Design the characters, generate the shots, add a theme song and cut it into a title sequence that looks like the start of an anime episode. This page walks through the workflow on Picasso IA, and says plainly where the models still need your editing hand.
An anime opening is ninety seconds of promise: the cast in dramatic poses, a wide shot of the world, a hero turning toward the camera on the last beat of the chorus. It is also the part of a series people actually rewatch. You can now build one for your own series, web comic or channel by designing the characters as images, animating each shot with a video model, and writing the theme song with a music model.
A traditional opening takes a director, key animators, a compositor and a composer, which is why independent creators usually skip it and start episode one cold. That makes a lot of channels and web series feel like they have no front door. A short opening gives viewers a reason to remember the name, a mood to expect and a signature sound to attach to your work.
Video models changed the economics of the shots themselves. Instead of drawing every frame, you describe a moment, supply a character image, and get a few seconds of motion back. Picasso IA puts the pieces in one workspace: image models for character design, video models for motion, and music models for the theme. The toolkit runs all of them, and the catalog lists 121 text-to-video models and 10 music models, so you can try different engines on the same shot. New accounts get free credits to test a first shot before you commit to a whole sequence.
The honest framing is that you are directing and editing, not pressing one button. The models produce raw shots. You choose which ones belong, in what order, and on which beat of the song.
Most openings follow the same skeleton, and knowing it saves you from generating shots you will never use. Plan the beats first, then generate to fill each one. Here is a working breakdown, with the prompt move that suits each beat and the failure to watch for.
| Beat | What the viewer sees | Prompt move | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Establishing shot | A wide view of the city, school, ship or kingdom, often with a slow push-in | Describe light, weather and one slow camera move, no characters | Buildings that morph when the camera moves |
| Character introductions | Each main character in a signature pose, eyes or hands in close-up | Start from the character image, ask for a single gesture or a wind-blown hair moment | Faces drifting away from the sheet |
| Action burst | A fast fight, chase or dash with speed lines and impact frames | Short clips, one clear action per shot, a strong camera verb | Tangled limbs and objects that appear from nowhere |
| Emotional pause | A quiet close-up, a tear, a look toward the sky | Keep the motion minimal: a blink, a breeze, a slow turn | Over-animated faces that look restless |
| Title card | The series name over a signature image | Generate the background without text, add the title in an editor | Models rendering garbled lettering |
The pattern to take from the table is that each beat asks for one kind of motion. Models handle a single clear instruction far better than a paragraph of choreography, so split a busy moment into several short shots and let the edit supply the energy.
This is the workflow that ends with a finished sequence rather than a folder of loose clips. It assumes you already know the title of your series and who is in it, and a few hours with a video editor of your choice.
The biggest craft problem in AI animation is that a character can look slightly different in every clip. Hair color shifts, a jacket gains a pocket, a scar moves to the other cheek. In an opening, where the same faces appear in rapid succession, viewers notice at once.
Three habits reduce the drift. First, always start a shot from the same reference image instead of describing the character in words again. Seedance 2.0 accepts several reference images and lets you tag them in the prompt, and Kling v3 Video can take a first and last frame, so the character is anchored at both ends of the clip. Second, keep the character description in your prompt identical from shot to shot, word for word, and only change the action. Third, keep the shots short, because drift grows the longer a clip runs. The broader technique is covered in consistent AI characters.
A character sheet is your continuity department. Generate it once, pick the single best version, and feed that same image into every shot. When a clip drifts, discard it and rerun from the sheet instead of trying to describe your way back to the face.
An opening is really a music video for your series, so the song sets the structure. Generate the music first when you can, then fit the shots to it. Music 2.6 on Picasso IA produces full songs with vocals from a text description, accepts your own lyrics with section tags such as verse and chorus, and has an instrumental mode if you prefer a track with no singing. Other music models in the catalog, such as Lyria 3 and ElevenLabs Music, give you different textures to compare.
Write a prompt that names genre, tempo and mood the way you would brief a composer: energetic rock with driving drums, bright pop with a rising chorus, or a melancholic piano ballad. Then listen for the moments a shot can land on. The first chord, the lift into the chorus and the last held note are natural cut points for the establishing shot, the cast reveal and the title card.
Two cautions apply. Do not ask the model to imitate a specific existing opening or a named artist, because the result should be your own theme. And if the song has vocals, listen for mispronounced words before you build a sequence around it. For more on the audio side, see song lyrics to music and the broader AI music videos workflow, which shares most of the editing logic.
This workflow has real limits, and it is better to know them before you plan a sequence around them.
No, and it is better to plan for that. Video models produce short clips, a few seconds each, so an opening is built from many shots that you generate one at a time and assemble in an editor with a song. A single prompt can give you one good shot. The sequence comes from your storyboard, your character references and your cuts, which is where most of the real work and most of the creative control sits.
Several of the video models in the catalog handle stylized animation well, including Seedance 2.0, Kling v3 Video and Wan 2.6. The practical test is to run the same character image and the same one-line action through two or three of them and keep the one whose motion looks closest to your series. Image models like Nano Banana Pro or Seedream 5 Pro are useful earlier, for designing the characters you will animate.
Start every clip from the same reference image, keep the written character description identical, change only the action, and keep clips short. Seedance 2.0 can take several tagged reference images, and Kling v3 Video can pin a first and a last frame. Even then, expect some drift and some rerolls. When a clip is off, discard it and rerun from the character sheet rather than trying to fix it with extra adjectives.
Yes. Music models such as Music 2.6 turn a text description into a full song with vocals, take your own lyrics with section tags, or produce an instrumental track. Describe genre, tempo and mood, generate a few takes and pick the one with the strongest chorus. Then cut your shots to it. Keep the lyrics your own and avoid asking for the style of one named artist, so the theme is actually yours.
You should not. Characters from existing series are someone else's property, and a video of them can create copyright and platform problems no matter how it was made. Create original characters instead, and build their look from your own references and descriptions. The same goes for real people: do not use the face of anyone you do not have permission to depict. Fictional, original characters are the safe and more interesting route.
Television openings usually run around ninety seconds, and many channels and web series use something shorter, since viewers skip long intros. There is no rule for your own project. Decide the length from the song, because the song sets the pacing. A shorter sting of fifteen to thirty seconds is easier to finish consistently than a full ninety, and you can always extend it later when the series has an audience.
A video editor. The models give you raw clips and a song file, and you assemble them elsewhere: cutting on the beat, adding the title card, credits, transitions and any speed effects. Any editor that imports video and audio will do.
It will look anime-inspired, and the closeness depends on the model, your prompt and the reference image. Prompts that name the visual traits you want, such as flat cel shading, clean outlines, expressive eyes, painterly backgrounds and dramatic lighting, get you closer. It will not match a studio with a team of animators, and viewers familiar with the medium will notice. For an independent series or channel intro, the style is a strong starting point, not a replacement.
The opening is your own original footage and music, so you can use it on your channel. Check the current requirements of the platform you publish on, including any rules about disclosing AI-generated content and any limits on video format. If you plan to monetize or sell the series, review the terms for each model you used and the usage terms on the Picasso IA pages so you know what you can do with the output.
Generation uses credits, and the cost depends on the model and the settings. Video usually costs more than images, and a sequence needs many takes, so the total depends on how many shots you keep and how many you discard. New accounts start with free credits, enough to test a first shot or a short song. Current plans are listed on the pricing page, which is the only place to trust for numbers.
Ready to see your own cast in motion? Open the Picasso IA toolkit, generate your first character image and animate the opening shot today.
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