Buy a camera

When you join AM, you'll be required to purchase a webcam...if you
don't have one already... I highly suggest going that extra mile and
getting a mobile camera. You might do all right if your camera is
attached to a laptop... But if you don't have a laptop you might
really appreciate the freedom that a portable camera can bring.
Sometimes you need to go away from your webcam just because there's
not enough space to act out your scene in your home. And then there
are the times when you want to shoot reference footage of something
that's outside of your home... A friend, a special performance,
animals, etc...
I've heard that even the inexpensive point and shoot cameras that can
record video work quite well for gathering reference footage.

Planning Animation

I thought that I would share a very cool reference book. It's
called "Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation" by Wayne Gilbert.
It's about posing... And I've discovered... Had a lightbulb moment
really.... Just how incredibly useful the right kind of posing can
be to your animation. For me it's made huge differences in my work
and in my learning progress to date... So I totally recommend
posing...check it out!

Planning Animation