The subject of this study is a creative potential of stop-motion animation (puppet animation) as a phenomenon of screen culture in the age of digital technology. Animation, a unique part of audio-visual creative sphere, employs its own language, imagery and means of expression to represent reality - all of them different from the other forms of screen art. Contemporary artistic practice introduces new, computer-based instruments of animated filmmaking. These have also brought changes to stop-motion animation, which has not only disappeared from world screens in the age of globalization and digitalization but has received a new impetus instead. We witness an increased artistic and research interest in stop-motion techniques - a fact that makes our analysis both relevant and theoretically grounded. Theoretical and methodological foundation of our work is based on interdisciplinary approach that combines general theoretical methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization with comparative historical (cross-cultural), descriptive and systemic methods, thus allowing us to comprehensively explore stop-motion animation’s creative potential within the context of humanities (cultural studies, film studies, theater studies etc). The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, we analyze the specific characteristics and techniques of animation as a type of audio-visual art, based on different theoretical approaches and the principles and methods of animated filmmaking. In the second part, we explore the history of stop-motion animation as a phenomenon of screen culture, provide comparative analysis of puppet animation and puppet theatre, identify characteristics of animated puppet as a carrier of visual and plastic imagery that utilizes stylized interpretation of reality. In the third part, we focus on the stop-motion animation’s potential for the age of digital technologies that introduce a new virtual space and a new type of animated character; here we also explore the examples from a number countries occupying the leading positions in this type of audio-visual art.