This article describes some of the problems that the design of computerized 2D animation systems raises when such systems are intended to serve professional cartoonists. Even though 2D and 3D modeling and animation systems have been around for a while, none of the existing packages other than those which focus on cartoon animation have been used for the production of quality cartoons. The study highlights the special needs of the cartoonist and discusses the hardware and software requirements of systems that can effectively assist him in his work. Lessons learned from the early development efforts of such a system are presented here. Such lessons may turn out to be useful to computer graphics engineers at large, who may be working on other animation systems of similar ambition and scope.