Resources on how to do certain things in Torque?

In short, I want to finally 'buckle down' and make a complete product. For a living, I do a lot of SQL and Powerbuilder development (self-taught), so I understand a lot of programming concepts. There are a few things, however, I am not sure how to do. I was hoping they could be answered or someone could guide to where I can learn what I need:

1) How do you handle characters and their animations? I have an artist, and I'm trying to find out if he makes his stuff frame-seperated in a bunch of JPG/BMP/(etc) files, or animated GIFs... how is this typically handled? Or should I say, best handled?

2) If the game allows internet connectivity in a server-based enviornment (think MMO, but not), and you have a SQL server constantly supporting the game, how do you develope the game so that one player's actions doesn't hold up the server for everyone else? I am not familiar with coding to that degree. If I save something into my loot and the SQL server is INSERT INTO player_loots VALUES (me, my item ID, quantity) (humor me, I know I probably wouldn't update the DB every little action); currently that single transaction just holds everything up until it's done. I can config a SQL Server to support many transactions, but I don't know how to handle Torque in this situation.

3) Where am I missing any information on getting Torque made games on Xbox?

I thought I could think of more, but that is all for now.

Thanks in advance for any help and reading my book of a thread. These questions mean a lot to me. Sometimes even the smallest bit of help gets me rolling into a professional in days - so please humor me if you think you can assist me. :)