Professional animator here (that sounds dumb tho). Sorry for awful english, I'm not a native eng speaker.
First of all - animation and drawing are two different things. I know animators who cant even properly draw a stick figure and they make amazing animations in 2d and 3d. Animation is about the movement. As an animator you analyze your surroundings, study the physics of objects, their weight, how they interact with each other. I found about that the hard way few years ago when i started working in animation studio. I knew how to draw (at least i thought i knew) but I sucked as an animator. It was like a proper bang in the face. Took me 2 years to get to a tv production lvl - working 8h a day 5 days a week for 2 years.
Drawing is a different piece of bread I would say, you dont need a tablet. I'm not saying you need to draw naked people (even tho it helps) or fruit baskets, but focus on drawing stuff around. Sadly, with tablet in front of your desk, its hard to get outside. Get a pencil, and some paper. Check stuff like https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV or https://www.youtube.com/user/Sycra/videos . These guys are great teachers Plenty of usefull stuff for beginners. Regarding animation - start yer adventure here http://www.animatorisland.com/ . Helpful tips
Second of all - ye need to know how to learn from other people mistakes. I think that's the most important thing as you're not discovering a new planet but only drawing in a way that milions of other people did before you. Always stay open minded and ready for critique. There's no better way to improve yourself than by analyzing what other people say about your work. If someone laughs at your drawings, thats even better It might be a hint for you, ask them what was funny about it and take notes. It can be helpful later on when you start your own funny animations. But remember, show your work to other people than your family. If someone says your work is OK or amazing, they're right, but they also may say that cause youre their family. Like I said, be ready for critique and always ask for more. It'll only help you. If youre working on your animations, you can always put it on site like youanimator.com where other (mostly pros) can tell you frame by frame what needs to be improved etc. Great website
Thrid of all - That funny part - depends on your sense of humor (and IMO in 95% on timing and spacing of your animations).
Last part - doesnt matter what equipment you have, it wont help you in drawing. Wacom Bamboo will do the job for you perfectly Maybe consider looking for used tablets online, ye can save some bucks for a good pencil and paper.
Sorry for that mess - if anything, can always help.
Cheers
Animancy got a reaction from Ithanul in I would like to make my own drawings and animations. Can someone give me some advice on starting out?
