count-darkhugs:

So, Clip Studio just added animation, and you’re a little lost. That’s not that shocking! Animation is tough. Learning it on your own isn’t impossible, but you don’t have to!

The first thing you have to know about is The Preston Blair Animation book! This is a solid introduction to animation as you’ll find, and you can find it for free here!

Want to continue your education? Then there are a few more advanced books I recommend!

Richard Williams Animator’s Survival Kit is great. It’s huge and offers a lot of animation. You don’t really have to read Williams’ autobiographical essay at the beginning as it likely will have no bearing on you, but it’s there if you want it. You can get it cheap, or probably free if you look hard enough. It doesn’t hurt to have a physical copy you can flip through in bed or whatever.

Character Animation Crash Course is solid and written by my favorite animator, Eric Goldberg. It essentially assumes you’ve gone through the previous two books though!

Elemental Magic Volume 1 is INDISPENSABLE if you are planning to do any effects animation whatsoever. I had a job where I wound up having to do a bunch of effects animation and this was the life preserver my turbulent waters needed.

I’ve heard good things about Timing for Animation as well. Illusion of Life is treated as essential by many, but the bulk of the book is an essay about how much better Disney was than everyone else. It has a lot of good stuff in it, but your mileage may vary.

The main thing I’d recommend is trying. Animation is hard! It absolutely will take a while. Some people are more naturally gifted with it than others, but you can learn good habits regardless of your skill level.  Your first instinct will be to do something complex and you should reconsider. Do exercises with balls and circles first. Choose your simplest character, not your favorite. If all your characters are complicated, choose someone else’s.