Well, i've figured out how i'm going to animate the dude. Seems glaringly obvious in retrospect - animate still layers 'Southpark style, i.e. just move a flat image around. I figured out a simple technique of matching the movement up to live reference footage - it took about 10 minutes to make 10 seconds worth of walking movement, which is real real fast for animation. I also figured out some very handy After Effects functions (quite basic stuff, but i'm a novice), such as tying my eyebrows, eyeballs etc, which are separate layers to the face - they then stay in their assigned spots in relation to the man, and can be animated separately. In this, very first shot, the dude looks down and furrows his brows.

That's a relief - no drawing individual frames.