Cartoon animation has become one of the most powerful ways to capture attention online. From short YouTube skits to digital storytelling, it is one of the most versatile formats in visual content today.
Whether it's a YouTube video or an Instagram reel, animated videos help to simplify complex messages and keep viewers hooked from start to finish.
Just by using some AI tools, you can bring your stories to life with vibrant cartoon characters, smooth animations, and voiceovers—all in just a few minutes.
In this blog, we’ll show you how you can start making your animated videos using free tools like AutoDraft AI.
Cartoon animation is a form of visual storytelling where characters, objects, and backgrounds are illustrated and brought to life through motion.
Unlike live action videos, cartoon animation gives you total creative freedom to create talking animals, flying machines, or imaginary worlds with ease.
2D Animation: Flat characters and backgrounds, commonly used in explainer videos, educational content, and social media.
Cut-Out Animation: Uses layered characters and scenes that move like paper puppets.
Frame-by-Frame Animation: Traditional method where every frame is drawn individually. Time-consuming but artistic.
AI-Generated Animation: The latest trend where AI tools turn text scripts into animated videos automatically.
Cartoon animation is no longer just for kids. It’s widely used in:
Whether you want to simplify information or entertain an audience, cartoon animation helps deliver your message in a memorable, engaging way.
Not sure what kind of cartoon video to make? Here are some popular and high-performing content ideas you can create using AutoDraft AI:
Animated horror stories are popular across YouTube and short-form platforms. You can bring eerie legends, haunted house tales, or supernatural encounters to life with dark visuals and suspenseful voiceovers.
Cartoon love stories are perfect for reels or emotional storytelling content. Whether it's a cute high school romance or a dramatic breakup sequence, animated characters make it feel relatable and visually appealing.
Create lighthearted, funny videos based on awkward situations, cultural quirks, or everyday life moments. These work great for social media and are likely to go viral when done right.
Turn real-life struggles, moral values, or inspirational stories into animated narratives. This format is ideal for creators who want to inspire or share meaningful content with their audience.
Perfect for businesses, educators, or YouTubers, animated explainers can simplify complex topics like finance, geography, health, or technology. These videos are often used for marketing, awareness, or training purposes.
Use cartoons to create learning videos, alphabet songs, fairy tales, or moral stories for kids. This category has massive demand and performs well on platforms like YouTube and OTT kids’ apps.
Creating cartoon videos used to require expensive software and advanced skills. But now, AI tools have made it fast, affordable, and easy for beginners.
One of the best tools available today is AutoDraft AI, a smart animation platform designed for creators, marketers, and anyone who wants to quickly turn ideas into animated videos.
Here is how you can create a cartoon animation video using AutoDraft AI in just 6 easy steps:
Before you animate anything, you need a clear message. A strong script is the foundation of any good cartoon video. Start by planning:
Keep the script simple and conversational. Break it into scenes if possible.
For example:
Once your script is ready, you can move on to creating the visuals that match each scene.
Every scene in your animation needs a background that sets the tone and location. With AutoDraft AI, you can easily generate any type of background using its built-in text to image tool.
How to do it:
You don’t need to draw or design any background. Just describe the scene using prompts and let the platform create it for you.
Once you have all your backgrounds ready, you're set to move on to adding your story characters and animation.
Now that your scenes are ready, it’s time to insert cartoon characters into them. AutoDraft AI gives you a wide range of pre-designed characters. You can choose from different styles, expressions, and roles.
Open the character library and choose characters that fit your script (e.g., teacher, student, businesswoman, customer)
Place them in your scene by clicking and dragging. Position them where they need to be in the frame
You can also adjust the character’s facial expressions and poses to match the tone of your story—angry, happy, confused, surprised, etc.
AutoDraft lets you animate characters with just a few clicks. Just select the character you want to animate and assign a predefined action from a menu.
AutoDraft lets you apply ready made character actions with a single click.
Choose from actions like walking, waving, talking, pointing, nodding, typing, running, reacting, and more.
Each action is timed and animated automatically, no need to keyframe or edit manually.
You can also add camera movement to make your scene more dynamic:
This helps you create visual emphasis and keeps the video engaging.
Once you’ve added animations and camera movement, your scene becomes a full-motion animated sequence, ready for sound.
Once your visuals are complete, it's time to add sound. Voiceovers and background music bring energy and emotion to your animation, and AutoDraft makes this process simple.
You can add narration by uploading your voice recording or using the built-in AI voiceover generator.
Paste your script and select a voice style
Choose language, gender, tone, and pacing
Click on “Generate Speech,” and AutoDraft will automatically create the voiceover for your scenes.
You can also add music to set the mood of your video:
Choose from AutoDraft’s free music library
Select genres like upbeat, emotional, corporate, dramatic, etc.
Adjust the volume to balance with the voiceover
With audio added, your cartoon video now feels complete, both visually and emotionally.
If needed, quickly make edits:
Adjust character positions or animations
Modify voiceovers or music
Change camera angles or scene timing
When everything looks right, download your video in the required format. AutoDraft supports direct downloads for YouTube, Instagram, and other platforms.
Your animated video is now ready to share.
Once your cartoon animation video is ready, don’t just stop at posting—turn your content into income.
Platforms like YouTube and TikTok offer powerful monetization options for creators who consistently publish engaging videos.
If you're planning to post on YouTube, then check out How to Make Money Online – YouTube Monetization Guide
Or if you're more focused on TikTok and short-form reels, check out How to Make Money on TikTok Videos.
Whether you're building a channel or just starting out, your cartoon videos can help you grow an audience and build income over time.
Cartoon animated videos are more than creating major experiences. Whether it’s a 30 second reel or a five minute story, this format keeps viewers hooked and gives you room to be creative without being complicated.
You’ve seen the steps. You’ve got the ideas. Now it’s your turn to experiment, play around, and build something that’s truly yours.
Open AutoDraft AI and start creating your Cartoon Videos today!