Animation & Character Voiceover

Creating memorable voices (like Mickey Mouse’s!) takes an incredible level of skill. Professional voiceover talent bring their expertise, professionalism, and training to the table. Changing vocal variables like tone, inflection, and speed can change an entire personality of an animation and provide audio cues to the audience on how they should feel about the character. Is it a superhero who inspires confidence, security, and bravery? Or is it a villain who incites suspicion, fear, and uncertainty? Maybe it’s a sidekick who offers comic relief during intense moments of conflict and action. Each of these characters requires a distinct voiceover that, paired with animation, makes up their personalities and establishes their role in the story.

Animation for Everyone!

Animation appeals to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, making it an accessible form of media. As kids, animation plays an important role in child development and building skills and an awareness of the world around them. But animation isn’t only for kids! With animated films making up the top 10% of grossing films worldwide and animated television shows accounting for 20% of all television content, it’s critical to stand out from the content with a uniquely crafted character voice. Working with professional voiceover talent ensures that you’re working with someone who will take the time to deeply understand the characters–including their motivations, hopes, and fears–and create a character voice that connects with the audience at home and enables them to become immersed in the story. Bringing their experience and training, the roster of talent at Blue Wave Voiceover delivers a wide range of emotion, finding the exact right note to convey as the scene or situation requires.

It’s more important now, than ever, to ensure that character voices not only complement the visuals but also reflect the diversity of America today. It’s no secret that historically animation has struggled with diversity and representation, but there has been movement to have more diverse representation in animated content. Films like Encanto, Coco, and Moana, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, and Avatar the Last Airbender are examples of how diverse representation in animation–not just in visuals but also in the casting of the voiceover talent–can be done successfully.  

More Diverse and Authentic Animation

The advent of streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime has introduced foreign language animations to the United States. There is an opportunity to bring in a professional voice actor who can understand the content of the animation and capture the nuances of a character while delivering as close to the original performance as possible. Not only do they capture the original character’s voice in English, but they also consider the cadence and timing of the original animation to match it as close as possible so that it is not a distracting experience for viewers. Poor dubbing can make an animation extremely distracting and cause mistrust in the viewer’s ability to become immersed in the story and character development.

With the global animation market projected to reach $587 billion by 2030, there is ample opportunity for new animation talent to share their creativity and stories. In the United States alone, according to the Animation Guild, animation supports over 80,000 jobs. The industry is expected to continue to grow, especially as popularity in and demand for animated content increases.The voiceover talent at Blue Wave Voiceover values opportunities to work collaboratively and creatively with student animators in doing their part to invest in the future of the animation industry. They are passionate about supporting the next generation of animators and storytellers and are interested and available to work on student animation projects to help students succeed in their creative projects. 

Choosing The Right Voice for Your Character Will Make the Difference

Voiceovers for animation extends beyond television and film; creating voiceovers for brand mascots and characters for brands builds a unique brand loyalty and identity that can drive brand awareness. A recent study found that brand characters increase brand awareness by 63% and purchase intent by 20%. Picture the Geico gecko. There’s a good chance you heard his British Cockney accent voice telling you all about the benefits of insurance. A professional voiceover talent can create a voice for a brand character that is engaging and memorable. A memorable character voice can last long beyond an ad campaign and radio spot and television jingle; the character voice can become thing that is synonymous with the brand, leading to increased customer loyalty and, ultimately, sales. In some cases, distinct character voices such as Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, and the Geico gecko have become a part of the cultural zeitgeist, growing in influence that extends beyond their original animation.

Working with professional voiceover artists like the roster of talent at Blue Wave Voiceover guarantees that your animated characters will have the personality and emotions that you’ve envisioned. Our talent can bring authenticity to the characters they voice. Their professional experience, training, knowledge of industry trends, and commitment to delivering a high quality voiceover guarantees that you (and your characters) are in great hands.