Explainer video style · Paper cut-outs

Paper cut-out art style explainer videos

Gouache-painted paper shapes, cut with scissors, pinned to a wall. Brief it in one sentence and get a narrated, animated explainer film in the Paper cut-outs style, scored and voiced, in about 15 minutes.

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What it looks like, and when to use it.

Paper brushed with bright gouache, cut freehand with scissors into fronds, stars, hearts and figures, and pinned to a wall of blue squares. Paper cut-outs is drawn in code, with jagged scissor edges, small pinned shadows and visible brush streaks. It is joyful and simple, and it works well when an idea can be shown as a few bold shapes moved around.

Best for

Art and design lessons
Children’s lessons and storytelling
Joyful brand stories

Try a brief like

“How coral reefs are built”
“Why some shapes feel happy”
“How a jazz band improvises together”

The art direction the director follows.

Every style is a full art direction, not a filter: its own palette, type, motion and music. This is the brief the director works from for Paper cut-outs.

Look: Drawn in code, no generated images: late-1940s paper cut-outs. Sheets of paper brushed with saturated gouache are cut freehand with scissors into bold, simple shapes (fronds, stars, leaves, hearts, birds, figures) and pinned to a wall of blue squares. Edges are slightly jagged from the scissors, every sheet throws a small soft shadow onto the wall, and gouache brush streaks run through every colour. Pure saturated colour, no lines, no shading.
Motion: Paper moving like paper: shapes sway around their pinned base, flip and flutter, a loose sheet tumbles down turning edge-on, stars twinkle by scaling, hearts pulse. Shapes arrive by being pinned on with a small overshoot. Scene change: a big sheet of blue paper, cut-outs already pinned to it, sweeps across the frame.
Music: Bright and playful: a small jazz combo or a cheerful chamber group with clarinet, piano and brushed drums. Sunny, joyful, a little improvised.
Type: Hand-cut paper letters (a bold font's outline cut with jagged scissor edges) or a loose brush script, in black or white on a pale paper strip.