I’m a character artist (not a cartoonist) as you can see in my gallery, but I’ve always wished I could bring my creations to life through animation.

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Traditional animation requires drawing at least 1,440 frames for just one minute of action, a time-consuming process I wasn’t willing to take on. Apparently, I’m not alone. In the 1990s, software began challenging frame-by-frame animation by letting artists replicate and animate images programmatically. This shift helped pave the way for the 1995 release of Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated feature film by Pixar and Disney.

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Until recently, most character artists exploring 3D animation turned to Autodesk Maya (expensive) or Blender (free and powerful). In the 2D space, Adobe Animate and Moho sped up workflows, while Adobe Character Animator let artists bypass frame-by-frame animation entirely by using motion capture.

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Now in 2025, AI-driven tools are beginning to reshape what animation looks like. While still under development, their output is surprisingly strong, and improving quickly.

 

My Selection Criteria

 

I based my selection of what to study on two main criteria:

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• Art integration: Could I use my own illustrations, rather than rely on pre-made models?

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• Ease of storytelling: Could I animate a 2-minute story in a week or less?

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I initially chose Maya but after working with it for several months, realized that its model-building approach may soon be challenged by AI, making it harder to justify its steep learning curve.
 

After testing a few options, I decided on Adobe Character Animator, which is conveniently included in my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. It lets me bring my own artwork to life in under an hour. Best, it's motion capture feature greatly speeds up storytelling with no need to draw hundreds of frames.

 

​I’m also experimenting with AI animation tools like Midjourney and Pika. While these don’t yet offer full control over storytelling or character continuity, they are evolving fast, and I believe they will change how we create and share art in the very near future.

 

My Bertie Bunny, which is part of a bunny family I designed for a sold-out sticker collection two years ago, will introduce you to the power of Midjourney. I positionned her in a grocery aisle shopping for her family.​​​