And here's a perfect example of a person who's inspired by Eddsworld:
<a href="http://thepivotsxxd.newgrounds.com/">http://thepivotsxxd.newgrounds.com/</a>
And his animations are getting better by the day.
I don't think he uses a tablet, so why not try using a mouse? Hey, at least you've got that. I've got a touchpad and that's worse.
Gimmick
What your friend said may be true JakesTV but the problem here is:
Eddsworld (Edd Gould) was POPULAR. I'd understand what you were doing if you were "following in another animator's footsteps" and they were never heard of, thus making you the only person AMONG A FEW to take his or her style.
Since Edd is popular, there are more, about 10000 at the least. Why not you diversify, try to get the art style of another person?
And in the meantime, why not you go to the animation Prescotts Adventure and actually READ MistyEntertainment's review? He's an animator as well; why not ask him how he draws and such?
The problem I had with Prescotts Adventure is that it's too short and badly drawn, amongst other things. He goes on facebook, with no reason WHY he's going there, and then you just see him doing something, he changes shirts, puts on something, flies, something, boom, something and a "your gay" statement at the end.
Really, it's just too "fast-paced" to make any REAL sense WHATSOEVER.
Why not you try to spend 3 WHOLE HOURS just animating or drawing the first, the very first BEDROOM / FACEBOOK SCENE and then, motion smoothly (I can't emphasize on that enough, really) to facebook, start the back story. Who is Prescott? Who is that person he stalks? What is the computer? Then report back here, put up some screen shots, and continue, spend 5 WHOLE HOURS OR MORE on the NEXT scene, and then when you're done, you should have a GREAT animation.
Really, I shit you not. You will do great.
In the meantime, don't try to animate with shapes. Try going into flash and using the PEN TOOL or the CURVE TOOL; how you create advanced shapes is: You create a basic shape, say a circle, press the C KEY and click on the OUTLINE of the shape. YOU SHOULD SEE SOME NODES. CLICK ANYWHERE IN THE GREEN OUTLINE, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, AND DRAG. DRAG LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. When you're done, you'll see the circle change to a "nose", and then work on beautifying the face. In fact, spend 2 hours JUST FINDING OUT HOW TO DO BETTER.
A great blacksmith doesn't blame his tools; you too, should not say that you are limited because you don't have a tablet. Work and work, keep working such that you get working more every day.
If you get at LEAST 10 THOUSAND (10,000) HOURS OF WORK UNDER YOUR BELT, YOU WILL BECOME THE NEXT EDD GOULD. YOU WILL BATHE IN MONEY AND FAME IF YOU PUT IN THE WORK!