It has been asked before, yeahThis is likely a question that's been asked and answered before, but doesn't art come before animation? Isn't the animation just a sequencing of art stills?
Art and Animation are separate tasks - they both involve drawing, yes, but there is a difference in process.
Animation involves the H-scenes, sequential art and all that and I can focus on one at a time. Art isn't all art, it covers Scene Art, so all the connective stuff that plays during scenes between the sprites and busts that lead up to the animations and covers a ton of different backgrounds, poses, expressions, etc
They both involve drawing, but they're separate tasks and cover different parts of the dev cycle