Hi James, and welcome to Indietalk!
You've picked a great animator to emulate, that's for sure. Sounds like you've got everything in place to start. I guess I would say my first piece of advice, 'what can go wrong, will go wrong' and my second, 'expect the unexpected'. But, out of those two, seemingly, bad things, you're going to have some great little discoveries which will probably become part of your style and aesthetic.
In regards to formal aspects or questions you have, please post. 
I can offer one practical piece of advice in regards to your characters....try hinging their joints with the smallest brads you can find (camouflage with whatever color the figure is). I've done both 3-d stop motion and 2-d traditional hand drawn animation. I, myself, am self-taught and when starting out discovered that making little cardboard, hinged figures helped me execute actions ...I'd simply trace the figure on paper, readjust the figure to take next movement, trace, etc. Although you won't be tracing, at least you won't have to worry about limbs scattering here and there. 
Can you post a picture of your setup?
