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I have a friend who recently wrote, "My daughter is an avid fan of Japanese animation (called anime). She is also a very talented artist and draws anime-like cartoons continuously. She has asked for an animation program for her birthday so that she can use her charaters to create actual animation. She thinks she might want Flash XL, but is not sure if that is the right program."

What software would you recommend for this type of animation work?

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Good thread — great to see everyone encouraging a young artist. As , and point out, Flash-style tools are approachable for beginners, but two important facts to note: the old Flash Player was officially retired on December 31, 2020, and the authoring app was rebranded from Flash Professional to Adobe Animate. (This affects web playback more than the ability to create animations.) Adobe Flash Player EOL. .

For hand-drawn anime-style work (the daughter’s likely path), start with artist-friendly, frame-by-frame tools rather than purely vector tweening. Clip Studio Paint has strong pen tools, an animation timeline, onion-skinning and comic/manga features that many manga artists prefer. Clip Studio Paint animation features. Free, beginner-friendly options include Pencil2D for traditional flipbook workflows and Krita for raster painting plus simple animation — both let her learn onion-skin, exposure (frame) timing, and frame-by-frame cleanup before moving on. Pencil2D manual. Krita overview.

If she gets serious and wants a studio-style pipeline, consider Toon Boom Harmony on the pro side (industry standard for many TV/feature productions) or OpenToonz as a powerful, free alternative that even Studio Ghibli adapted. Harmony is stronger for cut‑out rigs and production pipelines; OpenToonz gives pro features without the cost. Toon Boom (overview). OpenToonz.

Practical gift idea: give tools that let her experiment first — a simple pen tablet plus access to a free app or a time‑limited trial. Encourage short exercises: bouncing ball, walk cycle, lip sync, and copying a short anime cut frame‑for‑frame. A classic learning resource is Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit for timing and fundamentals. The Animator's Survival Kit.

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Member Avatar for peter_budo

Good idea, Flash is friendly and easy to use. I'm not multimedia guru, but sometimes I use it for some of my work. Know some guys which can do unbelivable stuff with it.

Member Avatar for sbmarsh

flash is a great program to use for animation.. i'd deffinately go with that..

but to make sure its what she wants, why not download a trial version from the macromedia site. that way she will get to test it out and see if she likes it or not :D

Member Avatar for ResaleBroker

Thank you for your input and suggestions. :)

Member Avatar for rus

It sounds more like what she is looking for is software from ToonBoom. Their software is made specifically for the type of animation you are talking about. You can find out more about them at http://www.toonboom.com/

They offer an "express" version of their software for $99.99, that might be a good place to start for a beginner. Unless you can get academic licensing, which offers the studio version for $149.99

Member Avatar for zhan

Hi,

Strongly recommend a Flash animation tool like Flash Slideshow Builder. I've used it a lot specifically for Flash animated photo slideshows and it's extremely easy to use unlike regular Flash.

http://www.flash-slide-show.com

Enjoy! :p


I have a friend who recently wrote, "My daughter is an avid fan of Japanese animation (called anime). She is also a very talented artist and draws anime-like cartoons continuously. She has asked for an animation program for her birthday so that she can use her charaters to create actual animation. She thinks she might want Flash XL, but is not sure if that is the right program."

What software would you recommend for this type of animation work?

Member Avatar for ajax-the-techie

I am an avid fan of flash for many reasons (including my love for animation and anime.) Tell you what: Flash is a tough program to master, but if she really has a passion for it then I'll send her to the right resources and show her the way to use this software.

Judos for encouraging this activity in her. It can grow from an interest to a career if she's given proper growth and education.

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