Minimalistic 2D River Animation

Hi, I need a clean, minimal 2D mascot animation for my app, **CycleBro**.

The mascot is already designed as a simple rounded character with a cap. I don’t want a redesign; I want the existing mascot to be animated in a subtle, premium, app-friendly way.

The overall feeling should be: **confident, helpful, calm, slightly “bro” energy — not childish, goofy, or overly cartoonish.**

Here is what I’m looking for:

**Animation style**

* Minimal, flat 2D animation
* Smooth and polished, but very subtle
* No heavy effects, textures, gradients, shadows, or extra details
* Keep the mascot clean and brandable
* The animation should feel like a modern app mascot, not a game character

**Main animation**

* A seamless idle loop, around **3–5 seconds**
* Very gentle movement only:

* subtle breathing / tiny scale movement
* small eye movement or side glance
* occasional blink
* very slight cap movement
* small confident smirk adjustment

**Optional micro-animations**
I’d also like short state animations if possible:

* **Tap reaction:** quick eye shift / tiny smirk
* **Success:** confident “nice bro” expression, very subtle bounce
* **Thinking/loading:** calm eye movement + soft idle loop
* **Error:** mild unimpressed look, not angry

**Important direction**

* Please keep the character shape, colors, and design very close to the reference.
* Do not add arms, legs, props, text, background elements, or facial details.
* The cap should stay minimal and premium.
* The expression should be confident and helpful, not sneaky or villain-like.

**Deliverables**

* Source file in **Rive preferred**, or After Effects / Animate if that’s your workflow
* Exported animation as:

* `.riv` or Lottie `.json` for app usage
* MP4 preview
* Transparent background version if possible
* Assets should be layered and organized:

* body / face
* cap
* left eye
* right eye
* mouth
* Please keep the file lightweight and suitable for mobile app use.

Please let me know which software you prefer, how you would approach the animation, and how quickly you can deliver the first draft. I’ll provide quick feedback so we can finalize without too much back and forth.