"The bottom line for any cartoon is that it boils down to one flattened layer of pixels being displayed across a screen."

The bottom line for any animation, or even still image, n'est pas?

"3D programs also make it easier for me to determine what point of view I want to use to depict the scene - and even move that point of view (camera) during the scene should it add to the storytelling"

Now that I understand, but if you want to impart a style of your own; control over line thickness, colouration, ermm, everything, you're not going to get it from a 'toon shader available to all, are you? OK, so setup a basic animation in Poser and rotoscope it, that I can understand too.