Hmm I feel like I'm overcompensating for my usual dark tones when it comes to character design assignments. My friends have also commented on how suprisingly cute they often are. But I think I just haven't yet found the style I'd be comfortable with if I were to create a personal character for animation purposes, as my painting style is quite focused on rendering creatures into anatomical detail (stuff that would only be viable in 3D animation, if at all)
So instead I've been trying out kid-friendly designs in the meantime, since I still got some catching up to do in terms of getting experience in that area.