Blogimation

I think I should mention some blog sites where you (students especially) can learn something about animation in other parts of the world. The industry was Hollywood-centric for so long that it's a positive pleasure to see the center of gravity shifting, or at least evening out. The Internet is a huge aid to animators: not only for communication, but for actual production. How many of you realize that you now don't need a distributor, or a studio, to get a short film made? Thanks to YouTube and Facebook and Kickstarter, we can network, fund, and distribute indie animation online. That's a pretty powerful set of tools for a bunch of crazy artists to handle.
But on to the blogs. First and foremost I would like to talk about the British site Skwigly . This was revived recently with a series of amazing podcasts with people like Barry Purves, Billy West, Fraser McLean (author of SETTING THE SCENE, the first book on layout history--really) and yours truly.  (You can hear me starting at 18:00 in Podcast Number 3.) They have just posted a podcast from the Annecy festival. Take a listen!
Raul Aguirre, Jr.'s MAN VS. ART is an eclectic blend of interviews, reviews, and articles about working in the biz, and is also very entertaining.
One of my favorite bloggers is Steve Moore, whose FLIP magazine was actually written by and for animators. (Yes, I have a couple of articles in there but Steve is unquestionably the best writer on the site.) He's now revived FLIP as a blog and has a British contributor as well!
Elliot Cowan's Sandwichbag chronicles, among other things, its owner's production of an independent feature film.  Read about it there, and view some more of Elliot's stuff. He's drawing, but everything is done on computer. This is the way cartoon animation is developing and (frankly) I don't think I will miss paper much if the results look like the ones I've been seeing here and elsewhere. (by the way, I've been drawing on a computer since 1997 and produced two animated films without paper; it's not such a big deal if you have the right tools.)
Jenny Lerew is a story artist and author whose Blackwing Diaries blog is an interesting combination of history and industry news.
Lastly, there is the blog of Animation's Editorial Cartoonist, FLOYD NORMAN...whose autobiography is being published in about a month's time. Don't miss the Gag Wall!
I know there are other blogs out there, but these are the ones I visit regularly. I hope you enjoy them.