Animated explainers
An animated explainer video maker with drawn sets and characters
The cartoon-style explainer, without the studio. Motiongist draws the scenes, moves the characters and times every gesture to a narrated voice.
- 500 free credits at sign-up
- Free storyboard review
- 45–180 s, vertical 9:16
- 8 voices, 10 languages
Your idea
9:16 · 1080×1920“How does a vaccine teach the body to fight a virus it has never met? For a general audience, friendly tone.”
- Length
- 90–120 s
- Look
- Illustrated
- Voice
- Matilda
- Rendering
- 2D · English
Storyboard · 6 scenes
- 0–7 sHook. A cartoon virus sneaks toward a city gate drawn as the body. Title: “What if your body already knew its face?”
- 7–28 sThe vaccine arrives. A harmless “wanted poster” of the virus is pinned up: the narration explains it shows a piece of the virus, not the real threat.
- 28–55 sTraining day. Immune cells, drawn as guards, study the poster; some start producing Y-shaped antibodies that match its shape.
Animated explainers work because drawings simplify. A cell becomes a friendly blob, a bank becomes a building with a vault, a server becomes a little box with a light on it. Viewers stop decoding the picture and start following the story. The catch has always been the cost: an illustrator, an animator and a few weeks per video.
Motiongist’s Illustrated look gives you that drawn style from a brief. Sets, objects and characters are vector illustrations made for your subject, and they move on the words of the narration. If you want someone to guide the viewer, switch on the animated presenter: a drawn character that reacts along with the voice. It is an illustration, never a realistic human.
How it works
How to make an animated explainer
- Step 1
Tell the story in one line
Type the idea, paste your script, or drop the document it should come from. Pick the audience so the vocabulary fits: beginners get analogies, experts get the precise terms.
- Step 2
Choose the Illustrated look
Drawn sets and characters, bright colors. Add the animated presenter if you want a guide on screen, and list in your notes what must appear, like “the antibody shaped like a Y”.
- Step 3
Walk through the storyboard
Read each scene before anything is drawn for real. Change a line, cut a scene that drags, or add one where the story jumps. This step is free.
- Step 4
Render and post
Confirm the credit quote, then get a vertical MP4 with captions, music and sound effects, ready for Shorts, TikTok, Reels or your own site.
Example
How a vaccine trains your immune system
What you give: “How does a vaccine teach the body to fight a virus it has never met? For a general audience, friendly tone.”
What the video shows, scene by scene
- 0–7 s
Hook. A cartoon virus sneaks toward a city gate drawn as the body. Title: “What if your body already knew its face?”
- 7–28 s
The vaccine arrives. A harmless “wanted poster” of the virus is pinned up: the narration explains it shows a piece of the virus, not the real threat.
- 28–55 s
Training day. Immune cells, drawn as guards, study the poster; some start producing Y-shaped antibodies that match its shape.
- 55–78 s
Memory. A few guards put on caps labelled “memory cells” and stay on duty long after the poster fades.
- 78–100 s
The real thing. The virus shows up, gets recognised at once, and is surrounded before it can spread.
- 100–110 s
Takeaway. “A vaccine is a rehearsal, not the real fight”, as the closing title.
An illustrative storyboard for this brief (Illustrated look, 2D). Motiongist writes its own scenes from your input, and you can edit them for free before rendering.
A real render, made with Motiongist
How a CDN makes videos load fast
1:10 · Illustrated look · more examples
Why Motiongist
Why use it for animated explainers
A drawn style that stays consistent
Every scene of a video shares the same palette, line style and characters, so it feels like one piece rather than a collage.
An optional presenter
Turn on the animated presenter and a drawn character accompanies the narration. Leave it off for pure motion design.
A narrator that tells stories
Pick from 8 voices, from warm storytellers to upbeat social voices, in any of 10 languages.
Sound included
Music and sound effects are mixed under the voice, and captions highlight word by word on top of the drawings.
Your colors on the drawings
From the Solo plan, the brand look applies your colors and logo; from Studio, describe a one-off style such as “chalk on a blackboard”.
When the drawn style is the right call
Pick Illustrated when the subject is abstract or invisible (biology, money, networks, history) and a metaphor will carry it. Drawn characters make processes feel human, which helps with younger or non-specialist audiences.
Pick Light or Night instead when precision matters more than charm: dashboards, product interfaces, numbers that must be read at a glance. Same engine, same price; only the look changes.
Limits worth knowing
You can’t upload your own character art or photos; the only file you can add is your logo. The presenter is a generic drawn character, not a custom mascot of your brand. Videos are vertical, 45 to 180 seconds long.
Start faster
Templates that fit
Each template is a ready-made brief: an example subject, a target length, a look and notes. Open one and change the subject.
Health explainer
Explain how the body works, clearly and carefully.
See the templateHow it works
Open the hood on a technology, one step at a time.
See the templateHistory in 60 seconds
An event, an invention or a person, told as a fast timeline.
See the templateMyth vs fact
Take a popular belief, check it, and show what’s actually true.
See the template
What it costs
One credit balance. A short video is 400 credits, a standard one 700, a long one 1,000, plus 1 credit per 10 narrated characters for the final voice.
Free
$0
500 credits at sign-up
To try it out: a first video, draft voice, discreet watermark.
Solo
$19 / month
3,000 credits / month
To post every week: final voice, clean exports, your brand.
StudioMost popular
$49 / month
30,000 credits / month
To produce at volume: priority rendering, custom looks, API and MCP.
Team
$149 / month
100,000 credits / month
For teams and agencies: 5 seats, 4 renders in parallel, one invoice.
Prices before tax, in US dollars. Yearly billing is 35% cheaper. Failed renders are refunded automatically.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Do I need to know how to animate?
No. You write or approve the words; the drawing, the movement, the timing and the captions are done for you.
Can I use my own characters or illustrations?
Not at the moment. Characters and sets are drawn by the engine for each video. You can upload your logo and, from the Solo plan, apply your brand colors.
Is the presenter a real person or an avatar?
Neither. It is a drawn, animated character that goes along with the narration. If you need a realistic talking human, Motiongist is not the right tool.
How long can an animated explainer be?
Short (45–60 s), standard (90–120 s) or long (150–180 s). For a longer course, the Team plan splits a document into a series of episodes.
What does it cost?
A standard video is 700 credits plus the final voice, and you see the exact total before rendering. Sign-up gives 500 free credits for a first short video. See pricing.
Ready to make your first one?
500 free credits at sign-up. Review the storyboard for free, see the exact price, then render.
Create your video