Ooh nice!

The only software I'm aware for animation of any note that's free is GIMP. With the use of the right plugins on top of the default GIMP Animation Package you could probably build a very potent animation tool (and it's something I want to look into myself once I eventually replace my aging computer), but it's definitely more complex and involved than most other options, and requires some time to set up and learn. Unfortunately, that's a big part of where the price gap is going to come from; animation software that's good is rarely cheap. Additionally, GIMP doesn't seem to have a (functional) offering for ipad at this juncture, so you'd need a linux or windows system to make use of it.

My apologies if this is already known or not useful information. Best of luck in your search.

unfortunately gimp kept feeling old if that makes any sense and I've used photoshop cs2 which is why i find it odd that i didn't immediately swap to gimp at all that well.

As for your pc, my only recommendation is to probably take advantage of online black friday sales soon or keep an eye on deals on newegg/amazon (or this: http://www.dealsource.tech/ it updates every other day)

Duly noted, thank you, although I fear my finances won't be in order in time. And yes, while Gimp is under constant revision, its unintuitive and frankly clunky UI has always been one of its greatest weaknesses; it is not the most user-friendly program, and it tends to require a good deal of modification and additional packages before it really shines.

I know that Clip Studio Paint EX regularly goes on sale, waiting for that to happen could be an option.

Yeah thats what i was thinking as well.

*breath in*
*breath out*

I would recommend Krita for the traditional 2d stuff. doesn't have much shiny whistles and bells, but it's free art program i'd recommend

i'll definitely give it a try, thank you.

Good start hun! <3

Krita.org it's free and they have a built-in animation tools now so you can frame together images in sequence.

I like this animation.