Best Animation Studios in Amsterdam (2026)

Introduction

Amsterdam has a compact but varied animation scene, and the 9 studios below cover 2D, 3D, motion design and stop-motion for features, series, commercials and brand work. They were chosen for recent output, the strength of their client and festival work, and a verified studio in the city in 2026.

Much of the Dutch animation industry sits between Amsterdam and Utrecht, and several well-known studios work outside the capital, including Polder Animation in Utrecht and Ka-Ching Cartoons in Rotterdam. Within Amsterdam, Submarine marked 25 years at the 2026 Kaboom Animation Festival, which runs across Utrecht and Amsterdam. Amsterdam Noord has become a small cluster of its own: Blender Studio, 5 A.M. Studios and Notion all work from studios north of the IJ.

Every studio here has an active Amsterdam studio in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on format, technique and budget. Feature producers, character studios and commercial motion shops suit very different briefs.

The best animation studios in Amsterdam

1. Submarine

Independent · Oud-West · submarine.nl

Submarine is an independent Amsterdam production company making feature films, documentaries, drama series, animation and interactive projects, and it runs what is described as the largest animation studio in the Netherlands. The company marked its 25th year with an industry session at Kaboom Animation Festival 2026 and a studio presentation at the 2026 Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film.

Its animation credits include the Amazon series Undone, Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood for Netflix, the animated documentary They Shot the Piano Player and the family feature Fox and Hare Save the Forest. In production are Dansker, a 2D feature directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, and Spike, a CGI family film. Submarine works mainly on long-form projects, so it suits co-production and series partners more than short commercial jobs.

2. Blender Studio

Blender Institute · Noord · studio.blender.org

Blender Studio is the in-house film team of the Blender Institute, working from a shared building at Buikslotermeerplein in Amsterdam Noord. It makes open movies with the free and open-source Blender software and publishes the films, training, rigs and assets to subscribers, whose fees fund the productions.

Its most recent short, Singularity, came out in 2026, following Wing It! (2023), Charge (2022) and Sprite Fright (2021). Cowboi and Overgrown are in development. The team works with Blender Institute developers on core features and on a free, open-source pipeline for independent feature animation, so its films and training are a useful reference for any studio building a Blender pipeline.

3. 5 A.M. Studios

Independent · Noord · 5am.studio

5 A.M. Studios is a stop-motion and animation studio on Schaafstraat in Amsterdam Noord. It builds puppets and sets in-house, combining handmade work with 3D printing, laser cutting and motion control, and covers concept, direction, production and post-production.

Commercial work includes campaigns for TOPdesk, ProRail, Emirates and Toyota, a KLM inflight safety film and a GreenChoice TV spot. The studio also makes its own short films and has a toy animation series, Rev and Roll, in production. For brands that want a tactile, handmade look, it is one of the few dedicated stop-motion studios in the city.

4. Studio Pupil

Founder-led · Amsterdam · studiopupil.com

Studio Pupil is a character animation studio founded in 2013 by director Dario van Vree, who also co-founded the KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival (now part of Kaboom). Its work is character-driven, often funny, and built on clean design and strong performance.

Van Vree’s short I’m Perfectly Fine was nominated for a Golden Calf, and the studio’s slate includes House of Broken Hearts, Pig, Luce and the Rock and Sisters of the Mist, with Camping ‘t Pontje coming next. Studio Pupil also takes commissions, which suits agencies and broadcasters looking for authored character work.

5. Shapes & Shaders

Independent · Oud-West · shapesandshaders.com

Shapes & Shaders is an Amsterdam studio on Jacob van Lennepkade making 2D and 3D animation for brands and agencies internationally. Its work spans character-driven stories and bold motion graphics for commercials, campaigns and brand films.

The studio handles the whole process from concept and design through animation to delivery. That makes it a practical choice for agencies that need an animation partner for a campaign, without splitting design and production across suppliers.

6. Mooves

Independent · Oost · mooves.nl

Mooves is an animation studio with bases on Sumatrastraat in Amsterdam Oost and in Nijmegen. Its portfolio mixes commissioned animation with its own animated films and comics.

Recent titles include Floris de zesde, LAGOS, HOME FOR ALL, Het labyrint der 999 spiegels and an introductory film on the painter Maarten van Heemskerck. The studio’s mix of cultural, educational and authored projects suits museums, foundations and public-sector clients.

7. Notion Film & Animation

Independent · Noord · notion.nl

Notion is a full-service film and animation studio on Johan van Hasseltweg in Amsterdam Noord. It covers concept, shoots, editing, animation, visual effects, grading and post-production, and released a new animation showreel in 2025.

Much of its animation is 3D and explanatory: films for Starbucks Ready-to-Drink, Tommy Hilfiger Watches, Samsung and Sanofi, explainers for NTR’s children’s programme Brainstorm, and the Prangende Vragen format for the Red Cross. Other clients include Philips, Efteling, RTL, Videoland and Save the Children.

8. PostPanic

Independent · Centrum · postpanic.com

PostPanic is an Amsterdam hybrid production company founded in 1997, with in-house producers, motion designers, editors and VFX artists working across live action and post-production. It runs PostPanic for commercials, PostPanic Pictures for long-form film and the Panic Program for emerging directors, and curates the Panic Room events.

Clients have included adidas, Nike, Heineken, Google, Tommy Hilfiger, Volkswagen and MTV. Its mixed-media approach suits briefs where animation, design and live action need to sit in one film.

9. Ambassadors

Independent · Oost · ambassadors.com

Ambassadors started in Amsterdam in 2007 and now has about 60 people across Amsterdam and Berlin. Alongside VFX and post-production, it runs a Design & Animation studio focused on character design and animation, and in 2026 it launched Mosa, a visual AI workflow platform.

Recent Design & Animation projects include Albert Heijn Care, BMW XM “Break the Norm” and the Krasloten December calendar. Wider studio work includes Google’s Pixel 9 and 2026 World Cup Search campaign, Volkswagen and Videoland’s BASTA. It suits agencies that want animation, VFX and finishing under one roof.

What to look for in an Amsterdam animation studio

Match the studio to the format first. Amsterdam’s animation studios split broadly into feature and series producers such as Submarine, authored character studios such as Studio Pupil, and commercial studios built for campaign timelines. A studio used to two-year feature schedules works very differently from one turning around a 20-second spot in six weeks.

Be clear on technique early. Stop-motion, 2D character animation, 3D and motion graphics each need different crews, budgets and lead times, and few small studios do all of them well. Ask to see work in the exact technique you need, and ask who in the studio made it.

Check how the pipeline is set up. Many Dutch studios co-produce with partners in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe, and some split work between Amsterdam and a second studio, so files and approvals move between teams. Ask which software they use, how they handle versions and where your project files will live.

Agree how review will work before production starts. Animatics, style frames, rough animation and final renders each need sign-off, and a missed note at the animatic stage costs far more to fix once shots are lit and rendered. Studios with one clear place for references, versions and client feedback tend to keep rounds shorter.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for its project files, references and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The motion design setup is built around that pattern: one space per project, with scripts, boards, style frames and renders kept together.

Heavy project files and renders sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and shared team folders always show the latest version. There is more on this in your rendering files need a home. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds frames and assets by shade. Similar search surfaces references that match a chosen image’s composition, colour and subject.

For pre-production, the canvas is an infinite whiteboard that embeds Figma, YouTube and Vimeo, which suits moodboards and storyboards. A Kanban board can turn a shot folder into a pipeline whose cards are the files themselves.

Clients can leave threaded comments on any file through a shared link without creating an account. Reviewers can annotate PDFs and documents and leave timestamped comments on video. Finished films and pitch reels can be published as a web page, protected with a password and tracked with link analytics.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the biggest animation studio in Amsterdam?

Submarine is the usual answer. Festival programmes in 2026 described it as housing the biggest animation studio in the Netherlands, and it produces features and series for partners including Netflix and Amazon.

Are there stop-motion studios in Amsterdam?

Yes. 5 A.M. Studios in Amsterdam Noord specialises in stop-motion, building puppets and sets in-house and combining handmade work with 3D printing, laser cutting and motion control.

Which Amsterdam studios make animated commercials?

Shapes & Shaders, 5 A.M. Studios, Notion, PostPanic and Ambassadors all work on commercial animation for brands and agencies. If the brief also needs live action, the best video production companies in Amsterdam list covers studios built for shoots.

Where is the Dutch animation festival held?

Kaboom Animation Festival, formed in 2019 when the Holland Animation Film Festival merged with KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival, runs across Utrecht and Amsterdam. Its 2026 programme included a session marking 25 years of Submarine.

Why are some well-known Dutch studios missing from this list?

Every studio here has a verified Amsterdam studio in 2026. Strong Dutch studios such as Polder Animation and Studio Yoko work from Utrecht, and Ka-Ching Cartoons is based in Rotterdam, so they fall outside an Amsterdam list.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Amsterdam: Creative agencies · Video production · Content studios · Design agencies · Advertising agencies · Social media agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for motion design teams · Fabric for creative teams · How to get client feedback on a video