Make A Car Driving GIF in Procreate
Create a short animated GIF of a car driving across the screen in Procreate by drawing frames, testing motion, and exporting the final animation.
About this activity
Create a short animated GIF of a car driving across the screen in Procreate by drawing frames, testing motion, and exporting the final animation.
What you need
Step by step
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Step 1
Open the Procreate app on your iPad.
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Step 2
Create a new canvas sized 1080 x 720 pixels.
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Step 3
Turn on Animation Assist from Actions > Canvas.
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Step 4
Add a new layer in the Layers panel.
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Step 5
Drag that new layer to the bottom of the layer stack.
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Step 6
Draw a simple background (sky and road) on the bottom layer.
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Step 7
Add another new layer above the background.
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Step 8
Draw a car on the left side of the canvas on the new layer.
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Step 9
Duplicate the car layer until you have about 8 total car layers (about 8 frames).
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Step 10
Select the top duplicated car layer and use the Move tool to nudge the car slightly to the right.
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Step 11
Repeat nudging each duplicated car layer so each one is a bit further right until the car reaches the right edge.
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Step 12
Turn on Onion Skins in Animation Assist to see the motion between frames.
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Step 13
Press Play in Animation Assist to preview your driving car animation.
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Step 14
Export your animation using Share > Animated GIF and save it to your iPad.
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Step 15
Share your finished creation on DIY.org.
Fun facts
How do I make a car driving GIF in Procreate?
To make a car driving GIF in Procreate, open a canvas and enable Animation Assist (Actions > Canvas > Animation Assist). Create a new layer for each frame and draw the car slightly shifted across frames. Use onion skinning and frame hold to check motion, add background layers that stay static, and duplicate frames to adjust timing. Preview playback, tweak timing per frame, then export via Share > Animated GIF. Save or share the file.
What materials and tools do I need to make a car GIF in Procreate?
You'll need an iPad with Procreate installed, an Apple Pencil or stylus for precise drawing, and enough storage or iCloud space. Optional items include reference images, a simple storyboard or thumbnail sketches, headphones for music, and a charger. Make sure your Procreate version supports Animation Assist (version 4.3+). Back up work by exporting drafts as PNG sequences or PSD so you don't lose progress.
What ages is making a car driving GIF in Procreate suitable for?
This activity suits many ages: children 6 to 8 can do simplified frame-by-frame drawing with guidance, 9 to 12-year-olds can plan and animate short GIFs independently, and teens can create more detailed motion and timing. Younger kids will need adult help with the iPad, layer management, and exporting. Adjust complexity—use fewer frames for younger children and add frames, backgrounds, or effects for older ones. Consider fine motor skills and screen-time limits.
What are the benefits, safety tips, or fun variations for making a car GIF in Procreate?
Making a car GIF builds timing, sequencing, fine motor skills, and digital art confidence while teaching planning and animation basics like keyframes and easing. Safety tips: limit continuous screen time, supervise device use and account access, and back up files often. Fun variations include animating rotating wheels, adding a parallax background for depth, creating looping traffic scenes, changing vehicle styles, or exporting a high-resolution video for sharing. Encourage short practice sessio
Watch & Learn
Need help?
I don't have an iPad or Procreate — what can we use instead to make the GIF?
If you don't have an iPad or Procreate, use a tablet or phone app like FlipaClip, RoughAnimator, or Procreate Pocket and follow the same steps (create a 1080Ă—720 canvas, use layers, enable onion-skin/animation features, duplicate frames, and export as a GIF).
The car jumps or the animation looks jerky — how can we fix that?
When you duplicate the car layer, select each duplicate and use the Move tool to nudge the car by small, consistent amounts (for example 3–10 px) while keeping Onion Skins on so frames line up smoothly before pressing Play.
How can I adapt this project for different ages or skill levels?
For younger kids, simplify by drawing larger shapes and using only 3–4 duplicated car layers, while older kids can add separate wheel layers for rotation, more frames, background parallax on extra layers, or adjust frame rate in Animation Assist for smoother motion.
How can we extend or personalize the finished driving GIF?
Personalize and improve the animation by adding a custom license plate, shading and shadows on the car layer, animating wheel rotation on separate layers, moving background elements for parallax, then tweak frame rate and export via Share > Animated GIF to save and post on DIY.org.