7 Major Types of Animation Styles (With Examples) to Explore in 2025
Animation is a popular and versatile art form encompassing various types of animation styles. Each style brings unique tonal qualities to storytelling, allowing artists to convey beautiful and powerful narratives. For instance, 2D animation often evokes a whimsical, nostalgic feel, while stop-motion animation creates an eerie, old-fashioned atmosphere. Understanding the various types of animation styles can deepen viewers' appreciation of the visual language behind the stories they consume.
What is animation, and what are the 12 principles of motion design? How many styles of animation exist, and what distinguishes the main types? Discover the answers to these questions and explore the diverse world of animation styles in this discussion.
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What Is Animation?
What is the art of animation? Animation is a form of media made when drawings or computer graphics move through individual frames. An animator will make hundreds upon thousands of frames and then play them back, tricking the eye into seeing a moving image.
Animation likely dates back to prehistoric times when people made overlapping cave drawings. When the fire flickered in front of these drawings, they appeared to move. Animation was popularized, however, in the 1920s and 1930s, mainly by Walt Disney, whose studio remains one of the largest animation studios in the world to this day. Penn State University tells us that Disney partnered up with his brother Roy in 1924 to open the Disney Brothers Studio, now known as The Walt Disney Company. It creates one fo the top types of animation styles used in the industry today.
Animation is a popular medium of art used in film, television, video games, advertisements and more. There are many types of animation styles, including hand-drawn, puppet, 3D, CGI, rotoscope, experimental and stop-motion. These styles often overlap and can even mesh to tell a story within a single film or show. Animation is an incredibly diverse and versatile storytelling medium. Fans of animation span all ages and socio-economic groups. They are as diverse as the practice of animating itself.
What Are the 12 Principles of Animation?
Various rules are used to maintain consistency when animating. These rules are known within the industry as the 12 Principles of Animation. They were created in the 1930s by Disney so that when working on larger projects and films, all scenes would look the same. They also help to make animation more lively and achieve more fluid movements. These principles were later published in 1981 by Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas in the book Illusions of Life.
The 12 principles of animation are used across all types of animation styles and include squash and stretch, timing and motion, anticipation, staging, follow-through and overlapping action, straight ahead and pose to pose, slow in slow out, arcs, exaggeration, secondary action, solid drawing and appeal. These principles are now taught throughout most major animation schools and studios around the world as the base rules an animator must follow.
1. Squash and Stretch
Squash and stretch is a type of animation style that adds a squishy motion to movements. This can best be seen in a ball-bounce animation. As the ball goes down, it stretches out, and then it squashes down as it hits the floor. This style creates more dynamic movements.
2. Timing and Motion
Timing and motion refer to ensuring everything is timed naturally and motion looks realistic. A walk cycle needs good timing to look natural rather than jerky or paced unevenly, and certain parts of the walk will be more elongated than others.
3. Anticipation
Anticipation is the moment before an action in an animation. Think about a car hitting the breaks; it jerks back before it entirely stops. This type of animation style makes movements more natural and lifelike.
4. Staging
Staging is related to the idea of image composition and making sure that everything is framed well. Staging is how an animator places their characters in relation to the background.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow-through and overlapping action is a principle that allows animators to transition smoothly between poses. Rather than making poses and actions separate, they blend together and feel more realistic.
6. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
This principle describes two types of animation artists can choose between. Straight ahead is when you draw each frame straight, from beginning to end. Pose to pose is where artists draw the major poses, filling in the in-between frames afterward.
7. Slow In Slow Out
Slow in slow out is a concept that helps specifically with timing. At the start and end of a movement, things are slower, then quicker in the middle. This makes movements feel more naturalistic.
8. Arcs
An animated arc is a curved path an object or character follows in a scene, making the motions more fluid and visually appealing.
9. Exaggeration
Animation can be exaggerated beyond reality and is often used in this way for humor. Think of any scene in a cartoon where a character’s eyes pop out of their head when they're surprised.
10. Secondary Action
Secondary action is a principle that tells animators to have multiple things happening at once. If a character is waving, they may also tap their foot a bit or do another small movement. Real human bodies don’t move one part at a time; the entire body moves as one, so animators want to do the same in their work to create more realistic characters.
11. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing is a type of animation style that centers around the idea of making a 3D character in a 2D space. It ensures characters appear multidimensional even in flat space and helps everything appear more lifelike.
12. Appeal
Appeal is how visually interesting a type of animation style looks. Animation is a commercial art, so it needs to be enjoyed by its audience. Appeal is the idea of making things more charming to the audience.
Comprehensive List of Types of Animation Styles (With Examples)
Animation is diverse, and many different types of animation styles are used throughout the industry. Here are the top seven types of animation styles with examples from your favorite animated films and shows!
1. Hand-Drawn Animation
Hand-drawn animation is one of the original types of animation styles. It was popularized by one of the most widely recognized and well-known animators, Walt Disney.
Hand-drawn animation is a cartoon drawing style that was initially made on paper. However, this style is now often drawn digitally to speed up the process. Still, learning some easier drawing techniques is a great way to get started if you want to explore this style.
In these types of animation styles, artists draw every frame, individually. Each time a character makes a slight movement, they are redrawn. Every blink, every step, every time a character opens their mouth, is made up of several individual drawings.
This type of animation style is primarily associated with Disney Princess films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Beauty and the Beast and Princess and the Frog. Because of this, it typically has a nostalgic, whimsical and fairytale feel. Hand-drawn animation is far less common in the modern day because of the length and cost of the process, but when used, it adds a certain charm and whimsy to projects.
2. 3D Animation
3D Animation is made on a computer and is a process where everything is 3D modeled and then animated in a computer program. These types of animation styles are easier and more common in the modern day because they don’t require redrawing every single frame.
Similarly to puppet animation, studios enjoy using 3D animation techniques to make animation processes faster and less expensive. 3D animation also has a certain level of realism to it that 2D Animation doesn’t, making it the preferred type of animation style for studios such as Pixar when telling heartfelt stories with raw, authentic emotions, such as in the iconic film, Toy Story.
3. CGI
Computer Generated Imagery or CGI is a 3D animation technique commonly used in live-action films to make the unreal possible. Any dragon or alien in a modern movie was most likely made using CGI. It's commonly used in action and superhero films like Marvel or modern Star Wars films.
If you’re a fan of fantasy or sci-fi movies, you've likely watched a lot of CGI animations that use these types of animation styles. This type of animation style is more realistic than others and can help bring fantasy to life right before viewers' eyes. It's a visually stunning and impressive medium that accents the films it's used in.
4. Rotoscope Animation
Rotoscope is a style that uses actual video footage as a base to be drawn over. Video footage is taken into animation software, where 2D animated drawings are then added on top. The rotoscope style of animation is less commonly used in films than some other mediums but can create beautiful and visually interesting effects when utilized.
A fun example of a live-action film that uses rotoscope animation is Scott Pilgrim vs The World and a few from director Richard Linklater like A Scanner Darkly and Waking Life. This is one of the more uncommon types of animation styles, but it is equally as stunning as all the others.
5. Experimental Animation
Experimental animation is a vast genre that includes anything that breaks the bounds of more traditional types of animation styles. Smaller studios or indie creators use it often, but it's sometimes used by larger animation studios as well. A great example of this is Across the Spider-Verse. The type of animation style in this film is a mix of 2D and 3D and changes based on the realm the characters are in.
Gwen’s universe, for example, is in watercolor style, and Hobie’s looks like a comic book. Experimental animation is a unique type of animation style that elevates films and media to the next level. The style helps animations to feel more unique and stand out against the rest and is often used in ways that elevate and accentuate storytelling. It's a creative type of animation style that shows off the individuality one can achieve in animated films.
6. Stop Motion Animation
Stop motion animation is made out of physical props that are moved slightly, frame-by-frame, and photographed hundreds upon thousands of times to create motion. Stop motion was commonly used before CGI was invented for practical effects and is now stylistically used in studios like Laika and Aardman of Wallace and Gromit fame.
Stop Motion is a type of animation style that can be done with 3d printing, clay or even common household items such as Legos. It's an accessible form of animation because you only need a phone camera and some minifigures to create something simple. In films, this type of animation style can create a charming and homemade feel, such as in the film Chicken Run or an eerie and gritty feel, such as in the film Coraline.
There are also some great Christmas movies for kids made in stop motion like A Nightmare Before Christmas! Stop motion animation is undoubtedly a beautiful and unique type of animation style that stands out against others.
7. Puppet Animation
Puppet animation is a type of animation style that is done with something called a rig, where a character is given bones and moved similarly to a real-world puppet. Characters are given all the major joints, such as knees and elbows. They are then animated from there. This is much easier for animators than hand-drawn animation and is often used in combination with hand-drawn animation for more simple scenes that don’t require as fluid movements.
It's also often used for animated TV shows to make production quicker and less expensive per episode. It is a more uncomplicated cartoon drawing style but often produces less fluid movements than hand-drawn animation. Think of this as similar to piecing together a sequence of easy doodles to create one finished piece.
Because of this, most animated works that utilize puppet animation combine it with another method, hand-drawn animation, for more complex scenes or critical story beats, most commonly high action or pivotal fight scenes. A more modern example of a show that uses puppet animation is Gravity Falls.
Types of Animation Styles FAQs
How Many Styles of Animation Are There?
There are countless types of animation styles, and new styles continue to be invented as the industry develops and expands. Animators are innovative artists who are constantly looking for new ways to experiment and improve their craft. Regardless, there are about seven main types of animation styles that continue to be used across the majority of types of cartoons.
What Are the Main Types of Animation?
The main types of animation used across most animated media are hand-drawn, puppet animation, 3D animation, CGI, rotoscope, experimental and stop motion. There are countless other types of animation used primarily by students or indie animators, but most major animation studies will use one of the seven major types of animation styles.
Animation is a versatile art medium with many different styles. These types of animation styles are used in various types of cartoons, television shows and films to help convey tone. Animators choose their style intentionally to best fit the story or message they're trying to convey.
Despite each animation style's differences, all of them share some common ground. Across each of the types of animation styles, animators use the 12 principles and elements of animation. These are used to maintain consistency in larger projects and help animators make their work more lively and achieve more fluid movements. Animation is a meticulous and tedious craft that can create beautiful and heartwarming stories all generations enjoy.
Which animation style is your favorite? Do you have a favorite animated film or type of animation style? If not, perhaps it’s time to explore this creative field and discover one today!
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