Animated / cartoon

A 2D or 2.5D animated spot — illustrated characters, motion-graphic scenes, flat or lightly dimensional artwork.

When to use it

When the thing you are selling is abstract: software, insurance, a process, a marketplace. Animation also travels better across markets than a live-action cast does.

The thing to get right

Illustrated styles are where a rendered look drifts most easily between beats. Keeping one named style across the whole spot matters more here than in any photoreal format.

The format at a glance

• Output — a video ad.
• Structure — 5 beats, each one a separately planned shot.
• Family — Cinematic & brand film.
• Recipe id — cartoon, which is what you name when you ask for it by hand or from an agent.

Why does the style drift between beats?

Illustrated looks have more room to drift than photoreal ones, because there is no physical reference pulling them back. Name a specific look rather than the genre and hold it across the whole spot.

Related formats

Directed, produced-looking spots: the commercial, the hero product film, the manifesto, the animated piece. Longer beat counts, a story shape, and a look that is meant to read as a budget rather than a phone.

• Kinetic typography — type-as-hero — bold animated text drives the message (minimal imagery)
• Product hero film — photoreal product cinematography — the product is the star
• Explainer / data — an animated explainer or data/infographic motion piece
• TV commercial — a glossy, broadcast-quality 15s commercial
• High-energy reel — a fast, punchy, hyperkinetic social reel
• Cinematic / narrative — a filmic, emotional, story-driven brand film

The full catalog is on the creative recipes index.

Models that render it

This format is rendered by a video model. The plan picks one unless you name it, and Seedance 2.5 is the default pick. You can ask for another by name, such as Wan 2.7, Marey or Veo 3.1 Lite. The video models page compares every option.

Hermoso plans and renders an animated / cartoon from your brand rather than from a prompt you write, composites every on-screen word after the render so the copy comes out exact, and exposes the same format to an AI agent over MCP. How Hermoso renders a format covers all three.