How to make a cartoon
with Nova Animate

The first time you open Nova Animate, it asks you to choose the shape of your canvas. You can change the shape later by starting a new animation from the menu.

• Landscape (16:9, 960×540): for YouTube and TV.
• Portrait (9:16, 540×960): for Reels, Shorts and WhatsApp Status.
• Square (1:1, 720×720): for Instagram posts.
• Small landscape (16:9, 640×360): the same shape with less detail, so your device can hold more frames.

Tap Start drawing. Your first blank frame opens.

My animations: keep more than one

Open the menu and tap My animations. Every animation you draw on is kept on your device with a small picture, its length and the time you last worked on it. Starting a new animation no longer replaces the old one.

• Tap an animation to open it. The one you are in saves by itself.
• Rename it, make a Copy to try a different idea, or Delete it (Nova Animate asks first).
• Tap New animation to choose a canvas and start fresh. You can keep up to 30.

Pen and eraser

Pick Pen and draw with your finger or a stylus. Pick Eraser to rub parts out. The pen and the eraser each remember their own size.

Colour and size

Tap Colour to open the Colour & size sheet. Choose one of 12 colours, or a custom colour, and move the slider to change the brush size. Text uses the same colour.

Fill

Pick Fill and tap inside a closed shape to colour it. Fill looks at everything you can see, across all visible layers, and paints on the layer you are on. Draw your outlines on a layer in front and colour on a layer behind, and Fill stays tidy.

Zoom and move the canvas

Pinch with two fingers to zoom in for details. Drag with two fingers to move around. Tap the Fit chip (it shows the zoom) to see the whole canvas again. On a computer, scroll to move, and hold Ctrl or Cmd while scrolling to zoom.

Tap Shapes and choose one of 10 shapes: rectangle, rounded box, circle, triangle, star, heart, arrow, line, diamond or speech bubble. Choose Outline or Filled, then drag on the canvas to draw it.

• Shapes use your colour, and the pen size sets the line width.
• Turn on Keep proportions to get perfect circles and squares.
• While you drag, you see the shape. Let go to place it. Undo removes it.

Tap Select to move, resize, turn or copy part of your drawing.

1. Choose Box (a rectangle) or Lasso (draw around the part).
2. Draw around what you want. It lifts off the layer and floats.
3. Drag it to move it. Pinch with two fingers to resize and turn it. Or use the buttons: turn left, turn right, smaller, bigger, flip.
4. Turn on Copy to keep the original too. Tap the tick to put it down, or the ✕ to put it back.

Select whole layer lifts everything on the layer you are on. Paste puts the last selection onto another frame in the same spot, ready to nudge: a quick way to animate a moving part.

Use text for titles, speech and signs.

1. Tap Text and type your words. The preview shows exactly how they will look.
2. Choose a font: Clean, Bold, Comic, Serif, Typewriter or Rounded. Turn on B (bold) or I (italic) and choose left, centre or right alignment.
3. Choose a style: Plain, Outline (a contrasting edge so it reads on any background) or Box (words on a coloured plate).
4. Set the size and colour, then tap Add to canvas.
5. Drag the text where you want it, pinch to resize and turn it, and tap the tick.

Open the menu (⋯) and tap Backgrounds & pictures.

• 28 ready-made scenes: sunny day, sunset, night sky, beach, under the sea, forest, mountains, desert, snowy day, city, city at night, outer space, farm, classroom, living room, road, rainbow, candy land, jungle, castle, stage, graph paper, notebook, and soft colours. They fit wide, tall and square canvases.
• Your own picture: tap Upload a picture from my gallery. Choose Fill the canvas to cover everything, or Fit whole picture to see all of it.

The background goes on its own Scene layer at the very bottom and shows on every frame. Choose another one and it replaces the first. Undo brings the old one back, and Remove the background picture deletes it.

Layers are like clear sheets stacked on top of each other. Put the scenery on one and your character on another, so the scenery stays put while the character moves.

Tap the layer name at the top left (or open Layers in the menu). You can have up to 8 layers.

• New layer has its own picture on every frame, so it can move.
• Background is one picture shared by every frame. It never moves.
• Tap a layer's name to draw on it. Tap the eye to hide it and the lock to protect it.
• For the layer you are on, set its Opacity, rename it, or move it Forward, Back or Delete it.

Multi: work on many frames at once

1. Tap Multi (right side of the speed row). Each frame gets a tick circle, and the frame you were on is chosen.
2. Tap frames to choose or unchoose them. All chooses every frame, None clears the choice, and Range chooses everything between your first and last choice.
3. Copy, Delete, Earlier, Later and Hold now act on all chosen frames together, and each is one Undo step.
4. Tap Done to go back.

Loop a range

Choose two or more frames in Multi mode and press Play. Only those frames repeat, which is perfect for checking one movement over and over. (Range loops play without sound.)

Drag a frame to a new place

Press and hold a frame for about half a second until it lifts, then drag it left or right. A line shows where it will land. Hold at the edge to scroll. Let go to drop it. A quick swipe just scrolls the strip, so you never move a frame by accident.

This is the fastest way to animate. Nova Animate makes the frames for a motion from the picture on your layer, so you do not have to draw each one.

1. Put your drawing or character on its own layer, on the frame where it should start. (A character you place with Stickers is already on the layer you were on.)
2. Tap Move on the canvas, or open it from the menu.
3. Choose How long: Short (½ second), Medium (1 second) or Long (2 seconds). The sheet shows how many frames that makes at your speed.
4. Choose How strong: Small, Medium or Big.
5. Tap a motion. The new frames appear right after the current one, and you land on the first of them. Press Play to watch.

Every new frame is made from your original picture, so it stays sharp. Your other layers are copied unchanged, so scenery stays still. Turn off Keep my other layers still if you want only the moving layer. One Undo removes all the new frames.

Open the menu (⋯) and tap Sound & music.

• Add music / sound: pick a song or sound effect from your phone (up to 60 MB each).
• Record voice: tap, allow the microphone, speak, and tap again to stop. Your recording is added as a sound.

You can add up to 6 sounds. For each one, set the Volume (0 to 150%), when it Starts at (in seconds, with − and +), and whether it should Repeat until the end. Remove one with the ✕. Turn on Fade out at the end for a smooth finish.

When you press Play, the sounds play along with the animation. When you export, they are mixed into the video.