I would still think that AI generator are the easiest. Stable diffusion is free (as in free speech, and as in free beer) and runs on your own PC provided you have a GPU. You can check the !imageai@sh.itjust.works community to get some ideas on prompts and the kind of result you can get.
Then there is learning to draw, but expect a couple of years of classes, but someone who went from "can't draw to can draw a character" know betters how much time is needed