I want to start making my own 2D cartoons. I have been researching all kinds of software and equipment to do so. Most of them like Maya and RETAS and Toonz Harlequin are so expensive that I will never buy them. I have basically figured that I can either get Toon Boom Studio or Anime Studio. Which one, if any of you guys know, would you suggest? Do any of you cats even make cartoons? This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid and the other day I said what the hell I’m going to make cartoons. Basically, I want to make funny adult-oriented cartoons that aren’t technically the most realistic and detailed stuff at all. So, do any of you cats have any cartoon making info, tips, suggestions, etc.?
ms paint? 
Sorry, can’t be of much help on this subject, but over the years I’ve seen some funny stuf made with the simplest of drawing software. Aren’t there ‘freeware-like’ alternatives to the expensive ones you’ve listed? I remember photoshop having one.
Semi-offtopic: I’ve been having great fun with this free online tool, check it out: Harmony
Toon Boom Studio seems quite respected and is taught in a few universities before moving onto the heavier, 3D generation and stuff. Or at least that’s what I’ve been led to believe by friends more into that stuff or doing related degrees…
don’t underestimate MSPAINT boiiiiiiiii…this is my ex bitch.
www.blender.org its quite easy to make 2d animation in blender. you can use beziers to make your shapes (like flash), and then tween the animations.(like flash). And goddammit, it can look deadly.
oh yeah, its also FFFFFFFRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE
Hey whats my ex doing, lurking behind yours?!
I like 'em a little crazy 
sheeeeeeIT ! so strong! so feminine! mine’s sexier
MSPain can’t do animation, only images. You would then have to load your images into a program like Toon Boom Studio to turn it into an animation.
Blender is a good program, had a bit of a play with it, although quite a steep learning curve and may confuse you for a while, before you get to grips with it. Also seemed to run smoother, with less bugs on Linux and like any constantly developing, open source software features and bugs may both get introduced quite higgledy piggledy.
I have done animations in microsoft powerpoint with MSPaint…seriously
That was when i first got into animation and was a little over obsessed…
Still need something else to make it into a kinda timeline, can’t make animations with MSPain. Not even basic, animated Gifs.
The Gimp uses layers as frames for gifs. I think there is also the option of onion-skins. (but i cant actually draw atall, im useless, so i never got happy with having to draw everyframe by hand.)
synfig studio is aiming to be a vector graphic animation studio like flash, ive installed twice in the past but it was never stable enough for me.
I think the best probably is flash, for cg anyway.(I think there could be free beta versions from macromedia website, they have a rake of unstable coming up progs)
reading 2d cartoons, I thought you meant a comic, not animated, do we have a facepalm smiley on this board? 
I meant an animated 2D cartoon. Not a comic.
I was looking in to Blender, but I assumed it would probably have a retartedly high learning curve since it seems to be geared more towards 3D animation. I’m completely new to animation, and thus probably don’t want to learn the most complicated thing out there. Honestly, Anime Studio seemed pretty cool for the fact that I could rig image files to a bone system. But, of course, I really have no idea.