
Chinese zodiac
Year of the Ox
The Ox, the Earthly Branch 丑 (chǒu). Next: 2033, the Water Ox.
An ox with a heavy body and a hump at the shoulders, its broad head with swept horns and a ring in its nose.
Free, in your browser, with no watermark. Or play the ox live on the template page with your own song first.
6 looks for the Year of the Ox
Every picture below is the ox in that look, as the visualizer draws it. Pick one to open it in Classic with the sign already set, add your song and export.

Starlight
The sign in starlight: a night sky and the Milky Way, a ring of stars a light runs round once a bar, and inside it a pen of light joining a star sign's own stars line by line, then drawing its figure round them as on an old star map (a Chinese sign's animal drawn star by star). The figure strides and swishes its tail, the stars twinkle with the high notes and a shooting star crosses once a loop.
Make a Starlight video
Element Sky
The sign's figure drawn stroke by stroke by a pen of light in its element's colours, then alive: legs striding, tail whipping, wings and fins beating, head lifting on the beat, in a sky made of its element: embers and flames for fire, ridges for earth, wind for air, waves for water, growing stems for wood, turning rings for metal. It is drawn again each loop.
Make an Element Sky video
Zodiac Wheel
The zodiac wheel in brass: the twelve signs of its zodiac round a dial that rests on yours, turns once round each loop and lands on it again, a rete turning inside with a star for each band of the music, and the sign's figure drawn at the hub while the wheel rests, moving to the song.
Make a Zodiac Wheel video
Horoscope Card
A horoscope card for the sign: its figure drawn in gold ink in a medallion and moving to the song, its dates or years, its element and ruler, and a line for fun (or your own words), a foil shine crossing the card once a bar.
Make a Horoscope Card video
Neon Sign
The sign's figure as a neon sign on a brick wall: at the top of each loop the light runs along the tubes one after another, drawing the sign, then they hum with the beat as the figure moves, the sign's name lighting last in neon script below.
Make a Neon Sign video
Your Sign
A birthday card for your sign: a garland of star lights chasing the beat, confetti of little stars, the figure doodled on by a sparkler pen, then bouncing and striding to the song, and your greeting.
Make a Your Sign video
About the Year of the Ox
- Earthly Branch
- 丑 (chǒu), the second of the 12 animals, from the Rat to the Pig
- Its own element
- Earth
- Yin or yang
- Yin
- Next year
- 2033, the Water Ox, from Lunar New Year
- The year begins
- At Lunar New Year (late January to mid February), not on 1 January: a birthday in January or early February belongs to the year before
Years of the Ox
Each with the element of its year, which turns through five in a sixty-year cycle; a year begins at Lunar New Year.
- 1925 Wood Ox
- 1937 Fire Ox
- 1949 Earth Ox
- 1961 Metal Ox
- 1973 Water Ox
- 1985 Wood Ox
- 1997 Fire Ox
- 2009 Earth Ox
- 2021 Metal Ox
- 2033 Water Ox
- 2045 Wood Ox
How the ox is drawn and how it moves
At the top of each loop a pen of light draws the ox stroke by stroke, in the order a hand would, then it comes alive with the music.
It walks slowly and steadily, its tail swinging and its head lifting on the beat.
Each 8 second loop (the Loop length setting) holds 6 strides and 3 swings of its tail: whole cycles every time, so a clip loops without a seam.
The ox's horoscope card, for fun
The Horoscope Card prints one of these lines, written for this site to be played with and never a prediction. Variation picks another, and Your message puts your own words on the card instead.
- Strong, steady, and right on the beat.
- Hard work deserves a slow, satisfying groove.
- Keep going. The long song has the best ending.
- Reliable as a metronome, warm as a hearth.
- One step at a time, one bar at a time.
A Chinese zodiac year begins at Lunar New Year, and horoscope lines are for fun, never a prediction. Zodiac & Horoscopes template · How it works · Every zodiac sign