Here is how to make a cartoon show for children with AI: build one small world, design two recurring characters, write a format you can repeat, then animate gently and add calm voices and music.
A children's cartoon show has a harder job than a single clip, because the same characters have to come back looking and sounding like themselves, week after week. Most guides on how to make a cartoon series with AI walk through a tool and a sample clip, so here we show real clips and prompts from real canvases instead. Mila & Sasa, a 3:45 cartoon by Katrin Ann Orbeta from the Summer 2026 Flick Residency, shows the method: we use its 273 generated video clips, because its gentle look, small cast and reusable character sheets are what a kids' show is built from, and we mark what is our own advice for a series.
In eight steps: build a small world, design two characters, write a repeatable format, reuse the same character sheets, pace it gently, add simple voices, add music and sound, then make a title you can open with each time.
Step 1
Build one small world
Pick a few places young viewers can learn by heart and make each one an empty background, so you can stage a new story there without redrawing the room.
Mila & Sasa keeps to a spaceship kitchen, a desert and a wrecked ship, and it returns to the kitchen in a second, ruined state.
The prompt below takes a character out of a finished picture to leave a clean set.
A show can come back to a set like this in later episodes.
Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · Nano Banana 2
Remove the little girl (blue hair, blue backpack, yellow suit) standing in front of the stove completely. Fill in the space behind her naturally with the stove, counter, oven, and floor so it looks like she was never there. Keep everything else in the scene exactly identical: the yellow retro spaceship kitchen, vines, porthole windows with desert landscape, framed photo of mother and child on the wall, the stove with the tray of small colorful star cookies, the pans on the floor, and all lighting and colors unchanged.
Step 2
Design two characters
Start with two characters who look nothing alike and fit in one sentence each, because a small child should know who is on screen from the shape alone.
Mila is tall with blue hair and a yellow suit, and Sasa is a tiny figure in a blue cat suit.
The sheet gives the model four views and six expressions to copy, so a reaction never has to be invented.
Its prompt spells out the design and the outline rule, which keeps a simple drawing simple.
Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · Nano Banana 2
Create a full character turnaround and expression sheet for Mila based on this reference image. Layout: top row shows 4 full-body poses in a row: FRONT, 3/4 FRONT-RIGHT (body at 45 degrees), SIDE (profile), BACK. Bottom row shows 6 facial expression close-ups: HAPPY, SAD, SURPRISED, ANGRY, CURIOUS, LAUGHING. Keep her exact design from the reference: blue bob hair, red/orange skin, yellow spacesuit/jumpsuit, blue boots/shoes. Outlines only at joints and where different colors meet, no heavy interior outlines within same-color areas. Flat 2D illustration style, tricolor blue yellow and red/orange palette, white background. Label each pose and expression. Title: "Character Turnaround: Mila".
Step 3
Write a repeatable format
Write one story shape you can refill each time, with a small want, a trip, some trouble and a comfort at the end, so every episode feels familiar before it starts.
Mila's radar watch points her toward what she is looking for.
In a series, a device like this could start each episode by pointing somewhere new, which is our idea and not something the film does.
The four parts of the shape are shown below, each from a real scene.
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Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · MiniMax H3 · Reference to video
Step 4
Reuse the same sheets
Cite the same character sheets by name in each prompt and keep them on one canvas, because that is how the next episode picks up the characters you already have.
108 of the film's 273 video prompts cite a character or expression sheet by name.
Those prompts carry lines such as Preserve reference style and character identity.
Katrin kept versions of Mila with and without her backpack, so a costume change does not mean a new design.
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Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · MiniMax H3 · Reference to video
Step 5
Pace it gently
Give each shot one simple action and time to finish it, because young children need a moment to follow what just happened before the next thing starts.
In The Little Fox's Dream by Jaime Yao, this take does one thing: the fox reaches at the lights, then falls asleep.
Mila & Sasa asks for the same restraint in words: Restrained natural movements. No exaggerated acting.
Avoid fast cuts and sudden flashes, which is our general advice rather than something we measured.
Generate one recorded line for each character first and cite it in later shots, so a voice stays the same, and keep the sentences short enough to read aloud.
The canvas holds 19 Text to Voice lines made with Eleven v3, and 27 video prompts cite the line My Radar Apology.
This shot describes Sasa as Deep, warm, paternal adult male voice, calm and natural.
One line of hers shows the length to aim for: "Yeah, it's also the only one missing from my collection."
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Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · MiniMax H3 · Reference to video
Step 7
Add music and sound
Score the whole cut after the shots are done, in a mood you can name, and add playful sound effects where the picture is silly.
Katrin's music prompts carry the words never frightening, and one asks: Make a version to insert in a funny cute scene.
37 of her video prompts say "No music", and the canvas holds 5 tracks made with Eleven Music.
This Mouse Chef take by Zoey Z., started from a Midjourney image, went through Mirelo SFX 2.0, a model that adds sound effects to a video.
Katrin Ann Orbeta, director of Mila & Sasa · MiniMax H3 · Image to video
What could one episode of a kids' show look like?
A small want at home, a trip to somewhere new, some trouble that passes quickly, then a comfort shared with a friend, shown here from the one Mila & Sasa film as a shape you could repeat.
Start frame00:15
A small want
Mila's soup is missing one star spice, a problem a child can grasp at once.
How long should an episode of a children's cartoon be?
Aim for a first episode of about 2 to 4 minutes, which you can finish and judge, because preschool cartoons often run about 5 to 11 minutes and each extra minute means more shots to make.
Shots counted from hard cuts in the finished films, so the figures are approximate and leave out soft dissolves. Neither film is an episode of a series.
Film
Running time
Shots, about
One shot every, about
Mila & Sasa
3:45
44
5 seconds
To My Grandma
1:38
11
9 seconds
At Mila & Sasa's pace, a 5 minute episode comes to about 60 shots, before you count the extra takes.
Start frame00:30
A long, quiet take on the To My Grandma canvas by Zoey Z., shown for its slow paceZoey Z., director of To My Grandma · Seedance 2.5 · Image to video
Questions about making a cartoon show
How do you make a cartoon series with AI?
Design the characters and places once as reference images, write a story shape you can repeat, then generate each episode shot by shot from those same references. Keep them on one canvas, so the next episode starts from the characters you already have.
How do you make an animated show on your own?
Keep it small: two characters, a few places and short episodes. One person can write, generate and cut a short cartoon with AI, as Katrin Ann Orbeta is credited for the character design, AI prompting and editing of Mila & Sasa, with an associate producer.
How do you keep cartoon characters consistent across episodes?
Make a sheet for each character with several views and expressions, then cite the sheet in each shot's prompt and describe the outfit the same way each time. Reuse the same voice line as a reference, so the character sounds the same too.
How long should an episode of a kids' cartoon be?
Preschool cartoons often run about 5 to 11 minutes, and Bluey is listed at about 7 minutes on Wikipedia. For a first AI episode, a shorter target of a few minutes is more realistic, since each minute needs many separate shots.
Can I make a show in the style of a famous cartoon?
Make your own characters and your own look instead. A famous show's characters and designs usually belong to its owner, and copying them can get a video taken down. Describe qualities such as flat shapes and pastel colors. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
Can I post an AI cartoon for kids on YouTube?
Yes, but check the rules first. YouTube asks creators to say whether a video is made for kids, which changes how it can be shown, and it has rules on disclosing some AI content. Read its current policies before you publish a series.
What voices work best for a children's cartoon?
Calm, clear voices with short sentences, so a young viewer can follow each word. Give each character a voice that sounds different from the other, and test the lines by reading them aloud before you generate them.
Can I make a children's cartoon show for free?
You can start for free in Flick, with no credit card, and make characters and backgrounds with Nano Banana 2 on free credits. Video models such as MiniMax H3 and Seedance 2.0 need the Standard plan or higher.
Every picture and prompt on this page comes from a public Flick film canvas, read on 2026-11-02, and is credited to its filmmaker, and the counts are of generated clips, archived takes included and upscales left out. Watch more films made in Flick on Flick TV.
Start your children's cartoon show
Design the world and the characters, animate the shots and add voices and music on one canvas you can return to for the next episode.
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