Last year was a brilliant year for animation as it marked a shift from minimalism to much bigger and louder animation content. In this post, we’ll go over some of the trends from 2018 that are expected to continue into this year as well as some of the newer trends that are likely to characterize the rest of it.
Best described by the philosophy of ‘Go Big or Go Home’, animation last year saw a surge in the usage of bigger text, fast cuts and bright colours to captivate the interest of viewers and rope them in. This trend transcended animation and motion graphics and extended to all forms of visual media. The rise of social media features like Instagram stories helped mobile platforms record the most number of screen time in 2018. This sparked the rise in popularity of vertical viewing and videos that catered to the same. Effects like the ‘Glitch effect’ where objects, characters or the entire video looked as if it was glitching and ‘Morphing’ in which characters and objects morphed into one another became some of the biggest and most popular effects. These trends from 2018 are likely to carry forward to this year along with Liquid Motion and Combining 2D and 3D.
The year ahead promises to be a promising year for animation with the following trends:
- Rise of VR/AR- The increasing popularity and advancements in virtual reality and augmented reality animation and motion graphics are set to open up a Pandora’s Box of possibilities for creators.
- Accessibility- Animation will also become more accessible to everyone as more desktop and mobile apps offer plugins and platforms for people of all experience levels.
- Adaptability- Animation graphics that can adapt to a multitude of platforms while retaining their message are expected to be the frontrunners in the marketplace.
- Kinetic Typography, which involves animating text like it is a character or object and having it move around, disappear or stretch, is also expected to become one of the largest trends in animation.
- Seamless transitions are getting much better due to massive advancements in frame by frame animation. This allows for a much smoother viewing experience with fewer cuts or transitions that can distract the viewer.
Getting too much to keep up with? Don’t worry, our team of animation experts at Fat Hamster Studio who specializes in 2D, 3D, Stop Motion and VR/AR animations have got you covered. They combine art and technology to create the perfect animation that caters to your needs and desires. To ensure that your animations are in line with all the latest trends for 2019, head over to http://www.fathamsterstudios.com/ and let them know whether you’re ready to Go Big or Go Home.