A believable animated character doesn’t just move – they act, express emotions, and connect with the audience. One of the most powerful tools for achieving this is lipsyncing, the secret art of synchronizing mouth movements with dialogue in a way that feels natural and emotive. When done right, a series of drawings transforms into a living, breathing performance.
Animation mentor Edward Kurchevsky, an instructor at Animation Club School, shares practical tips for creating realistic lipsyncing in 2D animation.
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Why Lipsyncing Is More Than Just Mouth Movements
Lipsyncing is not a separate process – it’s part of acting. Good speech animation conveys not just sounds but also the character’s thoughts, emotions, and reactions to the situation. The scene loses authenticity if the mouth moves correctly but the face and body remain static.
“When a character speaks, they’re not just moving their mouth – they’re acting. It’s always a story that needs to be told through the entire body,” Edward emphasizes.
How to Work on Lipsyncing
Creating quality lipsyncing is a process that starts long before the first animation frame. Here’s a step-by-step approach to help you improve your skills and make your character’s speech lively and natural.
1. Start with References
Observing real people is the foundation of successful lipsyncing. Record yourself speaking the character’s lines and pay attention to micro-movements of the face, head tilts, pauses, and accents. Notice how the mouth opens and closes on stressed syllables, how the eyebrows and eyes work during speech, and how the body reacts to emotions and words – with nods, head tilts, or lip quivers.
“References save time and effort. They immediately give you an understanding of the rhythm and emotion of the phrase,” says Edward.
2. Identify Key Mouth Shapes
You don’t need to draw every sound to create smooth and lively lipsyncing. What’s more important is to find the key mouth shapes and set up smooth transitions between them.
Open sounds like “A” and “O” require a wide-open mouth; semi-closed sounds like “E” and “I” need a medium opening, and for plosive sounds like “M,” “B,” and “P,” the mouth should be completely closed. Sibilant sounds like “S,” “Sh,” and “Z” create a near-touching teeth effect.
“You’d be surprised, but often 8–10 key shapes are enough to create lipsyncing that looks alive and natural,” Edward shares.
3. Consider Emotions and Scene Context
Lipsyncing always works alongside facial expressions and body movements. Anger, joy, surprise, or fear – all of these influence the mouth shape and rhythm of speech. For example, if a character is shouting, the mouth opens wider than usual, and the facial muscles tense up. If they’re whispering, the mouth barely opens, but the eyes and eyebrows do more work. During sarcasm or exhaustion, the corners of the mouth may lift or drop, regardless of the sound of speech.
“If you ignore the emotions and animate only the mouth, the lipsync will look mechanical and lifeless.”
4. Sync, but Don’t Over-Perfect
Human speech is never perfect. It’s always a mix of words, sounds, pauses, and accents. Lipsyncing shouldn’t be an exact copy of the audio track – this is animation, not dubbing. To achieve naturalness, you can add a little more expression to open sounds, slight asynchrony between the lips and the sound, and exaggerated forms for comedic or emotionally intense scenes.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
One of the most common mistakes is over-detailing. If you try to animate every sound, the lipsync will become choppy and overloaded, so it’s much more effective to use only the key mouth positions and smooth transitions between them. Ignoring the rhythm of speech also makes animation feel unnatural: not all words are spoken at the same speed or intensity, so stressed syllables require more pronounced animation, while weaker ones need barely noticeable movements.
Additionally, a static body can ruin even the highest-quality lipsyncing. If only the mouth moves while the rest of the face and pose remain still, the character will look lifeless and flat. It’s important to remember that lips, eyebrows, and gestures shouldn’t move in perfect sync – a slight delay between these elements creates a sense of naturalness and believability.
What Makes Lipsyncing Truly Alive
Believable lipsyncing is always about balance. It’s a combination of technical precision and creative intuition. An animator doesn’t just match the mouth to the sound – they tell a story, creating the illusion of life. A simple way to achieve this is to start with large emotions (joy, anger, fear) and make the lipsync slightly exaggerated, then soften the movements by adding secondary details like glances and head tilts. This way, the character not only speaks but feels.
“Lipsyncing is not just about how the mouth opens. It’s about what the character feels and how they speak. Good lipsync makes the audience forget they’re watching animation.”
Watch Lipsyncing in action in our YouTube Livestream: Unleash the Secrets of Believable Character Acting with Lipsyncing in 2D Animation!
Conclusion
Mastering lipsyncing means adding one more powerful tool to your animator’s arsenal. It’s what separates good animation from great animation. And it’s something you can learn if you pay attention to the details and aren’t afraid to try new things.
