Hi Suzie!
Thanks a lot for your questions – not silly at all!
1. It depends on your preference. Many people, including my self, like it better to draw on a tablet with a screen, like a Wacom Cintiq or a Huion. You have better visual feedback this way. On the other hand the good thing about drawing on a tablet placed on your table and looking at what you draw on your computer screen is that your hand is not blocking anything. 🙂
About working digitally (as opposed to physical paper), I find it is a matter of getting-used-to, but also a matter of weighing pro and cons. Paper is great for the natural feel of course. However, you get so much from working digitally drawing directly onto the screen, like instant linetesting (just hit play), perfect erasers, undo, lasso and copying things, trying stuff out and saving multiple versions, refining your drawings and animation easily and endlessly, much faster workflow, etc, etc. I’m sure others can add to these points. 😉
Yes, Huions work great with Animation Paper.
2) Yes, you can easily import sketches drawn on paper. You need to have them scanned or taken as photos into your computer first as png’s or jpg’s. Name your files with numbers, so they sort as a sequence. In Animation Paper you just hit Import and select all your images in one go. They will automatically import in sequence on a new “reference” layer. You can then time everything, so you make each drawing hold for one or more frames. Then add a new layer (or more) on top to trace them, clean them up with “ink” or add breakdowns or inbetweens as well if you want to. A the end you can color your drawing as well and import a background (or foreground). (Coloring is coming in one of the next alpha releases).
In short: Yes! 😉
Let me know if what I said makes sense. 🙂 You are most welcome to get back to me with further questions.
Best,
Niels