Ever been curious to try your hand at animation? Well there's no time like the present, and gif animation offers a quick and easy way to give it a shot. Regular reader and forum poster Huw Millar just started a thread in the forum inviting people to use the freeware program Easytoon to create their own animation, posting a few loops he made for fun by way of example.

If you've ever had the itch to create some movement, give it a shot. Even if you don't have great drawing skills, it can be quite fun to see your drawing come alive, not to mention give you a little hands-on insight into how animation is made.

Remember the action scene in Noein 12? Well, it was animated by a guy going by the name Ryo-timo whose main formal training in animation prior to busting out that extravaganza was making animated gifs in his free time. All big things started little.

(There's actually a small community of gif animators like him on the web. Huw pointed out a few before on the forum. Have a look for some inspiration.)