Your thought.
Animated.
Playable Thoughts makes animation for musicians, filmmakers, venues and anyone with a story to tell. Bring a song, a script, a sketch, a shot or a night people should remember. We draw the world it lives in, frame by frame, and give it sound.
Who we are
One person, and tools of his own.
Playable Thoughts is the animation work of Harshal Katari, started in early 2026. It began with Big Nothing, a short film performed live inside a game engine, and grew into music videos, dance pieces, film trailers, devotional releases, fitness reels and promos for places people go, some drawn from a brief and some from footage.
Every stage runs on tools written in-house, from the first drawing to the final stitch, so we can take on work that animation houses price out of reach for independent artists. The animation is the product. Every frame in this catalogue is from a finished piece.
Harshal is an engineer by training and a musician by habit. He has shipped dozens of animated pieces under the Playable Thoughts name, built a following of over ten thousand on Instagram, and delivered animated trailer work for District Movies.
See the work on Instagram at @playable_thoughts and on YouTube at @PlayableThoughts. Write to Harshal at playablethoughts@gmail.com.
We take a small number of projects at a time. That is deliberate.
What we offer
Three things, done properly.
Custom animation
Start from a song, a script or a sketch. We design the characters and the world, board the story and animate it from scratch. Music videos, short films, title sequences, visualisers, story reels.
- Music videos and visualisers
- Character and world design
- Title and credit sequences
- Loops for stages, screens and launches
Footage to animation
Already have a shoot, a live recording or an old video? We redraw it in one of the looks on the next pages, or in a look built for you, and return it at full resolution with the audio untouched.
- Music videos, full length
- Reels and shorts
- Trailers, teasers and event promos
- Live sets and performance clips
Sound and SFX
Animation needs its own sound. We add foley, hits, ambience and transitions that match the drawn world, mixed under your track so the music stays the lead.
- Sound design for animated cuts
- SFX passes on existing edits
- Stings, idents and logo sound
- Clean stems on delivery
The looks
Twenty-four looks, from finished work.
Each frame below is from a finished piece. Pick one, or point at two and we will meet you in between.
Neon Matinee
Bright comic colour, inked faces, late-show greens and purples.
Carbon Noir
Hard black and white ink. Every shadow becomes a shape.
Kinetic Ink
Loud panel art with motion lines and impact bursts.
Blood Graphite
Pencil-heavy graphic novel. Grit, rain and bruised light.
Sketchbook Sepia
Warm pencil and wash, like a page from a travel sketchbook.
Clean Cel
Flat colour, clean line, calm light. Reads at any size.
Acid Bloom
Neon swirls crawling over skin, walls and furniture.
Riso Dusk
Three inks, paper grain, slightly misregistered.
Crimson Signal
One red, black silhouettes, glowing eyes.
Oil and Ember
Painterly, firelit, widescreen.
Shadow Theatre
Cut-out silhouettes on a single colour field, like shadow puppets.
Poster Press
Thick line, two-colour print, flat and bold.
Teal Fracture
Angular vector shards in teal and gold.
Ink Storm
Brush ink on red. Splatter, speed and breath.
Gouache Hour
Painted light in quiet rooms.
Copper Etch
Engraved crosshatch, like an old printing plate.
Coal Panel
Dark comic panels, low light, heavy grain.
Pulp Teal
Teal and orange, pulp-cover contrast.
Fluoro Pop
Fluorescent pink, cyan and lime, screen-printed.
Halftone Crash
Dotted halftone with sound-effect lettering.
Synth Noir
Eighties neon, caption boxes, mirrors and glass.
Open World
Video-game loading-screen illustration, sunlit and slick.
Temple Gold
Full-colour devotional illustration, lamps and gold leaf.
Vermilion Sketch
Loose ink drawing on vermilion, redrawn every frame.
We do more than what is on this page.
These are the looks we have shipped so far. If you bring a reference, a painting, a comic, a film still, we build a look around it and prove it on five seconds before you commit.
Pricing
What it costs, next to what the market charges.
All figures in Indian rupees. Market ranges are what Indian animation companies and experienced freelancers publish for comparable work, compiled in November 2026. Ours are indicative; the final quote depends on length, number of scenes and the look.
| Service | What you get | Market range (India) | Playable Thoughts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom animationFrom a brief, per finished minute | Characters, world, storyboard, animation and sound, designed from your song or script. Priced per finished minute. | ₹55,000 – ₹4,00,000 | ₹40,000 – ₹1,00,000 |
| Look developmentOne-off | A new look built from your references and proven on five seconds of picture. Waived when it leads to a full video. | ₹15,000 – ₹50,000 | ₹10,000 – ₹25,000 |
| Animated reelFrom footage, up to 30 seconds | Footage you already have, redrawn in one look at full resolution, vertical or wide, audio untouched. Fits a teaser, an event promo or a loop for the screen behind the bar. | ₹15,000 – ₹55,000 | ₹7,500 – ₹18,000 |
| Animated shortFrom footage, 30 to 60 seconds | Same as above, longer. Good for a chorus drop, an opening night or a single-scene story. | ₹30,000 – ₹1,20,000 | ₹15,000 – ₹35,000 |
| Full music videoFrom footage, 3 to 4 minutes | The whole song redrawn in one look, with look test, shot-by-shot pass, grading and a clean 4K master plus a vertical cut. | ₹1,00,000 – ₹4,00,000+ | ₹60,000 – ₹1,50,000 |
| Sound and SFXPer minute of picture | Foley, hits, ambience and transitions for an animated cut, mixed under your track, stems delivered. | ₹5,000 – ₹20,000 | ₹3,000 – ₹8,000 |
| Roster dealFor signed artists | No fee up front. We animate the video and take a share of the song's earnings for a fixed term. Details in the next section. | Not offered | ₹0 + share |
Payment. Half to start, half on delivery of the final master. Taxes as applicable.
Revisions. Two rounds of notes are included. Changing the look after the look test is a new look test.
Turnaround. Reels in one to two weeks. A full music video in four to six weeks from receiving the final edit.
Credit. Every piece carries a Playable Thoughts credit in the description and the end card. Fixed-rate projects also include a shoutout from your account on release.
Rights. You own the finished video. We keep the right to show frames and clips in our portfolio and this catalogue.
What we need. For custom work, your track, a brief and references. For footage work, the locked edit at the highest resolution you have, the final mix and any lyrics.
Market basis. Custom animation is compared with 2D character animation at Indian studios: ₹55,000 to ₹1,20,000 per finished minute at mid-tier houses, ₹1,20,000 to ₹4,00,000 for a custom-illustrated minute at agencies, character design billed extra. Template 2D and motion graphics start lower and are not the same product.
How it works
Four steps from brief to film.
Send the brief
Your track, a sentence on the feeling you want, and the edit if you have one. We reply with a look and a quote within three days.
Five-second test
We animate five seconds in the chosen look, from your footage or from our first frames. You see the real thing before you pay the balance of anything.
Full pass
Shot by shot, the whole piece. You get a watermarked preview at the halfway point and at picture lock.
Sound and delivery
Sound design if you want it, final grade, then masters in 16:9 and 9:16 with your audio untouched.
For independent artists
If you can't afford the rate yet, talk to us anyway.
Playable Thoughts signs a small number of independent artists each year. For a signed artist the video costs nothing up front. In return we take a share of the song's earnings for a fixed term, the video premieres on the Playable Thoughts channels, and we co-own the animated master.
- No upfront fee. One finished animated music video.
- A share of the song's revenue for a fixed term, agreed in writing before work starts.
- Premiere on Playable Thoughts, then on your channels the same day.
- Short, plain-language contract. Two pages, no surprises.
We pick by the song and the footage, not by follower count.