I'm very new to this whole digital animation world, and I was reading through the forums and couldn't find a topic that fit my question or anything that could answer it for that matter.  I am very interested in animating characters, and was browsing through the site store, and almost bought something when I realized that I didn't know if I had the right programs to run the software that I buy.  I was wondering if someone could tell me what the best program for a beginner like myself could use that would be easy enough to understand and not too much on the pocket.  I currently only have the paint program that came with my computer and Photo Explosion Deluxe that my fiance bought a little while back (i didn't know if this would be usefull or not).  So any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.