This helpful Blender tutorial from CG Fast Track takes you through all you need to know to get started. It's quite a lengthy one, split up into three parts so make sure you set the time aside to watch it as it's absolutely worth it.
After some low poly construction the tutorial moves on to lighting and animation. Students looking for an overview of the process of animating in Blender should pay attention to the general workflow and speed of development.
Blender Animation is a complete step-by-step course to character animation using the free 3D program Blender.