2D Character Animator (Procreate / After Effects) for Instagram Reels, TikTok & YouTube Shorts

We're looking for a talented 2D character animator to create short-form animated videos for Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. Our style is minimalist: Black & white Character-focused Expressive movement Simple backgrounds Videos are typically 8–15 seconds long We're looking for someone who can closely match our animation style and collaborate with us on an ongoing basis creating 2–4 short animations per week (with the potential for more over time). You'll work directly with our creative team to bring ideas to life and help us continuously improve our animation workflow. 🎬 Paid Test ($100 USD) To start, we'd like to do a paid fixed-price test ($100 USD). Shortlisted candidates will receive: A reference video Reference images of our character Examples of our existing animations to help you better understand our style Your task will be to recreate the movement, timing, emotion, and pacing of the reference video using our character and visual style. Length: Approximately 10 seconds. We'll provide everything you need before the test begins, including the reference video, character references, and style examples. The goal isn't to copy the artwork exactly, but to capture the movement, pacing, and overall feel so the final animation fits naturally alongside our existing content. If we're a good fit, we're looking for someone to continue working with us on an ongoing basis. We're looking for someone who values consistency, clear communication, and is excited to help refine and improve our production pipeline over time. What We'd Like to Learn As we're building a long-term production pipeline, we'd appreciate if you could include the following with your paid test: Approximately how many hours you spent on the project A rough breakdown of your time (planning, sketching, animation, revisions, rendering/export, etc.) Which software you used Whether you think production time could be reduced after becoming familiar with our style and workflow Transparency around your workflow is important to us. Requirements Strong 2D animation skills Experience creating short-form social media content Ability to closely match an existing animation style Good communication Comfortable working from references Preferred Software Procreate Procreate Dreams Adobe After Effects Experience with Procreate or Procreate Dreams is a plus, but quality, consistency, and the ability to match our style are more important than the software you use. We're also open to other software if you can achieve the same quality and style. Nice to Have Experience creating viral Reels, TikToks, or YouTube Shorts Experience with minimalist animation Experience animating expressive characters When Applying Please include: Your portfolio 3–5 examples most similar to this type of work Your hourly rate Approximately how long it typically takes you to create a 10-second animation from start to finish Have you previously worked on projects where you had to closely match another artist's or brand's animation style? If so, please include an example. If your portfolio looks like a good fit, we'll share our reference materials and discuss the paid test with you before moving forward. Please start your proposal with the word "Noob" so we know you've read the entire job posting. We're looking for a long-term collaborator, not just someone to complete a single project.