'Newbie' with ASD6 - hitting 'the wall' after learning a bit

[atyar]

I've had ASD6 for about 3 weeks now and have enjoyed working my way through it so far. I'm having a hard time getting to the 'next level' as far as creating my own animation, though.
I've been able to use the 'packaged' characters in my own animation just fine (Jace, etc), but when I try to create my own characters and then animate them, it just distorts the character's leg/arm/etc. while 'moving' it (Even after I adjust the 'strength' down so each bone isn't supposed to 'influence' the surrounding areas). If I try to use a 'scanned' or downloaded animation, it's even worse (I think because such a character isn't really a 'cropped' image, but comes inside a background and is basically a 'box').
What's the 'secret' to creating your own character in such a way that it animates nicely? It seems like I read how there's supposed to be nice tools for creating characters, but so far, all I see are the 'freehand' draw tool and shape creators.

Any tips? thanks!

[Genete]

Have you read and done all the built in tutorials yet?
-G

[atyar]

Well, yes and no. Beyond the first set which are basically about making what's his name jump up and down while the clouds go by in the background, I see there are online tutorials. I looked at a few of those, but maybe I wasn't 'targeting' the best ones for where I need to go. What I looked at seemed more 'nitty gritty' than what I was trying to learn (animate without the distortion, etc.).

[Genete]

Well, yes and no. Beyond the first set which are basically about making what's his name jump up and down while the clouds go by in the background, I see there are online tutorials. I looked at a few of those, but maybe I wasn't 'targeting' the best ones for where I need to go. What I looked at seemed more 'nitty gritty' than what I was trying to learn (animate without the distortion, etc.).

Theses online tutorials still valid for most of the basic tasks. Please follow them all and wou'll master the basics of AS (before called Moho).
http://www.lostmarble.com/moho/manual/
-G

[atyar]

thanks for the info - I'll check it out!