How to use TikTok’s viral ‘Magic Animation’ effects

Charlotte Colombo

Ever wondered what you’d look like in Tangled or Frozen? Do you sometimes miss TikTok’s classic ‘cartoonify’ effect? Then you should probably check out the app’s ‘Magic Animation’ filter, which is the latest trend to take over your FYP.

Over the past year, several filters letting you to turn yourself into a cartoon have gone viral on TikTok, such as the Cartoon filter and Anime filter. Although these effects were popular among TikTokers, both of them were actually found on Snapchat, which meant that users would have to import their videos in order to use the effect on TikTok.

This is why so many users are excited by the new ‘Magic Animation’ effect because unlike other filters designed to ‘cartoonify’ yourself and your friends, this one can be found within the TikTok app.

What are TikTok’s Magic Animation effects?

TikTok’s Magic Animation effect, which has already been used in over 141k videos, doesn’t just involve the one filter – it has four!

As well as having the main filter, which transforms your face into a Disney-style animation, users also have the option to add accessories and change their hair color to be an elf, magician or villain: all the characters you need to star in your very own fairytale.

How to use TikTok’s Magic Animation effects

Before you are able to use the Magic Animation effect, you will need to update TikTok because this effect only works on the latest version of the app. Once you have updated TikTok, you will be able to apply the Magic Animation effect to your videos by following the steps below:

  1. Open TikTok and make sure you are logged into your account.
  2. Press the plus (+) symbol to create a new video.
  3. On the left side of the camera button, click ‘Effects.’
  4. Press either ‘Trending’ or ‘New’ effects.
  5. For the core effect, press the pink cartoon face with an orange sparkly background. For other effects, search for the same face but with a witch’s hat, an elf crown and villainous face tattoos depending on what one you want to use.

How to activate the different effects

  1. To activate the main effect or the elf effect, press on the filter and then press on the screen as directed.
  2. To activate the villain effect, wave your whole hand in front of the screen.
  3. To activate the magician effect, press the filter and simply wait for the golden ‘which magician are you’ plaque to play out at the top before being transformed.
  4. Have fun and record your fairytale!

More filters means more possibilities, so have fun exploring all the different filters the ‘Magic Animation’ effect has to offer!

About The Author

Charlotte is a former Entertainment writer for Dexerto based in London. Putting her unspeakable amount of time online to good use, Charlotte's work focused on influencer culture, TikTok, Twitch and YouTube. She has written for other national UK publications like The Independent, Metro, iNews and Digital Spy.