With 4 million YouTube subscribers, Circle ToonsHD has become a beacon of inspiration for aspiring animators looking to forge their own paths in the field.
For 10 years and counting, Christian Brantley, the animator behind the Circle ToonsHD handle and many of its voices, has been creating original content that combines a mischievous sense of humor with his love of animation and his passion for pop culture.
His signature style features characters who resemble charmingly inflated stick figures and are capable of a wide array of emotions across seemingly any genre. He's made funny short videos about fantasy role-playing games, the video game Among Us, and that time Sony unveiled the first look at their CGI Sonic the Hedgehog and his nightmare teeth.
He's collaborated with other creators, like rapper bbno$, for silly vids like "When bbno$ is Your Bard."
Yet Circle ToonsHD digs deeper into media critique with long-form, horizontal videos about the rise of AI and "How 'Good Graphics' Killed Video Games."
In an interview with Mashable for our Creator Playbook series, Brantley credited his success to a commitment to his craft and his "superpower" of turning around animated videos swiftly.
The animator — who's happy to lend a kind word or a bit of advice to up-and-coming content creators — was also happy to share which tools of his trade make keeping up the pace of Circle ToonsHD's output possible.
What Circle ToonsHD needs to animate
Top of his list: "Tablets are gonna obviously jump out ahead," he told Mashable in an interview at Vidcon 2026.
"I use Huion. Huion is an awesome company. They're affordable. They're accessible. Wacom is really good, but they can be on the higher end. And so, really, truly, I've fallen in love more with Huion than Wacom."
Next up, a good smartphone.
"I make a lot of my stuff with photo references," Brantley explained, "So, a good smartphone [is necessary]. I am obsessed with the Samsung line of phones. I actually used to film a lot of my content on a smartphone, because I used to do moving illustrations on a screen, like puppeteering animation. So that's really big."
Likewise, Brantley recommends a "good computer," adding that the right software is essential.
"I know Adobe, the company, kind of sucks, and they are weirdly half discontinuing Animate, but Adobe Animate is incredible, and it is like my child of a program that I feel so confident in."
He added, "I push MS Paint, not because it is good. But because it is one of the quickest ways people can start drawing and practicing and making little doodles. And that's like unironically what started my love for digital art. So maybe it's pushed on to different phone apps now that people are drawing on, but if you can make cool stuff in MS Paint, you are actually going to be a fun creative."
Brantley says a drawing glove is also essential, "so your hand's gonna glide a lot better." His favorite is one by Huion.
Best gear for creating animation audio?
Brantley favors a Shure SM7B microphone.
"For my voice acting, that is pivotal," he explained, "with a CloudLifter as well. That's going to upgrade voice acting. That's a little bit on the pricier side, but if you really want to jump into voice acting, that's a really good jump as well."
What apps are essential for Circle ToonsHD?
While YouTube is his main hub for both long and short-form animation, he's been into Instagram more and more.
"I'm kind of falling in love with Instagram lately," Brantley said. "If we're talking like the vertical space, art and animation and creative is like skyrocketing and exploding on Instagram."
Beyond that, he sees Instagram as an essential networking tool.
"I found that being like almost a business card at VidCon," he explained, "Being like, 'Can I get your Instagram? Swap some content? Let's make some stuff?' The amount of content or videos I've made from reaching out to people on Instagram is in like the dozens, so super good spot."
"If you're not growing Instagram," he concluded, "even if you're not making content on Instagram, it is a dang good business card."
Catch up on Mashable's complete VidCon 2026 coverage for creator interviews, panel highlights, and reporting from the convention floor.
The interview above was edited for length and clarity.
