I've been making children's stories and animation under my DJC brand since 2006. For most of that time, every frame was drawn by hand. Today I make the same kind of video with an AI pipeline I built for myself. The tools changed. The craft didn't, and the craft is what makes the videos work.
Here is the process I use for each video.
1. Start with the story
Every video starts with my own story and lyrics, often from one of my picture books. AI can generate a story in seconds, but it can't give you a point of view. Children notice when a story has a point, and so do parents.
2. Design the characters before anything moves
My characters already exist as 2D illustrations. I use Google Flow to restyle them into the look the video needs, such as 3D, anime or steampunk, and I don't move on until the design feels like the same character in a new costume. Then I lock the design as a character profile, so it stays the same in every clip. Everything later depends on this step.
3. Plan the video one scene at a time
The concept is always mine, written by hand first. Then I write out every scene and use ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to help with pacing and to match each line of the lyrics to a scene. One scene becomes one clip. A typical video ends up at around 18 clips.
4. Generate each clip
I generate the clips in Google Flow. Each one runs up to about 10 seconds, which is why the scene plan matters so much. Short clips force you to know exactly what each moment has to show.
5. Edit the final video
All the clips come together in PowerDirector, where I build every transition and tighten the timing to the music. This is where a pile of clips becomes a video. I've edited in PowerDirector for years, and it's still where most of the quality comes from.
6. Publish
Titles, descriptions and thumbnails are part of the work, not an afterthought. A strong video still has to be found.
What AI changed
AI removed the slowest part of the old process, which was drawing every frame. It did not remove the need for a story, a consistent character, a plan and a careful edit. Those still take a person, and they still determine whether people watch the video.