directed before animation, and the face and mouth are animated to the recorded performance. Compositing, colour and the final mix happen in the studio; see post-production.
Tools speed up the making; the performance still comes from direction. Twenty years of experience directing actors, drawing storyboards and building characters for film decides how a character stands, pauses and reacts. To brief a new character, send:
- Who the character is, what they want and how they speak.
- Any existing artwork, mascot files or brand rules.
- Where the character will appear: films, social media, print or a series.
- The languages the character must speak.
- Whether you will need the character again, for a series, a mascot or future films, so the sheet is built for reuse.
Then tell us about your character, or see the studio’s other animation services on animated video production.
Questions about character animation
What does a character animation service include?
Character design, a locked character sheet, voice and performance direction, animation and the finished film. You can also commission the design alone.
How do you keep a character consistent across a film?
With a locked design sheet, approved before animation, that every shot is checked against. That discipline is why our characters stay recognisable across a whole series of films.
Can you animate an existing character or mascot?
Yes. Send the existing design and brand rules and we will build the character sheet from them.
Who owns the character?
Ownership and usage rights are written into the agreement before work starts and released on full payment.
Related services
- Fixed-scope studio services: a character design package, ordered like a product
- Animated video production: brand, explainer and story films
- 2D animation services: illustrated and motion-graphic animation
- Commercial video production: TV, online and social advertising
- All services: post-production, VFX, music, subtitling, teaching and more
- The studio on YouTube: films, song-films and devotional cinema
Bring your character to life
Tell us who the character is and where it will appear. You will hear back within one working day.