Well, animation is a broad subject. there are many aspects to it, breaking it down to several components would be:
Modeling - building the 3D assets used in animation. That might include texturing the object.
Animating - the process of moving or bending an object through time. Including rigging a character
rendering - The process of getting a frame of your imagination put onto a frame of an image.
There obviously is more to it than that; like lighting the object, or compositing the image onto a background frame of another image. Then there are particle effects that create atmospherics like dust rain etc.
There are different style to think about to; like realistic, Anime, or something in between.
So. the basics would be to start modeling an object that is simple and work up to complex. Learn how to texture the object and then animating it over time and set up lighting, and arranging the camera to get the shot you want at the resolution you want. Each of these areas are things to master, luckily, Lightwave allows you to master them all with a slightly shallower learning curve than other 3D packages, and at a price point that is within reach of most people on a budget
I am not sure if that helps you or not. You asked a pretty general question
