Best Animation Studios in Minneapolis (2026)

Introduction

Minneapolis has a small but varied animation market, and the 9 studios below cover medical, motion design, 3D product, explainer and frame-by-frame work. Each was chosen for the strength of its current portfolio and a checked 2026 presence in the Twin Cities.

Medtech gives the market a distinct specialism. Ghost Medical and Hybrid Medical Animation have both produced medical animation in the region since the 1990s, and they sit close to device makers such as Medtronic. Commercial motion work is active too: MAKE and Pixel Farm both received a Bronze Honorable Mention in the animation, special effects or motion graphics category at The Show 2026, the AAF Minnesota awards programme. The local scene also has its own festival: MinnAnimate’s 2024 edition, sponsored in part by the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, screened work by 19 local animators.

Every studio here showed a Twin Cities studio or office on a page checked for this list in 2026, and the metro area counts, so Edina and Roseville are included. The list is unranked, and it is short because the market is small.

The best animation studios in Minneapolis

1. Ghost Medical

Division of Ghost Productions, Inc. · Roseville · ghostmedical.com

Ghost Medical is a medical media studio founded by Stephan Kuslich. Its first animation, a spinal implantation surgery, premiered at the North American Spine Society in 1994. The studio later made commercials and animated TV shows before returning to medicine, and it now covers animation, illustration, surgical VR and interactive eLearning.

Named clients include Medtronic, Stryker, Abbott, DePuy, 3M and National Geographic. Recent animation projects include the Corvion LVAD and the Marrow Access SmartShot device (both 2024). It also offers medical web design and marketing, which helps device companies that want one supplier for a launch.

2. Hybrid Medical Animation

Medical animation specialist · Edina · hybridmedicalanimation.com

Hybrid has produced 3D medical animation since 1998, with a focus on pharmaceutical mechanism of action and disease-state stories for healthcare professionals and patients. A senior in-house team handles projects from storyboards through animation, sound and final delivery.

Its current portfolio includes the device animations “Precision Meets Relief” and “Precision in Motion”, plus “Cancer’s Micro World”, a piece on the tumour microenvironment. The studio runs its own render farm and keeps projects on an onsite server with a redundant off-site copy, which matters for long-running product lines that need updating years later.

3. MAKE

MAKE, LLC · Minneapolis · makevisual.com

MAKE is a motion graphics, animation and VFX studio that makes short-form stories for brands, alongside its own MAKE Originals series. Its “WildBlue” game trailer for Chuhai Labs received a Bronze Honorable Mention at The Show 2026. The studio ran a paid summer internship programme in 2026 covering CG, compositing, 2D and 3D animation and motion design.

Client work on its site includes Xbox, Crunchyroll, Dunkin’, Hot Wheels, adidas, GoGo Squeez and DICK’S Sporting Goods. MAKE also has UK and EU representation through Lemonade Reps, so it is used to working with clients well beyond Minnesota.

4. Pixel Farm

Pixel Farm, Inc. · Warehouse District · pixelfarm.com

Pixel Farm has been working since 1995 and is based on Washington Avenue North. It lists animation alongside VFX, finishing, editorial, colour, audio and immersive work. Its Royal Caribbean piece “It’s Big Time” received a Bronze Honorable Mention in the animation category at The Show 2026, with Ben Pimlott as motion design lead.

Procter & Gamble’s PainQuil is credited to the studio for motion, animation and audio. Other recent work includes Hardee’s, PepsiCo and Doritos, though some of those credits are for finishing and colour. Its full-service setup suits projects that need animation and post in one building, and it is worth asking who will lead the animation specifically.

5. FUSE Animation

3D animation specialist · Minneapolis · fuseanimation.com

FUSE is a small 3D studio that makes photorealistic stills, video, animation and interactive graphics. It builds from CAD files, engineering drawings, physical samples or prototypes, which makes it a practical choice for products that are not yet manufactured. The team reports more than 25 years of experience and has worked together for over a decade.

Clients and partners named on its site include Nike, The Toro Company, Honeywell (a Home ElitePRO launch video), Tiffany & Co. and Insitu. The studio cites a London International Creative Competition award and an Indigo Design Award. It runs projects through Basecamp and keeps files for future updates.

6. Foreign Fauna

Led by directors Alicia Allen and Emory Allen · Minneapolis · foreignfauna.com

Foreign Fauna describes itself as an absurd animation studio that specialises in frame-by-frame films and handcrafted commercials. Animation directors Alicia Allen and Emory Allen created the studio. It works directly with clients, freelances for other studios and directs its own projects, and its work is rooted in hand-drawn illustration.

Its portfolio includes “Room To Breathe”, “Grow With Me” and a Veterans Day 2018 Google Doodle. The first two also appear on the site of its representative, Modular Studio, credited to the Minnesota Department of Health and Yo Gabba GabbaLand! respectively.

7. Modular Studio

Motion studio · Northeast (Arts District) · modularstudio.tv

Modular describes itself as a creative motion studio for curious brands and agencies, and it works from Tyler Street in Northeast Minneapolis. It also represents Foreign Fauna, according to that studio’s site, so the two are worth considering together if a brief calls for a hand-drawn look.

Client work on its site includes “Make Billboards” and social campaigns for Figma, “Bitcoin Everyday” for Cash App, “Connect 2026” for Geotab and “Now What?” for MNSure. The list leans towards technology brands and public-sector campaigns.

8. Next Day Animations

Simplicity Works Benefit LLC · Minneapolis · nextdayanimations.com

Next Day Animations is an explainer specialist working in whiteboard, 2D, live action and mixed media, plus animated series. Founded in 2012, it has offices in Baltimore and Minneapolis, with a team spread across the US. It is owned by Jesse Austell and Caitlin Rogers, was Great Place to Work certified for February 2025 to February 2026, and appeared on Fortune’s 2025 Best Workplaces in Advertising and Marketing list.

Clients include AARP, Salesforce, the YMCA, The Home Depot and the World Bank Group, and nonprofits are a large share of the work. The standard process runs four to six weeks, with faster options from three days. Since the business address is in Maryland, ask which team will work on your project.

9. Gasket Studios

Studio operating since 2005 · Warehouse District · gasket.tv

Gasket began in animation in 2005 and has grown into a wider creative studio covering strategy, content production, post and immersive work. It has built AR, VR and mixed reality projects since 2009. Its production arm, Engines Running, is a roster of directors for documentaries, broadcast spots and films.

Gasket names Nike, Disney, General Mills and Friendly’s among its clients, and its portfolio lists a Cargill AR sales app. It is a good fit where animation is one part of an interactive or live experience. Its own site now leads with wider creative services, so ask to see recent animation reels.

What to look for in a Minneapolis animation studio

Start with the type of animation, as the local studios specialise more than their directory listings suggest. Medical work, photoreal product visualisation, character-led motion and fast explainers call for different skills and pipelines. A studio with strong motion design credits may not be the right fit for a surgical procedure.

For medtech and pharma briefs, ask how the studio handles scientific accuracy. Find out who checks the anatomy and mechanism, whether medical specialists review the storyboard, and how many rounds of regulatory changes the fee covers. Device launches often need a surgeon education version and a patient version from the same assets, so raise this at the start.

Ask who owns the source files and how long the studio keeps them. Product animation has a long life in the Twin Cities market, since devices and consumer products get revised and need updated versions. Hybrid and FUSE both describe keeping project files for later updates, and it is a reasonable question to put to any studio. Check render capacity as well, particularly for 3D work with a fixed launch date.

Finally, look at how review works. Animation gets expensive to change as it moves from storyboard to animatic to final render, so feedback needs to arrive early and be tied to specific frames. Studios with a clear process for timestamped notes and a single place for current versions tend to lose fewer days to conflicting comments from marketing, medical and legal reviewers.

How Fabric helps animation teams

Fabric gives an animation studio one workspace for its project files, client feedback and knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Scene files, renders, style frames and reference packs can sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space. Heavy files open without a full download, and shared team folders keep everyone on the latest version. There is more on this in where rendering files should live.

Review runs through shared links. Share an animatic or render with the client as a commenter, and they can respond without signing up. Annotations let them leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame with a comment attached, and draw on style frames and other images. The team marks each comment completed as it is dealt with, so a feedback round works like a checklist. Threaded comments and @mentions cover the discussion around it.

Early development suits Canvas, an infinite whiteboard that can hold storyboards and moodboards with embedded Figma, YouTube and Vimeo references. Later, search finds past work by meaning across documents, images and transcribed audio and video, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. Results jump to the page or timestamp, which helps when a client asks for the look of a project from three years ago.

For final delivery, a file or folder can be published as a web page, with password protection where needed. Published links are view-only, with optional download, so keep review rounds on shared links. For medical clients, Fabric uses AES-256 encryption and holds CASA Tier 2. Fabric stores the files and the comments, while any medical, legal and regulatory sign-off stays with the client’s own review team.

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

Frequently asked questions

What is the best animation studio in Minneapolis?

It depends on the type of animation. For medical work, Ghost Medical and Hybrid Medical Animation both have records going back to the 1990s. For commercial motion, MAKE and Pixel Farm both received recognition in the animation category at The Show 2026. FUSE Animation is a strong option for photoreal 3D product work.

Which Minneapolis studios specialise in medical animation?

Ghost Medical in Roseville and Hybrid Medical Animation in Edina both focus on medical and scientific subjects. Ghost has a strong record in device and surgical training work, including surgical VR. Hybrid focuses heavily on pharmaceutical mechanism of action and disease-state animation, alongside device work.

How long does an animated explainer take?

It varies with length, style and review rounds. As one local example, Next Day Animations quotes four to six weeks for its standard process, with faster delivery from three days available. Medical and 3D projects usually take longer, since they involve scientific review or heavier rendering, so ask for a schedule that includes your approval rounds.

Should I hire an animation studio or a video production company?

Choose an animation studio when the idea depends on motion, illustration or things a camera cannot capture, such as a mechanism inside the body or a product that is not yet built. If the project is mainly live action with some graphics, start with the best video production companies in Minneapolis. Pixel Farm and Gasket Studios both handle a mix of the two.

How can clients review an animation without creating an account?

In Fabric, the studio shares the file with the client as a commenter, using a link that works without sign-up. The client can then leave timestamped comments on the video, draw on a frame, and see comments marked completed as the team works through them.

Related lists

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

More in Minneapolis: Creative agencies · Video production · Content studios · Design agencies · Advertising agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for video editors · Collaborating on a video project remotely