Comment on Riku: Dive to the Heart by ssceles
I really like this animation. Personally, (because this has been a heated, and debating issue with me and quite a few people) I love the color of his eyes, and the way you drew him upside down. 
I personally hope someday to become an animator, and I really don't know where exactly to start or what tools to use...(O_o') At least as a starting point. If you could help that would be greatly appreciated.
I personally hope someday to become an animator, and I really don't know where exactly to start or what tools to use...(O_o') At least as a starting point. If you could help that would be greatly appreciated. 
I remember I asked my parents for a tablet as a graduation/early Christmas present and went out of my way to get my hands on one. I paid around $90 for one from Wacom, but even now on their own site they offer an even better priced one that's probably better than the one I have now, since its been a few years. ( [link] ) It comes with a pen that works like a DS stylus, plugs in like any USB device, and if you shove your mouse out of the way, after a while you forget you're not actually drawing where you're looking.
It's the program that I'm animating in itself (Flash) that's ridiculously expensive and I won't deny that I didn't actually pay for it and had other means of getting it. I'm using a rather old version of it that's not even for sale anymore, so its not like the company is really losing money over it. I'm sure there's something better out there I just struggled to find it when I was starting out.
Even without a fancy program, .GIFs can make simple looping animations (like your icon). The more complicated it is, the slower it is to load, but if put in a program like Windows Movie Maker, it'd run in real time. So, in a sense, you can already start animating: scan stuff, crop everything to the right size (even the basic Paint that comes with the computer does the job) and then save each frame in order. From there, you could download a .GIF making program and, while there are hundreds of free good ones, you could even do it online instead without having to download anything: [link] (and there are many other similar sites).
Traditional animation holds just as much respect (and probably more) than digital animations - its time consuming, and its only as clean as your eraser is. You know how it is, if you mess up with a pen you're stuck with it, right? And that's where digital artists have a huge advantage of having an 'undo' button. Because we have it 'easy' in comparison to traditional artists, since computers are forgiving, traditional art is still respected.
Good luck!
It's the program that I'm animating in itself (Flash) that's ridiculously expensive and I won't deny that I didn't actually pay for it and had other means of getting it. I'm using a rather old version of it that's not even for sale anymore, so its not like the company is really losing money over it. I'm sure there's something better out there I just struggled to find it when I was starting out.
Even without a fancy program, .GIFs can make simple looping animations (like your icon). The more complicated it is, the slower it is to load, but if put in a program like Windows Movie Maker, it'd run in real time. So, in a sense, you can already start animating: scan stuff, crop everything to the right size (even the basic Paint that comes with the computer does the job) and then save each frame in order. From there, you could download a .GIF making program and, while there are hundreds of free good ones, you could even do it online instead without having to download anything: [link] (and there are many other similar sites).
Traditional animation holds just as much respect (and probably more) than digital animations - its time consuming, and its only as clean as your eraser is. You know how it is, if you mess up with a pen you're stuck with it, right? And that's where digital artists have a huge advantage of having an 'undo' button. Because we have it 'easy' in comparison to traditional artists, since computers are forgiving, traditional art is still respected.
Good luck!
Oh really? That's so cool! I really appreciate the insight. ^^ One of the reason's I'm asking is because my Birthday's coming up (haha) and I've been wanting to do something like that for quite some time, and get a start on things like that. I can't thank you enough.
Thanks!
Thanks!