Best Animation Companies & Animators in 2020

As companies and people shift from live production to animation, animation studios are in high demand! If you’re looking for experienced and reputable animation studios, here’s a list of the best 2D & 3D animation companies & freelancers we’ve compiled for 2020.

Kasra Design: An award-winning animation company, the Kasra Design team of animators are passionate story-tellers who turn boring corporate presentations into beautiful narratives. The company is reputed for its attention to detail, its market-competitive pricing structure, and its professional animation services that include both 2D and 3D animation as well as motion graphics. If you’re looking for a professional organization with dozens of corporate clients including names like Panasonic, Stanley, HP, Intel, and many others to its credit, Kasra Design is highly recommended.

Dress Code: Former MTV director and designer turned partners, Andre Andreev and Dan Covert launched the Dress Code, a boutique video production studio that has won multiple Webby Awards and dozens of festivals and screen awards including the SXSW, AFI Docs, and more. The studio boasts a team of directors with a background in film and animation providing services in live-action, 2D, Cel, 3D, Stop Motion, and VFX Supervision. They produce both commercial and self-funded films with the objective of creating content that isn’t limited to defined standards or mediums. If you’re looking for a boutique video production company with a unique style of filmmaking and animation, Dress Code is the team company should reach out to.

Reece Parker: Some clients prefer to hire freelancer animators over animation studios to assist their creative teams with the execution of specific projects. If you’re looking for a freelancer, Reece Parker is a renowned animation director and illustrator based in Seattle, WA. He has clients like Facebook, IBM, Google, Gates Foundation, Oddfellows to name a few. He works independently and collaboratively with creative teams from around the world, catering to requests for animation and art direction, illustration and character design as well as motion design and 2D animation.  You can also find him on Skillshare where he teaches animation.

Giant Ant: Giant Ant has worked with some of the world’s leading tech companies including Google and Slack. If you’re a B2B or SaaS company looking to inject some personality, color, and flair to your product videos, Giant Ant is the perfect people to get the job done. Based in Vancouver, the company has talents across the world, highly values diversity, and cultivates the best talents to deliver meaningful work. The studio specializes in all forms of animation, illustrations, explainers, and anthems. Their claim to fame was the one-year global brand campaign for Slack that included print ads, banner ads, billboard ads, and thousands of assets for venues including bus stops and tube stations. Want your next smart product ad to be on a tube station? Giant Ant it is.

Bill Porter Animation: Bill Porter is an independent animation director based in London, with names like Stella McCartney, Miu Miu to his credit. His works have been featured at several international festivals such as PISAF Korea, the Eyeworks USA, the World Peace Festival Berlin, and others. If you’re a small business owner in the fashion, retail or beauty industry, you can get Bill Porter to create stunning graphics and designs that can resonate with your audience.

The Rocket Panda: Based in Verona, The Rocket Panda is a popular motion design and animation studio that has a unique cartoon style approach to their animation. Inspired by cartoons, the team at Rocket Panda delivers fun, hip animation to small businesses and startups. If you cater to Gen Z, The Rocket Panda’s expertise is what you need to woo your audience!

Duo Team: All-rounders, the Duo Team, made of two experienced designers can help you with design, 2D/3D animation, illustration, composition, art direction, branding, icons, GIFs, and any other design help you need to elevate your brand persona. The Duo Team is great for entrepreneurs who want to get a complete design and branding package at a market competitive price.

Lacar: A Telly Awards winner, an artist with exhibitions in BAM Cinematek New York, Pompidou Centre Paris and many others, Leo Franchi is an Argentinian designer and animator. He has a unique approach to design – he blends analog and digital techniques to create catchy and meaningful animation for organizations like the United Nations, United Airlines, Nat Geo and many more. If you’re looking for an independent artist experienced in creating designs for social organizations, Leo Franchi is the best person to talk to!

We Are Place: Awarded by the BBC for the World Service Campaign, We Are Place has clients like Nickelodeon, Nike, Oreo, Scouts, BBC, Toyota, MTV and many others. The company specializes in character-based design with creative strategy and storytelling as part of their core services. They are also one of the rare design companies to provide toy design services so if your business involves products and items for children, We Are Place can help bring to life stories and characters that kids can relate with. As per the company’s slogan, they create stories for youthful minds!

Reach Animation: A motion design studio, Reach Animation is based in Amsterdam and specializes in digital art. Along with illustrations and animations, the team also writes, directs and produces projects from concept development to post-production, helping clients with powerful brand narratives. The company is ideal for business owners who are just starting out or who want to revamp their brand narrative and make it more customer or human-centric. Being story-tellers, Reach Animation uses characters, illustrations and designs to create the right brand story.

Hue and Cry: Located in D.C, Hue&Cry is a full-fledged design studio that focuses on crafting messages and telling stories through design and animation. The team has worked for prestigious projects like the ZIKA campaign for USAID, the MSNBC, the Jeff Goldblum show on Nat Geo, the Chevy safety campaign, and many more. Catering to corporates and enterprise-level organizations, Hue and Cry transforms social campaigns, product ads, TV show trailers into beautifully animated videos. If you’re planning to run a social campaign like the USAID or promoting a specific feature through story-telling like Chevy, this is the right team to get the job done.

Wrapping up

Animation services are in high demand and you may be at a crossroads to decide which animation companies to hire. Make the choice based on your budget, project goals, audience type & the identity you want to craft for your business. With so many amazing talents out there, it is no longer difficult to find the perfect animator to tell your brand story!