How to Animate Frame by Frame on Android: A Beginner’s Guide

Animating no longer requires a powerful computer or expensive software. Today you can animate frame by frame from your Android phone, draw your own poses and watch them come to life. In this beginner's guide I walk you through the whole process, step by step, using ToonizApp, a 100% free, ad-free, open-source 2D animation app.

What is frame-by-frame animation?

Frame-by-frame animation (also called traditional animation) means drawing every frame individually. When the frames are played in sequence at a certain speed, the eye perceives motion. It is the technique behind classic animation and it is still one of the most expressive, because you have full control over every single drawing.

Before you start, it helps to know four terms you will see all the time:

• Frame: each individual image of the animation.
• FPS: frames per second, the playback speed.
• Keyframe (key pose): an important drawing that marks the start, the end or a key point of a movement.
• In-between: the drawings that go between two key poses to smooth out the motion.

What you need to get started

• An Android phone or tablet.
• The ToonizApp app, which you can download for free from its GitHub releases page.
• A willingness to practice. You don't need perfect drawing skills: animation is learned by animating.

Step 1: choose the canvas format and resolution

First, decide where you will publish your animation. For TikTok, Reels or Shorts, a vertical canvas is ideal. For YouTube or presentations, use a horizontal one. And for a feed or a profile, the square format works very well. ToonizApp lets you work on vertical, horizontal or square canvases and adjust the resolution to what your project needs.

Step 2: set the FPS and the rhythm

FPS determines how many drawings are shown per second. In traditional animation it is very common to work at 24 FPS but draw only 12 drawings per second, holding each one for two frames. This is called animating "on twos", and it halves the workload without being too noticeable.

If you are just starting out, animate on twos: it is easier to handle and looks smooth. As you gain practice you can try faster movements with more drawings per second. ToonizApp supports up to 240 frames per second, so you have room to experiment.

Step 3: draw your keyframes

Don't start by drawing the first frame and moving forward one by one. Animators work with the key poses first. Think of a character jumping: draw the crouching pose first, then the pose at the highest point of the jump, and then the landing pose. That already gives you the structure of the movement.

A tip: exaggerate your poses a little. In animation, a movement that looks exaggerated in a single drawing usually looks natural once it is in motion.

Step 4: use onion skin for the in-betweens

Onion skin is the most important tool in frame-by-frame animation. It shows the previous and next frames in semi-transparent layers, so you can see where your drawing comes from and where it is going. Thanks to it you get continuous strokes, fluid motion arcs and consistent poses.

With onion skin on, draw the in-betweens between your key poses. Make sure each drawing changes slightly from the previous one: if the change is too abrupt, the movement looks choppy; if it is almost nothing, it looks slow.

Step 5: adjust the exposure on the timeline

Exposure is how long a drawing stays visible. If you want a pose to hold a little longer, you don't need to copy the frame several times: you can extend its duration on the timeline. ToonizApp has a dynamic-exposure timeline that lets you control the exact duration of each drawing, which is very useful to add weight, pauses and emphasis to your animation.

Step 6: play it back and fix it

Play your animation over and over. Ask yourself: is the motion smooth? Is there a strange jump? Is the rhythm what I was going for? It is normal to fix things several times. Professional animators spend a large part of their time reviewing and adjusting.

Step 7: export your animation

When you are happy with it, it is time to share it. You can export your progress as an MP4 video, ideal for uploading to social media, or as a ZIP package with PNG frames, perfect if you want to continue your scene in another program on your computer.

Back up your project

A tip that saves a lot of heartache: don't keep your work only on your phone. ToonizApp lets you sync your projects with the Drive cloud, keeping them safe from mishaps or device changes.

Exercises to practice

1. The bouncing ball: the classic exercise. With just a few drawings you will learn weight, rhythm and motion arcs.
2. A blink: a short exercise to practice in-betweens and exposure.
3. A walk cycle: once you master the above, try a movement that loops.

Start with short animations of 1 or 2 seconds. Finishing many small animations will teach you more than leaving a long one half done.

Download ToonizApp for free

ToonizApp is in its Alpha phase, so it may have bugs, but it improves with every version and it is a project open to the community. You can download it from GitHub, browse the source code, report bugs or suggest ideas. If you have questions, check the FAQ.

Have you animated something already? Tell us in the comments or share it on social media. We would love to see it.