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How does limited animation reduce the cost of television cartoons?

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Animated scene from The Wild Robot showing a round-eyed robot with a fox perched on its shoulder in a forest clearing. — Animation Scene from the 2024 science fiction animated film *The Wild Robot*, directed by Chris Sanders.

Limited animation reduces the high labor and production costs associated with traditional animation by employing several simplification techniques:1

Reduced Frame Rates: Instead of creating unique drawings for every frame, each drawing is repeated two to five times, resulting in a more jerky movement compared to smooth, full animation.1
Selective Animation: Animators often animate only specific parts of a character’s body, leaving the background and other body parts static to minimize the number of required drawings.1
Cycling: This technique involves drawing a limited number of movement phases—such as those required for walking or talking—and repeating them to simulate more complex, continuous actions.1

These methods allow studios to produce content for television more efficiently by significantly lowering the total number of individual illustrations needed for a production.1