Animation approach?

[Mike Smith]

If you’re planning to do a decent amount of 2D animation, you might want to investigate Moho (Anime Studio)
https://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-pro.html or ToonBoom
https://www.toonboom.com/products/harmony

[Kalleheikki Kannisto]

Puppet pin can get you pretty far, if you can draw the girl in such a way that you don’t need to have perspective changes in body parts. A good starting point would be a pose midway between the extremes and using puppet pins to alter the pose toward the beginning and end poses. You would have the limbs separated from the torso.

Kalleheikki Kannisto
Senior Graphic Designer

[Riley Tate]

Thanks a lot for your reply! I think Toon boom as Mike suggests might involve getting serious with yet another app but maybe the pins might help smooth the transitions out 🙂

[Steve Bentley]

There’s also the free script called Duik. The creator has graciously encapsulated some clever scripting (so you don’t have to) to create a fairly effortless IK solution and provide an inbetween solution that links to joint position or rotation, which might solve your perspective issue.
The idea is that as an arm flexes (for instance) the bicep should bunch up – you aren’t going to get that with just the puppet tools alone (ok you could but it would be harder to control and more work every time you move the arm). So Duik lets you link a series of inbetweens to the joint so that no matter how many times you bend that arm, the bicep bunches appropriately at the right time.
Did I mention its free?
https://rainboxprod.coop/en/tools/duik/

[Riley Tate]

Ah, thanks for the heads up on that Steve!

[Steve Bentley]

I haven’t upgraded yet to the dreaded 2018 update (although I am on the much maligned regular 2018 aE version) so I don’t know if Duik will work with the new upgraded puppet tool. It might. But Adobe kindly left the original puppet tool intact for us stalwarts.

Duik is not magic, its just expressions that are talking to layers and a handy interface, so it might still work with the new puppet tool. If you had the time you could write the expressions all yourself.
Once you get used to how it works (there are video tutorials to help you along) its crazy fast to ik a character.

If you start having issues pipe up, i’ve got some tips for working with it and characters (like how to overcome collapsing biceps etc)

To see how good it is, once you rig a character (we always put a null that we link the hips to) grab that null and pull it around. Its kinda magical. The feet stay on the ground until, well, they just can’t, but they sure do try, and its looks great even when the finally release.