YouTube Circle ToonsHD cartoons are essential tools of his trade

With 4 million YouTube subscribers, Circle ToonsHD has become a beacon of inspiration for up-and-comers looking to make their own way in the industry.

For 10 years or so, Christian Brantley, the actor behind the Circle ToonsHD handle and many of its voices, has been creating original content that combines mischievous humor with his love of animation and his love of pop culture.

His signature style includes characters that resemble charmingly inflated stick figures and are capable of a wide range of emotions across all genres of music. He made funny short videos about fantasy role playing games, video game Among Usand at that time Sony revealed the first look at their CGI Sonic the Hedgehog with his scary teeth.

He’s teamed up with other creators, like rapper ubbno$, on silly videos like “When bbno$ Is Your Bard.”

Yet Circle ToonsHD dives deeper into media criticism with long, horizontal videos about the rise of AI and “How ‘Pretty 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” to turn animated videos quickly.

The animator — who’s happy to lend a kind word or a few words of advice to budding content creators — is also happy to share what tools of his trade keep the pace of Circle ToonsHD output possible.

What Circle ToonsHD needs to animate

At the top of his list: “Tablets are obviously going to jump ahead,” he told Mashable in an interview at Vidcon 2026.

“I use Huion. Huion is a great company. It’s affordable. It’s accessible. Wacom is really good, but it could be better. So, I really, really liked Huion more than Wacom.”

Next, a good smartphone.

“I do a lot of my stuff with photo references,” Brantley explained, “So, it’s a great smartphone [is necessary]. I am obsessed with the Samsung line of phones. I actually used to record most of my content on a smartphone, because I used to make animations on the screen, like animation. So that’s really big. “

Similarly, Brantley recommends a “good computer,” adding that the right software is important.

“I know Adobe, the company, sucks, and they almost gave up on Animate, but Adobe Animate is amazing, and it’s like my baby program that I feel confident about.”

He added, “I’m pushing MS Paint, not because it’s good. But because it’s one of the fastest ways for people to start drawing and practicing and doing little doodles. And that’s vaguely similar to what started my love for digital art. So maybe it’s been pushed to different phone apps that people now draw on, but if you can do good things in MS Paint, you’re actually going to be creative.”

Brantley says a painting glove is also important, “so your hand will glide much better.” His favorite is Huion’s.

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Huion/Adobe/Microsoft/Shure

The best gear for creating animation sound?

Brantley likes the Shure SM7B microphone.

“For my voice acting, that’s important,” he explained, “with CloudLifter as well. That’s going to improve voice acting. That’s a little on the advanced side, but if you want to jump into voice acting, that’s a really good jump.”

What are the main apps in Circle ToonsHD?

While YouTube is his primary source for long and short animations, he has ventured into Instagram a lot.

“I’ve been loving Instagram lately,” Brantley said. “Speaking as a vertical space, art and animation and creativity are skyrocketing and exploding on Instagram.”

Besides, he sees Instagram as an important communication tool.

“I found it was like a business card at VidCon,” he explained, “Like, ‘Can I get your Instagram? Swap content? Let’s do some stuff?’ The amount of content or videos I’ve made by reaching people on Instagram is like tens, it’s a great place. ”

“If you don’t grow Instagram,” he concluded, “even if you don’t make content on Instagram, it’s a very good business card.”

Get Mashable’s complete VidCon 2026 inclusion of creator interviewspanel highlights, and reporting from the meeting floor.

The discussion above has been edited for length and clarity.