Select an animation software program to use for the process. For a simple project meant for amateur animators and even professional ones who are working in an independent or personal project, it is best to produce a 2D animation work as a 3D production is quite demanding in time, skill and effort. It also requires a different and more complicated computer animation workflow.
Produce your visual elements, including the character designs, location backgrounds, props and sets. These elements can be drawn and scanned to the computer or entirely designed and drawn digitally. Some also prefer combining hand-drawn and digitally drawn elements for their projects.
Import all images and graphics in your animation program.
Configure your video settings including your video resolution, aspect ratio and frame rate.
If intending to produce standard-definition (SD) project, use 720x480 video resolution and either a 4:3 aspect ratio or a 16:9 aspect ratio with black bars to cover the top and bottom of the frame. These black bars are necessary for wider aspect ratios as the SD format has a 4:3 aspect ratio by default. This is the same aspect ratio older TV sets use. If intending to produce high-definition (HD) project, use either 1920x1080 (1080p) or 1280x720 (720p) resolution and any widescreen aspect ratio, including the more popular 16:9, 1:85 and 2:35. When it comes to frame rate, it is best to use 23.97 or 24 frames per second (fps), which is the standard used in movies.
Lay out your visual elements per shot in your project timeline or workspace, then start the animation process. Take note that each second of your project's running time should have a specific number of still images providing the sense of movement when played sequentially. If using a 24fps frame rate, this means that you need 24 still images every one second and 1,440 images every one minute. For 2D computer animation, this actualy becomes an easier task compared to traditional animation, where you typically need to draw each frame of still image one at a time.
When using a computer, you can take advantage of the keyframe option, and you just have to set the first and last frames for each animated movement of every visual element found in a scene. The program produces the in-between frames accordingly. Take note that each visual element ideally is separated in layers. This means that animating a human body would require dozens or even hundreds of layers to provide smoother and more life-like movements on screen.
Shade and make any in-between corrections for your animated visuals for polishing. This stage allows you to finalize the color, texture and movement of your animation project. Clean up any extra stroke or unnecessary element found in each shot.
Finalize the lighting of each shot to complete the look of your animation project.
Render and composite your visuals in order to combine all layers, colors, movements and textures each into single video frames. The location of the rendering and compositing buttons depend on the software used. Usually, they are accessible from the program's "File" or "Video" menu.
Export the final video into your preferred movie file format. Many prefer to do additional editing using a video-editing software. In such case, simply import the video file to the program and start editing. It is also ideal to import and edit using a video-editing program so that you can conveniently incorporate all the sound elements in your final animation project including the dialogue, sound effects, ambient sounds and music.
Make a master copy of your animation project by rendering and exporting the final video project complete with all visual and sound requirements into your preferred movie file format. You might also want to create master copies in DVD and/or Blu-ray disc.