The Art of Claymation Animation: Create Your Own Clay-Style Videos

What is claymation?

Claymation is stop-motion animation in which the objects and characters are sculpted using clay or a soft material that can be shaped easily. Each figure is then positioned, photographed, and slightly adjusted before the subsequent shot.

When you play these shots in sequence, they create the illusion of movement. The process is slow and requires great patience, as even short scenes demand hundreds of individual photos. Most claymation uses "twos," which means you move each model every two frames, so just 12 changes yield one second of film at the standard 24 fps rate. It is popular for its distinct handmade look, which gives films and shorts a creative and textured quality.

History of claymation animation

Clay animation has changed a lot over the past hundred years. It started in early movies and has since become very popular in both TV shows and movies. The timeline below shows how clay animation went from small experiments to an art form that people all over the world love.

• Early 20th century: first experiments

The first clay animation appeared in 1908 with The Sculptor's Nightmare, a short film that used clay busts to show the changing expressions. During the 1920s, more experiments surfaced, including Little Baker in 1925. By 1926, Long Live the Bull became the earliest clay animation film still surviving today.

• 1950s: Gumby and Art Clokey

Back in the 1950s, animator Art Clokey was the one who gave clay animation its first big moment. His short film Gumbasia, in 1955, played with shapes and rhythm, inspired by Walt Disney's Fantasia. The character of Gumby was born shortly after, and thanks to television, he quickly became well-known. From 1957 to 1969, Gumby's adventures turned clay animation into a stable of kid-friendly entertainment.

• 1970s: New terms and industry growth

The 1970s marked an important turning point. Will Vinton and Bob Gardiner's Closed Mondays, which took home an Academy Award in 1974, proved that clay animation could compete with other forms of cinema. At first, Gardiner called his method "Sculptimation," but by 1976, Vinton introduced the term "claymation," which soon became widely recognized. At around the same time, Aardman Animations started in the UK and set the stage for some of the most iconic claymation characters ever created.

• Late 1980s and 1990s: Wallace, Gromit, and mainstream success

Clay animation was a common form of entertainment in the late 1980s. Together with Aardman, Nick Park introduced Wallace and Gromit in A Grand Day Out (1989). The quirky inventor and his loyal dog soon captured audiences everywhere and became global favorites.

• 2000s: Feature-length achievements

At the turn of the century, clay animation was a big hit at the box office around the world. In 2000, Aardman released Chicken Run, which earned more than 224 million dollars worldwide. It still remains the highest-grossing stop-motion feature to date. Five years later, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit carried the tradition forward and won awards.

• 21st Century: Modern innovations and continued popularity

Studios like Laika have taken clay and stop-motion stories further than ever these days. Movies such as Coraline (2009), ParaNorman (2012), and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) combined hand-made models with new 3D printing and other tools. This allows animators to create detailed expressions and environments. Even with CGI dominating the industry, clay animation continues to grow because it carries a handmade feeling that audiences connect with.

How does claymation work?

Here's a step-by-step look at how claymation comes to life:

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1. Create clay models

Claymation animation starts with creating figures out of clay, often using a type that does not dry out during long shoots. To give the figures strength, animators build them around wire skeletons called armatures. These skeletons give clay support so it can bend and hold its shape even if the animator moves it many times.

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1. Set up the scene and take a photo

The animator sets up the scene where the action will happen once the models are ready. They arrange the lights, position the camera, and adjust every detail to match the story's atmosphere. Then, the animator takes the first picture, which is the first frame of the sequence

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1. Slightly move the model

The model is moved by a very small amount after the first frame is taken. This could be a hand raised halfway, a smile forming on a character's face, or a step forward on a path. The key lies in making tiny adjustments so the movements appear natural when played back later.

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1. Capture the next frame and repeat

The animator then takes another photo and repeats the process many times, with each movement paired with a new frame. About 12 to 24 frames are needed for a second of animation. That means that a short scene requires thousands of photos.

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1. Play frames in order

Lastly, the animator puts all the frames in the right order to create the illusion of smooth motion. This works because our brain connects images that appear quickly one after another.

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1. Add sound and effects

To give a final touch to the claymation, the animator adds sound to it. They time voices with mouth movements, match footsteps with character actions, and overlay background sound to add some depth to each scene. These days, digital tools are also used with clay animation to change the lighting and visual layers so that hand-drawn animation can be used without losing its charm.

In short, each tiny adjustment and photo creates an illusion of motion, which turns a simple clay figure into an engaging story. Now, if you want to produce your own clay animation artwork, Pippit is just the right tool for you! Let's find out more.

Create fun claymation-style images with Pippit

Pippit is a creative tool that offers the AI design feature that lets you generate characters and shape quirky scenes for your claymation animation using a simple text prompt. It also includes different text fonts, a JPG or PNG resize option, and a tool to quickly upscale the generated artwork to HD quality. Students can use it for school projects, small business owners can design playful ads, and content creators can design engaging posts for social platforms.

3-step guide to create claymation artwork with Pippit

Claymation becomes even more fun when you pair it with the right creative tools. Pippit gives you the freedom to shape characters and style the final scene with ease. The whole process flows naturally, so your ideas quickly turn into animated stories.

STEP 1
1. Open "AI design"

Click the above link to access Pippit and sign up for a free account. Then, go to "Image studio" in the left tab under the "Creation" section. Now, look for "AI design" in the "Level up your marketing images" section and open it.

STEP 2
1. Create claymation art

Type in our prompt to tell Pippit what kind of artwork you need. Make sure to add details of your character and background. Select "Any image" model, choose "Claymation" under the "Style" section, and hit "Generate" to let the tool produce the artwork for you.

STEP 3
1. Export to your device

Select the animation character you like and add it to the canvas. Now, go to "Add text" to overlay your message, click "Resize" to change the aspect ratio, or click "HD" above the canvas to enhance the resolution of the image. Finally, click "Download" to export the image to your device in PNG or JPG format.

Key features of Pippit for creating claymation artwork

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1. Turn text into any design

With the AI design tool in Pippit, you can quickly generate any type of artwork from a simple text prompt. It offers different style options that include Pixel Art, Pop Art, Retro, Crayon, Felted Plush, Fluffy Text, and more. It also has a Product poster model that instantly generates promotional product posters from your basic layout or text description.

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1. Find your best art dimensions

Pippit offers a resize option that lets you change the aspect ratio of your artwork to 3:4, 1:1, 9:16, 4:3, and 16:9. It even comes with preset dimensions for Instagram and Facebook posts, stories, profile, cover, ads, and more.

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1. Customize with flexible editing tools

The advanced editing space in Pippit offers tools to fine-tune your art with customizable fonts, stickers, filters, and effects. You can also transfer image style, enhance photo resolution, restore old photos, improve low light, and adjust the light, color, and detail with AI.

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1. Bring claymation characters alive

Besides image tools, Pippit comes with an AI video generator and an AI talking photo tool that instantly converts your static clay animation characters and other artwork into lively animations that speak, move, and capture attention. The video generator even adds scripts and translates your videos into other languages.

Examples of claymation animations

Some examples of claymation are shown below. These highlight how animators have used clay and stop-motion to make characters and stories that are truly unique.

• The Curse of the Were-rabbit

This award-winning movie from 2005 is about a strange inventor named Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit, who have to save a village from an unknown creature that eats vegetables. The film used almost three tons of Plasticine in more than forty colors to animate every small movement. The film earned both box office success and an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

• David Daniels' Strata-cut

This experimental style became well known during the 1980s when David Daniels started exploring it. The method involves sculpting long blocks of clay filled with hidden designs that are revealed slice by slice. Each cut exposes a new image and creates animations that shift and change as though the clay itself is alive.

• The Sculptor's Nightmare

This silent film was one of the first clay animation shows. It showed clay busts coming to life and talking to the person who made them. It was the first time that live action and clay models were used together. The story used political satire by turning famous figures of the day into playful caricatures. The idea of clay moving on its own was brand new to people in 1908, and it must have looked like magic on screen.

• Caroline

This 2009 Laika Studios release is renowned for its handcrafted sets and dark fantasy aesthetic. Based on Neil Gaiman's novella, it is a story of a young girl who finds an alternate world that slowly reveals a sinister side. The production used puppets and detailed environments, with animators adjusting small parts of the models for every frame. The film showed how stop-motion could produce an eerie and immersive atmosphere.

• The Night Before Christmas

This animated musical from 1993 was directed by Henry Selick and created by Tim Burton. The story mixes Halloween and Christmas in a stop-motion style. The main character, Jack Skellington, started as a poem by Burton. It took more than 10 years to finish the movie, and in 2023, it was added to the U.S. National Film Registry as an important film.

Conclusion

In this article, you explored what claymation is, how it works step by step, and how its history unfolded over time. We've also shared examples that prove that clay and imagination can create worlds that seem alive on screen. With Pippit, you don't need a studio full of equipment to try claymation-style projects. You can shape your ideas, design frames, and even add movement or voices to your clay characters with AI features. Try Pippit today and start creating your own artwork!

FAQs

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1. What is claymation animation?

Claymation is defined as "a type of stop-motion animation where characters and objects are shaped out of clay." Animators move these clay figures little by little and take pictures of every step. When the pictures are played in a row, the figures appear to move on their own. You can explore this style in a new way with Pippit. The platform lets you create claymation-style art by typing prompts into its AI design tool, and lets you adjust your scene with stickers and filters, and even shape the right size for your JPEG or PNG project through custom aspect ratios.

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1. What is the most famous claymation character?

Gromit, the smart dog from Wallace & Gromit, is one of the most famous claymation characters. He never talks, but his actions and facial expressions show what he's thinking. He became a classic figure in the world of clay animation because of his quiet personality and problem-solving skills. With Pippit, you can design characters that have their own charm, too. The platform lets you test out different art dimensions, so your character fits perfectly in posters or digital stories. You can also edit your artwork by adding fonts, filters, and effects that give each creation its own personality.

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1. What are the characteristics of claymation?

Claymation has a few clear characteristics that differentiate it from other kinds of animation. The figures are made from clay, which gives them a soft look. Animators move these figures step by step, so the motions are slightly bumpy compared to computer animation. The sets are usually handmade, too, which adds a special charm because everything seems real and crafted by hand. With Pippit, you can capture that same vibe in digital form. The platform lets you turn simple text prompts into claymation-style designs in seconds.