WHY STORY COMES FIRST: LESSONS FOR ANIMATORS WHO WANT TO CREATE IMPACTFUL WORK

Animation is magical. It brings drawings, puppets or computer images to life in ways that feel real, emotional and unforgettable but no matter how beautiful the animation is, if the story is weak, the whole thing can fall flat. That is why, before anything else, the story must come first. Not just because it gives purpose to your visuals, but because it is the soul of animation itself. Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, once said, “Many of my colleagues want to become animators because they love drawing. That’s fine but animation is about creating the illusion of life and you can’t create life if you don’t have a story worth telling.” Miyazaki’s work stands out not just because it looks good but because it says something real. That is the power of story.

To create animation that resonates, you must think like a storyteller before you think like an animator. This doesn’t mean simply having a plot or inventing characters. It means understanding why your story exists, what emotional truth it is trying to express and how every element on screen, from lighting to silence, contributes to that truth. Pixar, a studio renowned for its storytelling genius, famously adheres to a core philosophy: “Story is king.” Andrew Stanton, one of the top directors there, once said, “The greatest story commandment is: make me care.” It is not enough to have cool effects or funny characters. People connect with your animation when they care about what’s happening, when they can feel what your characters feel. This emotional core is not something tacked on in post-production. It must be woven into the script, the character arcs, and the visual language.

This means your characters need to feel real. They need to want something, fear something, fight for something. Their actions should mean something. It is not enough to animate a character jumping across a rooftop. What matters is why they are jumping. Are they escaping danger? Chasing a dream? Saying goodbye? Audiences are smart. They can tell when a story has no heart, even if it looks amazing. That doesn’t mean visuals don’t matter. Animation gives you full control of what the audience sees, so use it to support your story. A single colour, a shift in lighting or the way a character moves can say a lot. These choices should help tell the story, not distract from it. So if you are creating animation, whether it is a short film, a web series or a student project, start with your story. Ask yourself: What’s the heart of this idea? What emotion do I want people to feel? Then, let everything else serve that goal because at the end of the day, great animation is not just seen. It is felt.