The Simpsons

Working as an animator for Disney is very hard. Before they bought Pixar they bought three successive traditional animation shops they then closed at the very next reorganization. There are a few American made shows but not many, so competition is very intense.
The easiest way to become a traditional animator is to get into art school. You do that by studying both cartoons and drawing. Draw your bike (that’s a test for getting into RISD, a great, if expensive school). Draw your favorite cartoon characters (you probably are). When you have a degree, you will find that such art shops as are around here, are most impressed by people who have completed some difficult project, and a degree definitely qualifies.
DO NOT worry too much about Computer animation. The people who make money off the Simpsons or Toy Story are the ones who’ve conceptualized them. John Lessiter, who did Toy Story, was trained in traditional animation. He moved into computer animation with Lava Jr. then the short film Tin Toy was his breakthrough. I read an interview with him once where he said that when it came out these engineers would come up to him and ask, “How do you do this? How do you do that?” All he could think of to say in response was “I’m an animator. It’s my job.” He also designed the mascot for the FreeBSD OS (a little red demon with a pitchfork and converse sneakers). If you concentrate on learning a computer animation program like blender, all you will ever be is a technician. They’re looking for technicians — if they don’t have to pay them too much. So study drawing and take as many courses as you can. Study and copy cartoons. And look up traditional animation.
And the more you draw the faster you’ll get at it, which you will need if you want to do animation.

You want to study Illustration. It is VERY hard to get a job at Disney. You have to be a great drawer, conceptualizer, story teller, and be immensly creative. You have to be able to create stories, unless you just want to paint backgrounds, which is a good job too. DRAW EVERYDAY. Especially from life. These guys who work for Disney and places like it can not only draw cartoons great, but they all can draw from life and the figure REALLY WELL.

If you are interested in art, you are already an artist. Just go ahead. If you are behind a job in art? An artist never thinks the art as job. It’s fun. It is true that practice makes a man perfect but every painting has it’s own quality whether drawn by a six month child. You know, every mind has it’s own creations which is painted on canvas. For art and craft never find a site but go to the nature (this is my openion) If you want any site , just go to search menu on net – type what you desire- click to go. You will wonder to have a long list of sites you required. select , of your choice.

Most people dont really end up doing what they had in mind when they were in their childhood. And jobs like the one your looking for, a loot of people want and have the abilities to do.If one really wanted a job like the one you say you will need contacts to help you there and of course you. “life gives you what you what you put into it”.

you might have to take a graphic design course or animation first to get in to the industry

When I was little my dream was to draw for Disney too. I’ve kept that dream and just finished my 3rd year of animation school.
The best way to learn how to draw is to sketch alot from life. Bring a sketch book everywhere you go and a pen. When ever you have spare time draw what you can see. People, animals, trees, plants, objects. Anything and everything.
You should draw lots and lots of hands and feet. You always have your own to use as models and it’s one of the hardest things to learn.
The reason I suggest using a pen instead of a pencil is because a sketch book is supposed to be about learning – not about good drawings. You can’t worry about making mistakes, or ugly drawings. That’s how you learn and get better, by making mistakes and figuring out how to fix them. When you sketch with a pencil people often spend more time erasing little mistakes, then actually drawing.
A good way to practice you cartooning is by watching animated films, pausing them and drawing the character in each pose. For each drawing it’s important to really look at the character’s proportions. How big is his head compared to his body, does he have long legs or short legs? Are his shoes longer then his head. When you choose another pose of the character to draw you have to try to keep those proportions correct. This is very very important for an animator to learn
If you have the chance take a life drawing course. It may seem a bit weird but learning to draw realistic people, and studying anatomy will really help your cartooning alot. You will learn much more from a life drawing course then a cartooning course.
My favorite website for advice on learning how to draw is http://www.conceptart.org Alot of the stuff there is not cartooning but there are lots of very talented artists there who are willing to give advice and critic your work.
Go to the forums and look at the sketchbook section. There are all kinds there to give you inspiration on starting your own.