To start off on our journey in animation, it can be good to know something about the history and process of all mediums, regardless of which one(s) you plan on working in.

Hand Drawn Animation

Hand animation is the oldest form of industrialized animation. Animators use a special type of paper, aptly named animation paper, to draw on. Animation paper has a special surface that helps prevent smudging and is less blotchy when a light is shone through it. On one edge of the paper there are three holes that allow it to fit onto pegbars. In turn, pegbars hold many sheets of animation paper and allow for the 'flipping' and 'rolling' through the drawings. They also keep the drawings in place on a light table/animation desk. Animation desks are more or less desks with a circle cut through them, and fitted with a plexiglass animation disc, allowing light to be shone through and letting the animator rotate the disc to quickly turn his drawings.

Here's a video of a more extravagant animation desk.

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Hand animators place their pegbars on either the top or bottom of their disc, depending on their own preference. Then they put a sheet down and begin to draw their character in a pose, then use another sheet for a second pose. Then they work on the drawings inbetween those two poses, using the light from the table to create transparency. The finished, pre-inked result is called a pencil test.

Here are a few examples of hand animators, well, animating!

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After the drawing process is complete, and cleanup is finished, the animation is then inked. In the past, animation was first hand traced onto clear acetate cels. The inkers used special cotton gloves to prevent smudging and fine paints or markers to get clean black lines. This process was very time consuming and very expensive. Disney had one of the largest ink and paint departments in the world, until they switched over to Xerox. Using xerox, animators could directly copy their drawings onto the acetate cels without sending it to be traced by another artist. This was much faster, although there was less cleanup of the animator's drawings. You can see evidence of this in some older Disney movies such as Robin Hood or 101 Dalmations.

Nowadays, the inking process is usually done by scanning drawings into the computer to be digitally inked and colored, although some major studios such as Ghibli are still using the xerox and cel paint method.

Here's a quick video about Walt Disney's Ink and Paint club

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Hand drawn animation is an extremely fun and challenging medium. It lets you really get personal with your drawings and offers a great sense of control that can be difficult to attain with a computer. If you're interested in animating by hand, I've compiled a list of resources and websites that can help you get started.

Word of caution: cheaper paper can be blotchy and creases easily. The stuff priced in the middle is usually good quality. Also, if you buy an ACME peg, get ACME punched paper. If you buy Disney pegs, get Disney punched paper

Lightfoot Ltd.- Animation supplies, such as pegbars, discs, paper, pencils, and more!
Chromacolour- Really high quality supplies, but can be very expensive. More for the serious hand animator. They also have cels, inks, and paints!
Do it yourself animation desk- Not a step by step guide, but it does have lots of pictures of the process
Another home-made desk- This one has a bit more information on dimensions and such
How to make a desk: Part 1- This one is in depth!
Part 2Part 3Part 4