Hmm. i don't think i agree with Josh's "maybe".   I don't think it's ever too late to become something you want, so long as you are ready to put in the time to work your ass off and improve. I believe your situation puts you in a unique position to build upon a completely fresh slate towards animation--and it could very well work to your advantage.   Start a folder on your computer for strictly animation inspiration. Gather your favorite sketches and art from industry animators, animation blogs, tumblrs, etc. and for now, try and find some things that make it so special to you, and try and recreate it on your own time. Why is the drawing so successful? Look at each line, and imagine you are the artist. How did he/she move their hand to create these lines? were they fluid and bold like Glen Keane, or were they stuttered and rough like Ronald Searle? Study the works on PencilTestDepot.com. How did the animator get from one drawing to the next?   As for me, for the most part I knew I wanted to get into animation, but I largely slacked off for a while before buckling down and making CalArts a serious goal. I spent time at the Art Institute studying animation, but didn't really get much out of it. It was only after I quit out of there that I really began to take advantage of the life drawing classes by sneaking in with my old student ID. I also ordered every book I could find on the art of animation off of Amazon. I stayed up most nights just working on learning the basic principles of animation and animation drawing via my books, online video tutorials, blogs, and so on. I went to National Portfolio Days in NYC and made sure I was the first on line for the table at CalArts for a review by Jon Gomez. This AnimatedBuzz forum served as not only a great meeting place for like-minded artists, but a gallery for beautiful and inspiring artwork. I focused strictly on getting better at drawing for the majority of the time, until I felt comfortable enough to start practicing pencil tests and rough animation. The 11 Second Club online became another great outlet to practice animating, gain critique, and work on a loose deadline (if you're not familiar, the 11 second club is an online animation competition held each month where an 11 second audio clip is provided, and you must complete the animation acting to go with it).   I'm now 26, but only really started taking it seriously about 2 years ago. I tried for CalArts last year, but didn't get in. This year I was accepted, and it felt like a huge win for my self-esteem and served to reassure me that my less than conventional path towards becoming an animator late in the game has actually started to pay off. This post was edited by Ryan Jouas at June 12, 2013 6:08 AM PDT

what the heck is going on in here! anyways--- I'm Ryan. I was born in Bogota, Colombia, adopted after a weeks, and then raised the entirety of my life in New Jersey. I went to the Art Institute of Philadelphia for a little, and fell in love with life drawing there. Learned about CalArts from a Pixar book called To Infinity and Beyond! and that became my goal after that. Since the Art Institute didn't really have their shit together, I had to teach myself for the most part. I dropped out of AiPh and started to sneak back in for life drawing classes, and I became obsessed with my goal. I would grab any and all books on animation that I could, and just lock myself indoors and study animation--Just even doing that and taking a non-traditional route was a trying process...I had to convince my parents that not only am I moving back in with them, but I'm not going to work a full time job or go to school while I'm living with them---instead I'm going to continue to study animation and draftsmanship on my own and pursue CalArts. I'm not sure how I got accepted, but it happened and I'm thrilled about it--and it honestly couldn't have happened at a better time. Anxiety about my uncertain future was really taking its toll, and faith in my unconventional methods was rapidly draining. I'm a pretty easy going guy. I'm really excited to be around so many creative people passionate about animation. Over here in North Jersey, there aren't many people that really share my passions for drawing and animating. I really can't wait to hang with positive, energetic people whose idea of fun is just hanging and doodling and eating pizza like mine! www.facebook.com/jouas add me, let's get weird.

but...but how do you animate with it?

Question to all the accepted east coasters! Who's going to the NYC Accepted Reception?

Accepted!