How to Turn a Painting into an Eye-Catching Animation

Last Updated: 2025. 01. 23

By far, you must have read lots of tutorials about After Effects, Blender, Illustrator, etc. However, animating your drawings with those software is exclusive to professionals. They all have a steep learning curve.

Don’t be frustrated. Beginners like us can turn a painting into an animation, with the power of AI. In this post, we will dive into FlexClip’s AI Video Generator tool, and animate your drawings with simple prompts.

Table of Contents

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The Tool We Need to Animate Drawings

FlexClip is your substitute for professional animation tools, reducing the effort required for manual operation. Utilizing the advanced algorithms, it brings your painting to life with smooth and realistic movements. Oil painting, sketch, watercolor, no matter what you have drawn, you can always achieve the best results.

FlexClip AI Image to Video Generator

FlexClip AI Image to Video Generator

Besides simply animating your drawings, FlexClip offers tons of options to level up the animation. Here are more details.

  • Colorize your sketch, black-and-white drawings without messing up the details, so that you can start with a colorful photo.
  • Apply 3D styles to touch up with your drawing. Doing so will certainly add professionalism to the final animation.
  • Customize the final animation videos with basic editing tools like trimming, adjusting video speed, applying filters, making color corrections, etc.
  • How to Animate Your Drawings

    You don’t need any particular animating skills. Click on the Animate Drawings button below, upload your painting to FlexClip, and wait for the magical moment.

    Animate Drawings
    Step 1
    When you access FlexClip’s AI Video Generator tool, you are at the Text to Video option by default. Switch to the Image to Video tool.
    Switch to Text to Video Tool

    Switch to Text to Video Tool

    Step 2
    Take a picture of your drawing and then upload it to FlexClip. Here we will be using the following drawing as an example.
    Drawing Example

    Drawing Example

    Step 3
    Enter prompts like make the figure in the photo run back and forth. Choose the Standard or Professional mode and set up the video duration. Hit Generate. The whole generation takes only several minutes.
    FlexClip Converting Drawing to Animation

    FlexClip Converting Drawing to Animation

    The following video generated from the example drawing and prompt: the girl runs forward, her arms flailing wildly. Professional Mode, 5s video duration.

    FlexClip Generated Animation

    Step 4
    (Optional) Level up your animation video by heading to FlexClip's editing panel. Make basic edits like trimming, adjusting video speed, making color corrections, or swape in a new background.
    Polish Your Animation

    Polish Your Animation

    What We Shouldn’t Except from AI Drawing Animator

  • Complex Character Movements

    AI doesn’t understand physics and the real world. Even though it is well developed, not each generation is perfect, especially when the prompt involves complex movements, or subtle facial expressions.

  • Full Customization

    AI video generator like FlexClip offers basic editing tools like trimming, splitting, adjusting video speed. However, you can’t control every animation detail, such as specific gestures, expressions, or timing nuances.

  • Error-Free Outputs

    AI often produces errors, such as distorted anatomy, unnatural poses, or glitches in the animation process. Re-generation is usually needed to achieve professional results.

    FAQs About Animating Your Drawings

    1. What are some other professional tools for animating drawings?

    Besides After Effects and Blender, the following 3 animating tools are popular among professionals.

    Adobe Animate: Create animations frame-by-frame.

    Procreate: Animation tools for iPad.

    Ebsynth: AI-based motion for artistic styles.

    2. What if I only have some hand-drawn sketches?

    You can animate hand-drawn sketches with FlexClip. Scan or photograph your sketches, and import to FlexClip, then start animating.

    3. Do I have to pay for animating my drawings?

    Yes, animating drawings takes lots of computing, so payment is necessary for all AI video generators. Take FlexClip as an example, if you go to the professional mode, one-minute video generation takes 7 credits, and 300 credits cost $9.99.

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