Whether you’re an established animator or just getting started, animation apps are a great way to create on mobile devices. Here are three of our favourite 2D animation apps for Android, available from Google Play.

RoughAnimator

This animation app for Android has everything you need to create traditional, hand-drawn animations. You can have an unlimited layers on your timeline, with adjustable exposure length for each drawing. It’s easy to scrub along the timeline and to preview playback. Add your own brushes to use, and with support for Samsung S-Pen and other pressure sensitive devices you’ll find this app offers you a lot of choice for your 2D animations.

FlipaClip

Great for beginners and experimentation, FlipaClip for Android is a frame-by-frame 2D animation app where you can easily organise your projects into stacks and add content like photos, videos, music and more. Switch between dark and light modes and create art on custom canvas sizes with tools like brushes, lasso, eraser, frames viewer and onion skin animation.

Clip Studio Paint

Create 2D animation that feels natural and unique with the Clip Studio Paint app. There are over 30,000 brushes available, created by professionals from around the world. If you’re new to art and animation, tools like Line Stabilisation will help you draw with accuracy, and you can place models on the canvas to use as references for those tricky angles. Clip Studio Paint also has a powerful desktop version for Windows and Apple computers.

Would You Like To Learn More About Animation?

If you’re just starting out in animation, why not try our free tutorial series: Animation for Beginners, taught by the wonderful Pilar Newton-Katz, who’s animated for Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV and more. The great thing about this course is that it doesn’t require any specific programme knowledge as Pilar walks you through all the basics, whether you’re working in a traditional way, or digitally!

In this series you can start by learning how to animate a bouncing ball, a falling object, and a flying bird before moving onto slightly more complex themes like How to Animate a Character Walking From the Front View, and animating a turning head.

More Animation Resources

• 

  How to Merge 2D Animation Into Live Action Video Using Cartoon Animator and After Effects

  Combining 2D animation with live action video is a rare blend of styles that can make your project really stand out! With the help of Cartoon…
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  How to Animate the Layers of a Logo in After Effects

  In this lesson you will learn how to take a logo design that has been prepared for animation with layers, and animate it using Adobe After Effects.
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  5 Top Animation Preset Kits for After Effects

  You don’t necessarily need specialist skills to create animation, there are plenty of professional, pre-made templates to help.
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  How to Add Free Animations to Live-action Video in 30 Minutes With After Effects

  Learn how to create your own animations in this quick tutorial. We’ll combine a free character from Reallusion into live-action stock video from Envato…

About the Authors

Marie Gardiner wrote this. Jackson Couse edited and published it.