I have done a bit of animation before but I would like to make it look better and more professional. I have lots of ideas for storys and I can mold quite well. I know that lots of you in the forums are pretty advanced in your animation, do you have any advice for me on the more technical side of things.       Thanks, GBI

EVERY MODEL NEEDS AN ARMATURE I can not stress this enough If you want your animation to look good use an armature

also accelleration and decelleration and anticipation

"Say you were moving your character's arm up to scratch his head, then to start off you would only move the arm a tiny milimetre, and the same at the other end when the arm is slowing down. in between, the movements will be slightly bigger. This is called accelleration and decelleration- your body has to build up speed before slowing down again.

To make your character more realistic, you will also need to study how other people move, for example the way you swing your leg back before kicking a ball  this is known as anticipation, which is often exadgerated in cartoon and claymation." - samuelhayward

Also you might want to get some books on animation

Cracking book of animation by aardman
http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Animation-Aardman-Third-Edition/dp/0500289069
and i also recommend the animator's survival kit this one is more catered to 2D animators but has a lot of helpful things in it(I consider this as an animation bible)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Expanded-Edition/dp/0571238343/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340830150&sr=1-1&keywords=the+animators+survival 

if you need anything else just ask
also here is a list of supplies you might need
http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/forum/read/27326/1  

I've just tried a new type of animation for 
me. It's not bad but I prefer claymation. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kNSwpU67es&feature=plcp
Comments would be much appreciated. 
 

It's not bad  I'm actually more into 2D than stop mo at moment

Just a quick question, can an armature be as simple as a stick man made from wire or do you have to get special materials for it?

"nothing is wrong with wire, especially on a budget.

I used to never believe this but trust me it's true, a good wire armature is waaaay better than a bad ball and socket. if you experiment with it and get good, you can make really good work with wire armatures.

Look up Nick Hilligoss, he is an australian animator and he does a lot of good work with just wire armatures." - Ian Timothy

Here is a good tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkEcCZQeTyM


the only "special materials" I can think of is epoxy puty you don't have to make the feet out of wood 

I would recomend combining copper wire with aluminium, which gives it strength and makes it last longer. This is what aardman did with the wire in the were rabbit's ears, though the rest of it was ball and socket.

Thanks!

I was going to chime in here, but thanks to mason I already have.
Make sure for you armatures you are using annealed aluminum wire, or something that says armature wire, 16 gauge is good. If it is regular alliminum wire then it will break.

Ok thanks!

Yeah, annealed and 16 gauge is important. You really should twist two strands of your wire together using an elctronic screwdriver.

@Ian 

If you dont have a screwdrivers or drill you can clamp one end and put a pencil through the loop and twist by hand.
No matter how you do it the twisted wire is important for strength and a little less spring back.

It's good to have a skeleton or some sort of support for your plasticine models because when I done my secondanimation with Wallace and gromit they kept on falling apart and the plasticine mixed together. all in all it was quite an experience!

IF (not recommeneded with any figure over 5 inches) you happen to NOT make an armature, make sure to model your charectars arms, limbs, whatever will be moved the most out of the same blob of plasticine you use for the body. Otherwise, your clay will simply fall apart.

YES! I have had to learn that the hard way.