2 frame animation tutorial!!

(made for newgrounds tutorial jam 2025, thought i'd share it here too!!)

welcome to my 2 frame animation tutorial!! yes, you can animate in just two frames!!

this will work for any animation software!! i usually use procreate or pixquare on my ipad, and you can even draw the frames and then put them together in a separate animation app if that works better for you!!

ready? let's start!!

1. Draw something! It can be anything! I draw what i want to animate on a separate layer to make it easier, especially if I want the character to move.

2. Choose what to animate! Easy, just figure out what you want to do! When I'm stumped, I like to draw over some background shapes to add just a bit of movement. ^3^ Simply drawing over something you've already drawn (like what I did with the text) adds an easy but cool effect called boiling!

3. Add a frame! I'll usually duplicate the first frame unless I want to add a boiling effect to the entire image or do a movement that's super complex. I save the latter for animations with more frames though!! For now, we're just spicing up a drawing xD

4. Redraw what you want to animate! Erase the bits on frame two that you want to change, then redraw them however you'd like! Make sure to enable onion skin so you can see what the previous frame looks like while you're working on the next one. This helps you figure out where exactly you should be drawing to keep consistent with the first frame.

For these yellow expression lines in my example, I made them a bit longer than they were in frame one so it kinda looks like Stamp is shouting out to you in encouragement!! xD

zOMG YOU DID IT!!

5. Get creative! I usually use a framerate of just 2 FPS for these micro animations, but changing it up can give your animation a whole different vibe! Move more stuff around, add more background effects, do whatever you want!! Most importantly, have FUN! and if you need another frame, add one! then you're animating longer and longer stuff cause it's so fun >w<

more examplez:

the flipside: sparkles in eyes are animated in just 2 frames! adjusted the opacity to make the stars flicker in the background!

another me: background is animated using that boiling effect! simple but eye-catching!!

aww they love each other <3: emocat's angry mark is adjusted just slightly and the heart bobs up and down ^^

thx for reading!! sincerity is not a crime!! stay smexy xD

f4t4lfrankie