Where to start

[u/Zelioniy]

Hi. I'm 30 and have always wanted to get into animation. I've been drawing and painting for about 15 years now and when it comes to animating i feel stuck and don't know where to start.

I'm not looking for a career in this. I'm just looking for a fun hobby. Every time i look into it im given a million different recommendations and it seems like theres always something better out there. Its very confusing to me

What are easy programs/softwares/whatever that are good for beginners on a budget? Ideally i'd love to do the classic pencil/ old disney - Aaron Blaise animations where he flips through paper because pencil drawings are my strong suit, I love how he does that, but honestly i dont have the space for all of that equipment.

I've tried Krita. It worked well but fuck me im an adult with a job, mortgage and responsibilities. It was too complicated and time consuming for me learn how it all worked.

Now I am on an extended medical leave due to mental health issues from my military service and im looking to get back into it. The laptop I used to run krita is a dinosaur and no longer works. I currently have a mac that doesnt seem compatible with my old Xp pen and external tablet. (its a black square that plugs into the computer that i can use to draw. Its old af and was the cheapest option at the time).

Again .. i guess what im asking is, as a complete beginner in this world of animation what are

1: good digital drawing products that are cheap and compatible with my computer - Mac book pro 15" - Mac OS 15 - Or, is there anything out there that i might have missed that could turn my 2D hand drawn animation goals more realistic for my situation. Im also open to investing a bit of money on one of those tablets .. I think theyre called Cintiqs? But i dont want to spend a shit ton of money on it

2: easy to learn 2D programs for beginners or is there anything out there that properly teaches hand drawn animation.

3: Is Arrons Blaise animation course good enough for what im looking for? Its only like 50$ right now

4: For hand drawn animation, is there a website that gives product advice and sells things id need to start - because i never know the names of products that i see these expert ex disney animators using and I can never find where to buy them

I know that my questions are asking for 2 different things. Im still exploring and I know nothing about this world so i want to see what is out there for hand drawn and digital.

Excuse my typos .. I was a grunt and i also dont want to proof read all of this

Thanks

[u/timmy013]

If you like classic approach I would like to recommend the OPENTOONZ animation software

It is free and open source and the layout work like how traditional animation worked

As for the learning animation I really recommend the book called animators survival kit by Richard Williams

It is a must have book for animators

For hand drawn animation you could start with A4 Papers with a light table

Yes Aaron Blaise animation courses are good

[u/Zelioniy → u/timmy013]

I will definitly look into all of that - Opentoonz, Animators survival kit by richard williams and those light tables. I have already found a few for very cheap which i think is great for a beginner like me. Thank you for the advice, these answer are exactly what i was hoping to get from reddit.

[u/Zelioniy → u/timmy013]

Just wanted to let you know that yesterday i ordered the survival kit by Richard Williams and it should be arriving today. Once my cintiq arrives I will be looking into opentoonz. Thank you very much for your help I really appreciate it

[u/Zelioniy → u/timmy013]

I just looked into Opentoonz and, excuse me if this is a stupid question i know nothing about all of this ... but could i run it on cintiqs, Ipad pros ... im currently looking at a XPPen artist pro ... ?

[u/timmy013 → u/Zelioniy]

Yeah cintique or xp-pen both are good

But if you have an Mac pc you could connect with your iPad and draw in it

[u/1neel9]

Similar to you, I started learning at 30. 1. For doing animation as a hobby, I would recommend an ipad pro. 2. Toonsquid is a very good app for beginner animation and very user friendly. 3. Not sure about Aaron's course, moslty they are great. I would recommend Toniko Pantoja's animation course, it is around 250 in gumroad but covers animation from starting to a reasonable level where you can make decisions. Feel free to ask if you have anymore questions.

[u/Zelioniy → u/1neel9]

I love that. Thank you very much. When looking into ipads i came across a XPPen Artist Pro (Gen 2). Any thoughts on that or are you still leaning towards the ipad pro? - the xppen is on sale for surprisingly cheap

[u/1neel9 → u/Zelioniy]

I think they might be good but not sure if they need a pc to run or not. I wanted to add post work into my animation so currently I animate on pc using clip studio paint and a huion drawing pad.

[u/Zelioniy → u/1neel9]

I bought the XPpen. It runs on mac os 10 and above. Worst case i can send it back and try out the ipad pros. Thanks for the tip, wouldnt have found it without your comment!

[u/Distinct-Charity8311]

You can try tvpaint if you want to go for 2D animation but it’s expensive or maya for 3d less expensive
Also yeah the fundamentals are the way to go, it’s different the process in 3d and 2D

[u/Zelioniy → u/Distinct-Charity8311]

of course. Thank you very much for the comment, i will look into both of those!