I'm in the same boat, and here's what I've come up with. The most important thing you'll need is something to draw on. I figured that over time, a tablet would be cheaper than thousands and thousands of sheets of paper, plus any scanner you'll use to scan them into the computer; so I started looking at some models. My favorite at the moment is the Bamboo Fun; it works with any computer (Mac or PC), it's got a decent sized drawing area, and also doubles as a tracpad. However, it's just about two hundred dollars; or you can get the Bamboo (not Fun), which is smaller but does pretty much the same stuff, for one hundred dollars.

That's pretty much all I can tell you. Get a tablet, start using it with some software you have lying around, get a feel for it, etc.

Yeah you have to redraw every single frame. Thats how it works. I'm doing it on my course at the moment and the easiest way to do it if you're hand drawing is to use a lightbox so you can see through the paper and keep clicking it back and forward to check the animation.

Its time consuming but worth it.

yea id say so unless u use adobe flash or anime studio, i strongly recommend anime studio, 50$ for mac and u put "bones" (pivot points) in a computer drawn charector and u can move his limps and animate faster and easier. u can also save the file of the charector and open him up when u need him again in another vid.

search it for more info