Pencil2D

What is Pencil2D?

Pencil2D is a free, open-source program for traditional hand-drawn animation, and it prides itself on being simple. You get a canvas, layers for bitmap and vector drawing, onion skinning to see previous frames, and a timeline. That is almost the whole feature set, and that is exactly the point.

The project began in 2005 as Pencil, created by Pascal Naidon and Patrick Corrieri, and a community of volunteers has maintained and improved it ever since. It is deliberately lightweight: the installer is tiny, it runs on modest hardware, and it opens instantly.

Because it is so approachable, Pencil2D is a favorite in classrooms and animation clubs. It teaches the craft rather than hiding it behind automation, which makes it a lovely first animation tool for kids and adults alike.

Key Features

• Bitmap and vector drawing layers in one project
• Onion skinning to ghost previous and next frames
• Pressure-sensitive stylus and tablet support
• Color palettes and a simple, clean interface
• Cross-platform: Windows, macOS, Linux and FreeBSD
• Export to PNG image sequences, AVI and MP4 video
• Tiny download and fast startup on old hardware

How to get started

Download the latest release from pencil2d.org for your operating system, install it, and open a new project. There is no account, no setup wizard and no cloud anything, which is refreshing.

Draw a shape on the first frame with the pencil tool, then move forward a frame and draw the next pose slightly changed. Turn on onion skinning and you will see your previous drawing as a ghost to line up against. Keep going for a dozen frames and play it back.

• Download and install Pencil2D
• Create a project at your preferred resolution
• Draw the first frame on a bitmap layer
• Use onion skinning while drawing the next frames
• Preview with the play button
• Export to PNG sequence or video

Use cases

• Learning the fundamentals of frame-by-frame animation
• Classroom projects and animation workshops
• Quick storyboards and animatics
• Hand-drawn shorts and art experiments
• Lo-fi animated assets for games and websites

Pricing and licensing

Pencil2D is free and open source under the GNU GPL version 2. You can use it for anything, personal or commercial, and the source code is available for anyone who wants to study or improve it.

Development is funded by donations from the community. The project has no corporate sponsor, which is why releases are careful and infrequent, but the software remains stable and dependable.

Pros and cons

Pencil2D wins on simplicity, speed and price. Anyone can be animating in minutes, the interface never overwhelms, and it runs beautifully on low-end machines. It is a perfect first animation tool.

The simplicity is also the limitation. There are no bones, no tweening, no effects or compositing, and development moves slowly. When you outgrow it, you will want a tool like OpenToonz or Krita, which is a natural and healthy progression.

Alternatives

• Krita: free, with an excellent animation workspace and brushes
• OpenToonz: free and packed with professional production tools
• Synfig: free tween-based vector animation
• FlipaClip: free mobile app for quick frame-by-frame doodles
• RoughAnimator: affordable hand-drawn animation for tablets