How to Choose an Animation Studio: Portfolio Assessment Tool

Reviewing animation portfolios is the best way to choose an animation studio that is the right fit for your project. By looking at the studio's previous work, you can get a sense of their style and quality. But how do you know what to look for?

Whiteboard Animation: Best Whiteboard Videos From 2006-2018

We've been making explainer videos for over a decade, and whiteboard videos are still popular for one simple reason—they work. So to help you better understand the power of whiteboard animation, here are our favorite picks for the best whiteboard animation from the past 12 years.

15 Video Transitions for Animated Video (and why they matter)

A truly great animated video is all about persuasion. You want to persuade people to click on your link with an enticing thumbnail. Then you want to convince them to watch the video long enough to click, subscribe, like, share, or whatever CTA you attach to the animated explainer about your company. The success of your video is all about getting viewers to believe what you say about your company in the short time you have their attention, and persuading them to take further action. And while a great script, compelling character design, and a professional look and feel are all essential to a great video, the way your video transitions from shot to shot during your 60-second explainer video might be the most persuasive element in your entire video.

Explain it Like I’m a Kid: Santa Monica Explainer Video

Everyone knows that whiteboard animation and explainer videos are great for explaining complicated topics. It’s in the name. Animated TED Talks, RSA-style animation, and tech startup videos showing off the newest features of flashy apps are the norm. But a great explainer video doesn’t have to look like it just stepped out of a corporate synergy business meeting. In fact, some of the best explainer videos look like they were made by a kid.

Whiteboard Animation: The 12 Best Whiteboard Videos from 2007-2017

When whiteboard animation burst onto the scene over ten years ago, most people thought it was a fad. Yet even in the digital age of 3D animation, CGI, VR, and even augmented reality, the unmistakeable clarity and simplicity of whiteboard videos continues to engage millions of viewers, year after year. We've been making explainer videos for over a decade, and whiteboard videos are still popular for one simple reason—they work. So to help you better understand the power of whiteboard animation, here are our favorite picks for the best whiteboard animation from the past 10 years.

Why Professional Explainer Video Matters

Most of our potential clients are fairly far along in the research process of the buyer’s journey before we ever speak with them. They have a good sense of the animation look and style they want, at least to some degree. It's not hard to Google “whiteboard video” or “CGI explainer videos” and look at some pretty impressive professional explainer video portfolios. Heck, here’s our animation reel to save you some time.

How to Create Whiteboard Animation in After Effects [Video Tutorial]

Whiteboard animation comes in all shapes and sizes, but there really is a difference between budget whiteboard animation effects and quality animation. The devil is in the details, and to demonstrate just a hint of the meticulous care that goes into smooth seamless whiteboard animation, we asked one of our top animators, Scott Strong to break down two fundamental whiteboard animation effects in Adobe After Effects.

How Whiteboard Animation Changed Online Video: A Brief History

Even if you’re not in sales, marketing, or the startup world, you’ve seen at least one whiteboard animation. These hand drawn animated videos are everywhere—and for good reason. Whiteboard animation is an amazing way to explain complicated topics, state of the art products, and disruptive services in just a few minutes. Even better—people actually like watching whiteboard videos.

The Best DIY Whiteboard Animation Software: Our Definitive Review

DIY whiteboard animation software has come a long way in the last few years, and a DIY explainer video could be just what your boot-strapped operation needs to get off the ground, but only if it looks good.

8 Surprising Ways to Use Whiteboard Animation

When you think of whiteboard animation, you probably think of a hand illustrating a complicated series of ideas as a soothing voiceover explains particle physics or the psychology of social media. Odds are, you’ve seen a whiteboard video in the past few years because online education content has exploded in the past decade, and whiteboard animation is kind of perfect for explaining things.

Whiteboard Animation vs. Talking Head Videos

Despite the wild popularity and critical acclaim of RSA style whiteboard animation over the past decade, you might still be skeptical of the power of whiteboard animation—and that’s understandable. Embracing animation as the medium for your message can feel like a big leap. Many companies are concerned that whiteboard animation is too simple, or not as persuasive or informative as a talking head—with a real-life flesh and blood expert—can be.

New Toongraphic on Whiteboard Animation

Although we produce animated video in a full range of styles, whiteboard animation is really where our studio made our bones. Animation studios that manage to last often have a turning point; for us, it was when we were chosen to create the show-open for the 8th season of Showtime's hit show Weeds in the whiteboard style.

Education Industry + Whiteboard Animation = Results

Over the past few years, IdeaRocket has had the pleasure of crafting explainer videos for a number of educational institutions. From high schools (like Langley and Clintondale) to universities (like Harvard and Johns Hopkins), we've worked with members of the education industry to create whiteboard animation videos. Why whiteboard animation? Because it gets results. Here's why...

The Unique Powers of Whiteboard Animation

A couple years ago, a psychologist by the name of Richard Wiseman conducted an interesting experiment. Curious about the impact of whiteboard animation, he arranged a test of memory in which participants (there were about 1,000 total) were shown one of two video clips:

INTERVIEWS WITH ANIMATORS: David Heredia

In this week’s installment, we speak with (animation) hero of color David Heredia…

Last week we raved about a wonderful, dynamic and educational series of whiteboard animation called Heroes of Color. As we noted in our PICK OF THE WEEK blog post, this was the second episode of the series. So it felt fitting for us to bring back its creator, the great David Heredia, for a second interview. This time we dug deep into his graffiti-filled background and discussed how he got into (and then out of, and then back into again) animation. And, along the way, Heredia delighted us with insights and anecdotes of inspiration.

Whiteboard Animation: Learn Physics