How do you make your own animated films?

Blender is good for starter 3D modeling. That's really about it. If you want something that's up to par with what actual animation companies are doing, you're going to need Maya. And for the record, knowing how to 3D model is only one skill among many that you'll need on hand before even thinking about making a film.

Moving away from 3D though, you don't need 3D graphics to make an animated film. If you can't do 2D, then 3D is even more of a long-shot because of the additional dimension that needs to be considered when modeling. As I am currently working with a girl as a hired VA who is making amazing progress on her animations with tons of time an effort, all I can say is that if you want to make anything close to an animated film (Eastern or Western), it is a process that requires:

• tight organization,
• storyboarding,
• scriptwriting,
• cel shading (or whatever method of coloring you choose)
• composers, and
• months/years of extreme frame-by-frame patience (depending on length)

How do I know this? The girl I work with is in the process of forming her own animation studio and has created an OP animation to precede the 1st self-produced anime episode of her webcomic. She uses Flash, Photoshop, and I believe has someone doing the 3D modeling for the mechs. She also has a growing team behind her to help her make progress. I'm not saying you have to get crazy ambitious like her, but if you're serious about this, I would advise getting comfortable with digital media like the two I mentioned.

Wow, that's awesome, I think I'll try it, Thanks Jim!!

if you want to do 3D, check out blender... it's very cool and improving all the time :)

here is a screenshot from their gallery:

edit: There are alot loads of tutorials on their site

There are programs out there. You can buy them at Best Buy, but if you have a Mac, the Mac store has quite a few too. I dont know about the prices though....