whoa just found this program. and is fantastic for animating. Not as hard/bloated as flash, doesn't force monochrome sprites like pivot, just simple bone animation that works great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MHra8CySk8&eurl=http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?p=355514thats my first shot. I lost a bit of my animation skill because I haven't animated in ages... but I will soon regain what I lost in time and be pulling out some nice sprites.
This isn't only for sprites, you can add bones to anything, you could get a photo, add bones and make it look like they are talking. xD
http://graphics.smithmicro.com/article/articleview/1913/1/793?sbss=793 <--homepage
unfortunately the program is not free... there is a free version, i think it can't export over a certain amount of frames or something.
so perhaps give it a shot, its a lot less tedious that drawing every frame by hand... and will come out with better results too.
