By editing the original artwork in photoshop, different parts of the character were isolated into layers to allow for great control over the whole character's movement.  The face's features were extracted to allow for animation. The project could then be saved to a .PSB format to be imported into Unity.

Within Unity, the Skinning Editor was used to create a skeletal rig for the character.  The bones were weighed and geometry was generated in consideration to the range of movement desired.  The file was then converted to a prefab and a 2D IK Manager component was added to define the type of relationship the bone chains have, [limb, CCD, FABRIK.]  

Once the Chains are created, solvers are generated and empty game objects, labeled  as "target", must be placed at the tip-end of each bone chain, to act as low level controllers.   An Animator component can be added to the main prefab and animation clips created to  make basic animations.