Stick figure animation
Make a stick figure animation in your browser: draw a stickman frame by frame with onion skin, make it walk, jump or fight, and export a video. Free, nothing to install.
Draw a frame, tap + for the next one, and change the drawing a little. The last frame shows faintly in red underneath (onion skin), so each drawing follows on from it.
Animate a stick figure jump
- 01Draw a stick figure standing: a circle for the head, one line for the body, two for the arms, two for the legs.
- 02New frame: draw it crouching, knees bent and arms back. That's the anticipation.
- 03Next frames: it pushes off, arms up, then rises with its legs tucked. Use the onion skin to move it a little each time.
- 04At the top, hold the pose for a frame or two (Duplicate), then bring it down faster than it went up.
- 05Land with bent knees, rise back to standing, and press Play.
Why stick figures are the best way to learn animation
A stick figure has no clothes, hair or shading to redraw, so all your effort goes into the movement itself: the timing, the poses and the weight. That's why so many animators started with stickmen, and why stick fights became a whole genre online.
Keep the proportions the same in every frame: the head the same size, the limbs the same length. The onion skin shows the last frame in red, so you can check that an arm hasn't grown.
Movements to try
- A wave: 6 to 8 frames, the arm swinging along an arc from the shoulder.
- A jump: crouch, push, rise, hang, fall, land: about 16 to 20 frames.
- A walk: 8 frames for one step at 12 fps; loop it and move the figure across a background layer.
- A punch or kick: a slow wind-up, a fast hit (2 or 3 frames), then a hold so it reads.
- A fall: the figure tips, speeds up, hits the ground and bounces a little.
Make it look smooth
- Move along arcs: hands and feet swing in curves, not straight lines.
- Fast moves need fewer frames, slow moves more.
- Give the head and body a little bounce on every step of a walk.
- Draw the stick figure on one layer and the ground and props on another, so you only redraw the figure.
Questions
How do you make a stick figure animation?
Draw the figure in its first pose, add a new frame, and draw the next pose moved a little, using onion skin to see the last one. Repeat for every frame, then play it back. This page has a free studio for it.
What's the best free stick figure animation app?
For drawing stickmen frame by frame, you need a pen, onion skin and frame editing; this one has them, runs in the browser and is free. Apps that rig a stickman with joints are a different approach: faster to pose, but less freedom in the drawing.
How many frames does a stick figure walk take?
About 8 frames for one step at 12 frames per second, so 16 for a full walk cycle that loops.
Can I make a stick figure fight?
Yes: keep it short, use fast hits (2 or 3 frames) and longer holds after each one so the viewer can follow. Put each fighter on their own layer to make edits easier.
Are my drawings uploaded anywhere?
No. Your drawings, frames and the videos you make all stay in your browser on this device. Nothing is sent to us or stored on a server.