Best Animation Studios in Hong Kong (2026)

Introduction

Hong Kong has a small, active animation scene, and the 10 studios below cover its main strands: hand-drawn and 2D film, 3D and CG character work, motion design for brands, and large-format animation for screens and buildings. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and evidence of a working studio in the city.

The most visible recent success is Point Five Creations’ Another World, which won Best Animated Feature at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards after premiering at Annecy in 2025. Public money is also shaping what studios make: the “Future Animation” scheme, run by the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association and sponsored by the government’s Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, gave six local companies up to HK$850,000 each in its third round to produce AI-assisted originals, and they showed the work at Annecy in June 2026.

Every studio here has a Hong Kong base shown on its own site or in trade coverage. The list runs in no fixed order of merit. Most of these teams are small and owner-run, so availability and fit with your brief matter as much as the reel.

The best animation studios in Hong Kong

1. Point Five Creations

Independent · Hong Kong · pointfivecreations.com

Point Five Creations is a cel animation studio founded in 2018 and led by director Tommy Ng and writer-producer Polly Yeung. Its first feature, Another World, grew out of a 14-minute short from 2019, took Best Animated Feature at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards, and was picked up by GKIDS for US distribution. It opened in UK and Irish cinemas in January 2026.

Alongside its own films the studio takes commercial work, including a Nike Air Max spot, ViuTV’s 2018 World Cup film, the Assassin’s Creed Origins animated launch trailer and opening sequences for Rayark’s Cytus II and Sdorica 2. Its short Airbag was one of the six projects in the third Future Animation round in 2026. A sequel to Another World is in development, so ask about capacity early.

2. Queenkong Land

Independent · Kwun Tong · queenkongland.com

Queenkong Land is an original animation and design studio established in 2018 and directed by Kevin Tsang, who has more than 15 years in animation and co-founded the agency Rice 5, acquired by WPP in 2014. His short Window won the Gold Award and Grand Prize at the 4th ifva in Hong Kong in 1998.

Recent recognition has been steady: The James Show won a Golden Award at the 12th Animation Support Program in 2025 and a Merit Award at the 27th DigiCon6 ASIA Awards in 2026, and Cirkillation took Jury Choice in the third Future Animation round. The tone is dark and distinctive. The studio says it uses AI to speed up production alongside traditional methods, which is worth discussing at briefing stage.

3. SIMAGE Animation

Independent · Kowloon Bay · simage.hk

SIMAGE Animation & Media is a boutique studio that has been working for around two decades, in 3D and in mixed 2D and 3D. It describes itself as Annie-nominated, and it runs its own motion capture studio, which it also rents out. The team is small, with 13 staff shown on a 2025 company profile.

Its works page lists the features McDull: The Rise of the Rice Cooker and Sherlock Holmes and the Great Escape, a credit on Another World, and the shorts SONIC x SHADOW Generations: Dark Beginnings and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds The Animation. Game cinematics are a long-running line, with titles such as Tower of Saviors. It also runs GXS, a newer animation brand set up with Studio Giggex, with offices in Los Angeles and Hong Kong.

4. Nikopicto

Independent · Lai Chi Kok · nikopicto.com

Nikopicto is a CG animation and IP creation studio that describes itself as “born in Paris, grown in Hong Kong”. Creative director Nicolas Lesaffre trained at the French animation school Supinfocom, and the studio has been in Hong Kong since around 2012. It collected a TBS DigiCon6 Merit Award for Planet Foodies and an Animation Support Program Silver Award for Light Chaser in 2026, after a Hong Kong ICT Gold Award in 2024 for its Ouigo Spain work.

The client list runs from Cathay Pacific and the Hong Kong Tourism Board to American Express, McDonald’s, Louis Vuitton and Duracell. It is a good match for brands that want a character built to last, since the studio also handles style guides, licensing and retail activations. Planet Foodies, a space comedy about a crew of dim sum, shows its own IP approach.

5. eMotionLAB

Independent · San Po Kong · emotionlab.tv

eMotionLAB is a motion design and brand storytelling studio founded by Mandy Tsang, working under the line “from motion to emotion”. Asia Design Prize profiled it in July 2026 for its corporate animation and infographic design. Its HKIA Tech Roadmap 2023 film won a Bronze in Digital and Motion Design at the DFA Design for Asia Awards 2024.

Featured work includes the Hong Kong Tourism Board’s Incentive Playbook, an Adobe Reimagine event and CHIC Hong Kong for the Trade Development Council. Clients are mostly organisations in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, so this is a natural call for public-sector and corporate explainers. The studio is also branching into original film: REFRAME was selected for the third Future Animation round.

6. Intoxic Studio

Independent · San Po Kong · intoxic.com.hk

Intoxic Studio is a 2D animation company founded in 2011, with work spanning motion graphics, character design and storytelling. Animation director Nic Ho leads its original projects, including Blacky The Iron Arm Cat, a martial arts story set among animals that was selected for the first Future Animation round in 2023.

Its commercial work covers brands and public causes: Circle K, Kotex’s Fluffy Friends, ViuTV and Living with Cancer for the Hong Kong Cancer Fund. The range makes it a sensible option for character-led 2D at a brand or charity scale.

7. Taproot Studio

Independent · Kwai Chung · taproot-studio.com

Taproot Studio is a Kwai Chung team working across advertising, animation, design and multimedia. It has a long record of public information work, including animation for the Immigration Department’s smart ID card replacement programme, online series for the new e-Passport and an opening title for RTHK’s 大自然大不同.

Its original project ODIUM ZERO, about a streamer and a soldier fighting creatures created by an alien pathogen, was selected for the third Future Animation round in 2026. The portfolio on its site is mostly older than its recent scheme work, so ask for a current reel.

8. Office of Tomorrow

Independent · Tsim Sha Tsui · oot.studio

Office of Tomorrow is a motion design studio founded by Alan Pun that makes launch and explainer films for startups, combining strategy, messaging, design and animation. It has a Tsim Sha Tsui office, with the team split between Hong Kong and Europe, and its site names four motion designers.

Clients listed include Y Combinator companies such as Blaxel, Voltair and Oki Home, including batches from 2026. It suits software and product launches more than local consumer campaigns. Given the split team, ask who will be working from Hong Kong if in-person sessions matter.

9. idNerd Studio

Independent · Lai Chi Kok · idnerd.squarespace.com

idNerd Studio is a 3D animation team working in Autodesk Maya and Adobe After Effects, with illustrators and UI designers in-house and an Interactive Lab for installation work. Much of its output is built for physical spaces and large screens.

Projects include anamorphic projection mapping on the Causeway Bay SOGO facade, a multi-surface projection at the City Gallery, and a 2025 lobby installation for Capella at Galaxy Macau. Macau resorts are a large part of the client base, with MGM, Wynn and City of Dreams all named. It is one to call when the brief is an LED wall or a building and the animation has to work with the system that plays it.

10. Free-D Workshop

Independent · Cheung Sha Wan · freedworkshop.com

Free-D Workshop is a computer graphics company established in April 2005, producing visual effects and animated characters for film, series, commercials and games. It won Best Visual Effect at the 43rd Hong Kong Film Awards for Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, and at the 40th for Anita.

The studio is rooted in visual effects, so it fits CG creature and character work and hybrid live-action projects better than motion graphics. It is moving into original animation as well: Roboy, a robot adventure, was selected for the second Future Animation round and presented at Annecy in 2025.

What to look for in a Hong Kong animation studio

Start with technique, because most Hong Kong studios specialise. Point Five and Intoxic work in 2D, SIMAGE, Nikopicto and Free-D are CG-led, and eMotionLAB and Office of Tomorrow come from motion design. A strong reel in one of these says little about delivery in another, so ask to see finished work close to your format and length.

Ask how original projects sit alongside client work. Several studios here are developing their own films or series, sometimes with public funding and fixed delivery dates. Teams this size can feel a feature or scheme deadline, so agree the schedule and named leads before signing.

If AI is part of the pipeline, ask where. Future Animation funds AI-assisted production directly, and at least one studio here says it uses AI to speed up its work. Your contract should cover which tools are used, on which stages, and who holds the rights to characters and final assets. Your own legal team should review those terms.

Finally, look at how the studio runs review. Animation passes through scripts, boards, animatics, style frames and several rounds of shots, often with stakeholders working in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Feedback tied to a specific frame saves a lot of back and forth, and it helps to know where the latest version lives and who signs off each stage.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for production files, client feedback and project knowledge, with AI search across all of it. A common pattern is one space per client, with briefs, boards and deliveries kept together, and there is more on this in Fabric for motion design teams.

Project files and renders can sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and shared team folders keep the latest versions in one place. There is more on this in why rendering files need a home. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed audio and video, so a director’s note in a recorded call or a line in a voice-over take can be found by what was said. Colour search helps with style frames and palettes.

Client review runs through shared links. Share a cut with a client as a commenter, with no sign-up needed, and they can leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame with a comment, or draw on a style frame and attach a comment to the drawing. The team marks each comment completed as the fix goes in, so a round of notes works like a checklist. The guide to getting client feedback on a video walks through it.

Early-stage work suits Canvas, an infinite whiteboard for moodboards and storyboards that can embed Figma, YouTube and Vimeo. For final delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page. Published links are view-only, with optional download, which makes them a clean way to hand over approved work, and password protection can be added.

Password protection is included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Hong Kong?

There is no single answer, as it depends on technique and budget. On 2025 and 2026 recognition, Point Five Creations won Best Animated Feature at the Golden Horse Awards for Another World, Queenkong Land won a Golden Award at the 12th Animation Support Program, and Nikopicto took 2026 awards at DigiCon6 and the Animation Support Program.

What happened to Imagi Animation Studios?

Imagi, the Hong Kong studio behind TMNT (2007) and Astro Boy (2009), filed for bankruptcy in February 2010 after Astro Boy lost money at the box office. It does not operate today, so it is not on this list.

What is the Future Animation scheme?

It is a support programme for AI-assisted animation, organised by the Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association and sponsored by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency. In its third round, more than 30 companies applied and six were selected, each receiving up to HK$850,000 to make a 15 to 20 minute original. Point Five Creations, Queenkong Land, eMotionLAB and Taproot Studio were among them.

Which Hong Kong studios make explainer and motion design videos?

eMotionLAB focuses on corporate and public-sector motion design, and Office of Tomorrow on startup launch films. Intoxic Studio also takes motion graphics work in 2D. If your project needs live action as well, see the list of video production companies in Hong Kong.

Which studios handle animation for LED screens and projection?

idNerd Studio is the most focused on this here, with anamorphic facade mapping at Causeway Bay SOGO and installations for Macau resorts. Ask any studio for examples at your screen size and aspect ratio, and check who handles playback on site.

Related lists

Animation studios in other cities: New York · London · Singapore · Sydney · Tokyo

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

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for video editors · Storyboards in Fabric