Aseprite

i really use this program too much, sometimes not even for pixel art but also for gif editing. its literally the most accessible program i have for editing gifs what the heck.
anyway do not perceive my play/usage time though, please, please im begging you, i dont have a problem i swear

If you are interested in doing pixel art, this is definitely the Software I would recommend using.
I started doing Pixel Art a few months back and I went in with no experience in art or drawing in general. I was always bad with drawing and I felt you need some sort of "talent", but in reality everyone can learn anything. You just have to put time and effort into it. I have improved a lot since then and I get better everyday.
Its very easy to learn and it has everything you need for doing pixel art. You can use your mouse or a drawing tablet. I started out with a mouse, but got myself a drawing tablet recently (XP-Pen Deco 01 V2) and it works well in Aseprite. You can do basic static pictures or animations (perfect for game development).
When I first opened it up, I thought it looks very basic and there isnt that many tools available, but actually there is a lot you can do and it isnt overwhelming to learn like other drawing software.
There is a bunch of tutorials on Youtube that I would recommend watching that give you a lot of tips, tricks and shortcuts that are very useful. But at first I would just play around a bit and see what you can find on your own,
I got the hang of it pretty quickly, but I always learn new stuff that the Software has to offer.
They keep updating it freequently and hopefully their are gonna add a bunch new stuff in the future.
I would also recommend checking out "Pixel_Dailies" on Twitter if you want to challenge yourself. They post a theme everyday and you have to make pixel art out of it. It is rly fun and you can learn a lot from the community there.
If you decide to buy it I would recommend getting it on their offical website since it is gonna be DRM free + you will get a steamkey there anyways (thats what I did) So in case it will not be available on steam anymore (for whatever reason) you still have access to it.
My goal is to make a 2d platformer game in the future and I will definitely use Aseprite for my art.
Anyways if you made it that far, thanks for reading, go make some pixel art and have a nice day (:

So, it looks like I have a lot of hours, but a large part of is just that i leave it open.
Still, a fair few bit is genuine use. It's really the gold standard for pixelart animation. Through the thousands of hours, i've found use for pretty much every tool. All super useful, and a bunch of plugins available too. If the 20$ pricetag is a bit too much, check out graphicsgale, but you really don't need anything other than this. It's great.
Also has constant updates, most of which are useful.

As someone who has done pixel art on and off for years and used MSPaint/Paint.net, Aseprite changed my life. It doesn't matter if you have years and years of muscle memory using something else. Get Aseprite. Learn it. It's easy, powerful, modern, and customizable. Easily the best $20 I've ever spent!

Good game
very well balanced
beautiful graphics
great story
outstanding characters
11/10

This graphics program is SO well-designed and implemented, that even I, someone who is definitely NOT a graphically artistic person, managed to create an half-decent animated GIF for my Twitch stream the very first time I used it!!
Just to explain how unprecedented this is, I have used graphics software on and off since 1994 in various guises. Nothing I've ever used has been as effective or as simply fun as this.
The whole user interface is designed around making things fun to use, which is actually a surprisingly novel concept for a professional level creative package, although it seems an obviously good idea in retrospect.
It is very cheap compared to Photoshop prices, very easy to use, fun to use, and I've already got something worthwhile out of it already - so I definitely recommend this, even if you're not artistically minded at all.

What do you even do in this game??! Its not a shooter, not a clicker/idle game, not a platformer, its not anything! Ive been waiting on the title screen until does SOMETHING but NOOOOOOO! I TRIED EVERY BUTTON ON THE MAIN MENU BUT IT DOSNT WORK! IT JUST EITHER OPENS MY FILES OR PUTS ME ON THIS WEIRD SCREEN WITH NOTHING ON IT! IF ONLY I DIDNT FORGET TO REFUND IT. DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO ACCESS THE GAME?!?!