I have drawn before but, I haven't done an animation.

Wanted to ask what would be the best software for people who've
just started off with animating in general?

depends on what kind of animations you want to do

Mutisija said:
depends on what kind of animations you want to do

The fluent kind or at least making and applying an effect to one of my projects.
(Like adding a flame or something along those lines.)

Plus: for the comment that vanished before I could respond.
Thanks for the two links, they were helpful. =)

Notkastar said:
The fluent kind or at the least making and applying an effect to one of my projects.
Say adding a flame or something along those lines.

okay i cannot help with that. sorry.

Notkastar said:
The fluent kind or at the least making and applying an effect to one of my projects.
Say adding a flame or something along those lines.

Still not sure exactly what kind of project you're working with, but here are a couple. both are gnu household brands

• GIMP - photomanipulation. can do animation from scratch if you're experienced/patient enough
• Blender - very advanced 3d stuff. presumably, it can handle 2d as well if you specify a Z value of 0

There are others, like Inkscape and such, but I don't know what you want to do

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_graphics_software

titanmelon said:
Still not sure exactly what kind of project you're working with, but here are a couple. both are gnu household brands

• GIMP - photomanipulation. can do animation from scratch if you're experienced/patient enough
• Blender - very advanced 3d stuff. presumably, it can handle 2d as well if you specify a Z value of 0

There are others, like Inkscape and such, but I don't know what you want to do

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Free_graphics_software

My project: http://deviantkeybrian.deviantart.com/art/Sir-Maxwell-IV-591298635
I was looking for something that would help me animate the flames coming from his chest/heart to make it look like it's moving like a real fire.

Good examples of the animation I wanna do:
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/guilty-gear/images/8/8d/RaouSprite.gif/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/270?cb=20091120145325

http://www.netanimations.net/animated_burning_campfire.gif

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lylio9U4XJ1roubgto1_500.gif

But simplified.

Those are frame-by-frame animations, meaning every frame is hand drawn (except the last which is CGI animation with some distortion added).
If you want that style you want GIMP as a free software.

(I really gotta spell/grammar check the things I say.)

NotMeNotYou said:
Those are frame-by-frame animations, meaning every frame is hand drawn (except the last which is CGI animation with some distortion added).
If you want that style you want GIMP as a free software.

Ah I see, Guess I could keep using SAI for the frame work too for drawing the flames.

How different do the frames have be when moving to one to another to look like a fluent picture altogether?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animator's_Survival_Kit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Animation:_The_Illusion_of_Life

Are both considered essential reading for all animators [citation needed]

I don't recommend GIMP on its own -- animation where each individual frame is a layer, is a pain. However, if you get GIMP-GAP, that is quite good -- I've made a range of animations with various levels of sophistication with it. It scales all the way up to making/editing videos if you need it to.

More comments when I have more time :)

titanmelon said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animator's_Survival_Kit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Animation:_The_Illusion_of_Life

Are both considered essential reading for all animators [citation needed]

Thanks for the links,
I'll see if there's an online copy before looking into buying the physical book.

savageorange said:
I don't recommend GIMP on its own -- animation where each individual frame is a layer, is a pain. However, if you get GIMP-GAP, that is quite good -- I've made a range of animations with various levels of sophistication with it. It scales all the way up to making/editing videos if you need it to.

More comments when I have more time :)

Sounds like exactly what I was looking for in terms of somewhere to work,
Mind shooting me a download link when you get back?