2D animation uses a series of flat or 2-dimensional images to create a sense of motion. This style of animation can still imply the existence of 3-dimensional depth through the use of visual cues such as perspective, and having layers of foreground and background elements. There are so many ways to approach 2D animation, but a lot of the time we rely on keyframes – we draw a character in one main position, then in another, and our software automatically generates all the in-between moments to transition between these two “key” positions. This gives us a fluid sense of motion, without having to draw every character from scratch 25 times per second!

At Monster & Bear we can take you from concept to completion. We are a full service 2D and 3D animation studio offering services across the pre-production, production and post-production phases of 2D animation.

We can help with:

• Scriptwriting
• Conceptualising and designing the storyboards for your 2D animation.
• Developing concept art for your production.
• Animating and refining based on your feedback.
• Creating backgrounds, characters and visual effects.
• 2D compositing and applying special effects to your animation.
• Providing background music, foley and editing.
• Delivery of your final 2D animation with the perfect output specs for your chosen medium e.g. TVC, socials, website etc.

We’re sorry to say it but yes, when it comes to 2D animation, planning is everything!

However that doesn’t mean that the planning isn’t lots of fun. It just means that rather than barrelling in headfirst and trying to fully animate something and then see if you like it, we start with much smaller steps to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

Basically the more we know about your goals for the animation, the target audience, the output platform, and the visual style, the more we can customise our animation concepts to meet your needs. Then we can start making mockups and sketches for you, as well as rough storyboards, so you start to get a clear picture of exactly what your animation will look like before we start. This extra planning in the beginning saves us so much time and energy in the long run, and helps to keep our services efficient, in terms of both timeframes and budget.

At Monster & Bear, our animation process is highly iterative. We value clear communication with our clients at every step, so there’s plenty of mindblowing animation going on, but there are no surprises.

We’ve gone through these creative processes before, so we are always here to guide you through it. At the same time, we also understand that no two clients are the same, and no two animations are the same. We want to create a system that will work for you. Some of our clients know exactly what they’re looking for, and we can dive in and start providing that.

But sometimes, you might not know what you like until you see it, which is absolutely fine as well. Because we are an end-to-end production company, we can come up with unique concepts to meet your brief, and supply scripts and storyboards to help you visualise all the possibilities before you. Only once you’re happy with the concepts and designs we put forward do we start full animation, and we think you’ll agree, you can see the benefits of this approach in the final results.