Bend 2D sprites in a 3D space

Currently, I have a basic 2D character in a 3D environment set with separate sprites for each limb, which is animated to change positions and sprites from time to time. However, I want to be able to bend the character and twist it in a 3D space, like a spiral or curved plane, which has proven difficult to find a solution for. I don't know if finding a way to project the multiple sprites onto a mesh and adding a skeleton to the mesh to move it would work, or if there is some easier way to do this without needing to deal with any complicated systems with meshes and sprite-merging. Any ideas?