They are difficult for different reasons
2D Animation Services (‘frame by frame’) is very time-consuming and methodical, but I would say you progress at a ‘steady pace’. The level of difficulty too will depend on your drawing skills- if you can draw quickly and ‘efficiently’ (getting the form right immediately) you will find it easier.
3D is quicker in the sense that you don’t have to animate ‘every’ frame, as you set the beginning and ending position of your animated components, and the software will do the frames in-between (‘tweening’). In this way, you can animate in 3D animation services far more quicker than 2D.
However, 3D is very technical and you have lots of other elements to consider outside of just animating: modeling, rigging, lighting, rendering, cameras, etc. And all of these things can break or run into issues…
If you wanted the best of both worlds you could try 2D ‘tweening’. This is essentially drawing elements on separate layers and animating them by setting their beginning and ending positions, similar to 3D. Your animation will look more like puppetry than fluid animation, but it can save you time…
In the end, it depends on what look you are going for your project. 3D can be more precise, but 2D can be more fluid. Even though I specialize in 3D, I personally prefer the look of 2D animation, it will always look timeless whereas even the best 3D after a few years can look… naff.
