character animation

i've started looking at different character movements and how the body is shaped as to what they are doing, looking at arm and leg movements. mostly the head stays in the same place and only turns slightly when the body is turned. i'm using the change 4 life characters as my inspiration for my characters as the simple shapes and no facial features of hands and feet make it easier for me to create when i've never done something like this before. its my first time using after effects and i have to animate a character which is one of the hardest things so i'm going to limit the amount of time they are in the animation. I've decided to cut a few prices out from my story board and try to make my animation less character involved and just have a few shots of the characters. I'm thinking of maybe adding a child character along with an adult character to appeal to children. I've started creating my images in illustrator ready to start using after effects.