Using the 3D Camera with a moving character

Normally, I would just work around this the old fashioned way, but I’m fairly certain there’s an easier way to do this:

using the Live Action Terminology setting. (Shots, etc.)

I have a Shot on a rickety rope bridge stretching across a canyon.

Our rope bridge is a 3-D model. Our hero character is not.

We want our character to start at one end of the bridge, then run down it, while drawing his sword. (i.e., multiple panels/poses of our character)

Our camera needs to start low, about midway down the bridge, angled up toward our hero. As he runs toward us, camera will rise and swoop just as he passes us. (so, lets say he starts the shot facing full to camera, and by the end of it he’s in profile.)

This is all one Shot. No cuts.

-----I started with one Panel in the Shot.
-----I positioned the rope bridge and camera, and drew the first pose of the character in this panel.
----I then animated the swooping camera. So far, so good.
----I then split the panel into multiple panels, intending to change the pose of the character as the Shot progresses, as well as move the character down the rope bridge.

—Now, I go to the same layer of my character in the second panel, intending to change the pose, and–

Problem:I can no longer paint onto the character when in camera mode. Sometimes it allows me to do it on the Stage mode, but most times not. When it does magically allow me to draw on that layer it’s very difficult, as the layer is very tiny on the Stage.

Secondary Problem: I’m not even sure that I’m doing this in the correct steps.

Any help/thoughts/ideas are much appreciated.

Neal