Draw Cartoons 2: Learn&Animate

Review by eFreeware

If you have ever wanted to make a short cartoon but stalled at the drawing part, Draw Cartoons 2 is built for exactly that situation. Zaliv Armenia's app is an animation editor for Android that lets you assemble scenes from ready-made characters, props and backgrounds, then move them around to produce a finished clip. You do not need to sketch anything yourself.

The people most likely to get value from it are beginners, kids and teens looking for a creative outlet, teachers who want to demonstrate animation ideas in class, and hobbyists who enjoy telling short stories. The developer also pitches it at content creators putting together material for social media. It is a free download on Google Play, with ads and in-app purchases in the mix, and it carries a 4.6 average from more than 380,000 ratings.

Skeletal animation and tweening, explained

The technique at the center of the app is skeletal animation. Instead of drawing a character again for every frame, you work with a rigged figure and pose it; the app takes care of the motion in between. That is the single biggest reason the app is approachable, because the hardest part of traditional animation is producing all those incremental drawings by hand.

Motion tweening supports the same idea. You set keyframes where a movement starts, changes or ends, and the app generates the frames in between. In practice that means you decide where a character is at the beginning and where it should be at the end, and the software handles the transition. For simple actions such as a walk across a room or an arm swinging, this keeps the workload manageable.

The controls are described as a drag-and-drop interface, which is the other half of the beginner-friendly promise. The developer's position is that no drawing skills are required, and the combination of rigged characters and tweening makes that plausible. What appeals to me is that the app is not trying to teach you to draw; it is trying to get you to a moving result quickly, and it organizes everything around that goal.

Characters, props and the item constructor

A large part of the appeal is the content that ships with the app. There are multiple character packs along with weapons, props, backgrounds and effects, so a scene can be built without sourcing assets anywhere else. For someone making a short action sequence or a classroom example, having that material on hand removes a lot of the setup work that normally comes before animating.

The item constructor also lets you create your own items and characters. That is the feature that turns the app from a fixed set of assets into something you can extend, and it is where hobbyists and more ambitious users are likely to spend their time. An extended item library and an advanced version of the constructor are listed among the app's features, so the free experience and the paid one are not identical on this front.

Camera controls add another layer. The app supports dynamic camera movements and zoom effects, which is what separates a flat recording of characters moving from something that feels directed. Speed effects do similar work for pacing, letting you vary the tempo of an animation for dramatic impact. Neither is essential to a first project, but both are the kind of tool you reach for once the basics are comfortable.

What the app asks of you

Draw Cartoons 2 is free to download, and it contains advertising. In-app purchases are also offered. Premium unlocks ad-free use, unlimited video export, more items and an advanced constructor for building them. If you plan to export a lot of finished video, or you want the larger asset library and the fuller constructor, that is the part of the app you would be looking at.

The app is rated Everyone 10+, which fits the audience the developer describes: kids and teens, educators, content creators and hobbyists. That rating is worth noting if you are considering it for a younger child.

On the technical side, there is not much to go on. The app runs on Android and dates back to November 2015, with recent updates focused on performance.

How to get a first scene finished

The sensible way in is to start with a single short action rather than a full story. Pick one character and one background from the library, set a couple of keyframes for a simple movement, and let the tweening do the rest. That gives you a feel for how the rig behaves before you add props, effects or a second character.

Once that works, layer in the camera. A slow zoom or a pan changes how a scene reads far more than extra detail does, and the app supports both. Speed effects are best saved for a moment that needs emphasis, since varying the tempo throughout a clip tends to cancel itself out.

For teachers, the app lends itself to demonstrating a concept rather than producing polished work: show a class what a keyframe is by placing two of them and playing back the result. For kids and teens, the library of characters and weapons suggests short action or comedy sketches are the natural first projects. Content creators will likely find the export options matter most.

A free starting point for first-time animators

Draw Cartoons 2 makes a reasonable case for itself as an entry point into animation on a phone. Skeletal rigs and motion tweening remove the need to draw frame after frame, the built-in library covers the assets most short projects need, and the item constructor gives you room to make something of your own. The 4.6 average across a large number of ratings suggests the approach has landed with a broad audience since the app arrived in 2015.

The trade-offs are straightforward. Ads are present, and the paid tier is where the premium features sit. Anyone who wants to produce a lot of finished video, or who needs the fuller set of tools, should factor that in before committing to the app as their main animation workspace.

My recommendation is for beginners, kids and teens, teachers and hobbyists who want to try animation without a steep learning curve or an upfront cost. If your interest is in making short, character-driven scenes and you would rather pose figures than draw them, this is a sensible place to start.

What's new in version 0.5.37

Improved perfomance