MS Paint
MS Paint
MS Paint
MS Paint
MS Paint

GOD DAMN MACS!!! no ms paint for me...

i find that making a sprite from scratch is a bad plan. they always end up not looking how they should along with not working well for what you made it for.

Works for me with small sprites

but when it comes to bigger and complex sprites i just start to freehand it

I use MSPaint for all this. If I know what I'm doing I draw line art with a stylus thing, fix it with the mouse, and continue working on it as if it were any other sprite.

Maybe if you're bad at spriting, but it's pretty common among, y'know, the entire art world to start from scratch.

graphics gale is waaaay better than ms paint since its made with spriting in mind...its just so much simpler to use...but ofcource GG doesnt work with the CC pallete >.<

althoug paint.net is a decent alternative and still better than MS paint

I very much suggest GraphicsGale, since it allows huge zoom levels (up to 4000%) which is necessary when working on pixel art of such a small scale.

If you'd like some tutorials, I suggest you start here: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/tutorials.asp
You'll learn a lot. Also, look around pixeljoint in general, it's a great community. Though one I admittedly haven't been to in ages.

Also, why Celdur is telling you GraphicsGale doesn't work with the CC palette, I have no idea. It most certainly does, since it's all I use.

I really can't stand MsPaint for multiple reasons.
1. No layers.
2. No transparency. (Proper one, I mean)
3. Bad GIF support.
4. No pattern support.
5. Near to no versatility.

I go with GG.

wow, all this has really amounted to is everyone yelling what app they use to make sprites.
use whatever you're comfortable with. i use a mix of the gimp, PS6, and MSPaint.

yeah, who cares what program you use.

I find when I'm spriting I start with an existing sprite so my scale is right, but I end up colouring it all black and just re-drawing freely over the top. Otherwise your shapes will all look 'vaguely familiar'...

i usually have other sprites open for comparison.

MS Paint + Paint.net is all I use, but it's all really a matter of preference and figuring out what works for you is pretty important.

If anything just keep trying and you'll figure it out...

EDIT: Though you should probably have a good idea of what you want to make, in your head or as described above - with scaled down screenies etc.

The main thing in spriting is SHADING . Using shading you can make squares circular and anything . I use MSPaint 4ever . By the way , most-ly i do my own resprites . I just copy BG-17 and edit the sprite so you'll never find a BG-17 in it . Just look in my Asc.rte/HGL(or anything other) . Most weapons' inis are called BG-17 , same with sprites .


EXAMPLE OF SHADING
MMMMM
MMMMM

So, most "professionals" first do the lineart, then add all solid colours, then shade it, then add details, then shade said details, and maybe check references in-between every step for reworking.

People also add manual anti-aliasing between different shades. (I think that's how prom works)