How to create a cartoon?

Hi everybody. Now, I wanna create a cartoon similar to scooby doo, but nothing like some crappy dummy cartoon. Now, I heard that u can use adobe flash, but that won't work for this. I mean, cartoon doesn't have to bee just like scooby doo, but to have similar graphic and that the cartoon character are realistic. I have plenty of time to work on that cartoon, So all u need to do is to recommend me a software or something like that. Appreciate in full, BadBoy90 :)