Hiya! To be honest, I'm largely self-taught. I went to school and got some software skills from it, but the actual animation and drawing skills are something I picked up through studying and practice. My biggest advice starting out would be to work on your draftsmanship like CRAZY. A lot of animators seem to get it in their head they just have to do do gestural drawings and figure out the motion. This is absolutely incorrect. Professional level animators have to have excellent drafting skills, able to draw complex objects, tracking their volumes frame by frame, in perspective, and from scratch (meaning, no reference). You can learn how to create decent motion without the drafting skills, but without being able to draw well, you're not going to get a job. So draw like crazy! Draw from life, draw people, go to figure drawing, draw buildings and streets and inside the bus or whatever! Learn how to draw in perspective, do anatomy studies, etc. etc. In my experience, it's a great deal easier to teach someone who can draw well how to animate than it is to teach someone with a good sense of motion how to draw well. So draw!! And challenge yourself to learn with every drawing!Hope that helps.