For beginners I would suggest Pro Motion NG – cosmigo

​

GIMP – Downloads
GIMP is a powerful suite of tools that help make any project much easier. It features most features of Photoshop but is distributed freely.

​

Tiled
A tileset editor with great features, free to use, donation suggested.

​

Piskel – Free online sprite editor (piskelapp.com) |
Download: Piskel – Download (piskelapp.com)

Pixel Art Maker
Another free online editor

​

Cosmigo | pro motion – pixel art software for sprites, images, tile sets and more |
Our suggestion for creating pixel animations! Cosmigo is a software company that offers Pro Motion NG, a pixel drawing and animation software designed for artists working on detailed and pixel precise graphics as required for mobile games and portable game consoles. It also suits well to create light weight graphics for web games.

​

Ramp Generator ( Free )
Color ramp creator is a tool that helps designers create a color scale or color ramp. A color ramp is a visual representation of how colors transition from light to dark in a smooth and continuous manner. It is used within a design system to create a color catalog known as color primitives. The color ramp creator tool can help you create color ramps utilized in design systems. You can use tools like Figma, Zonums, or PixelFor.me to create color ramps. For example, you can follow the instructions provided in this UX Collective article to create a color ramp using Figma. Alternatively, you can use the Zonums tool to generate a color ramp list with 2, 3, or 4 colors. If you are a pixel artist, you can use the PixelFor.me tool to create color ramps for your artwork.

​

GraphicsGale 
A free pixel art maker for Window users that is similar to Paint.net. You can draw pixel art and animations using popular editing tools like color blending, layer control, the use of various brushes and pens, and the coveted onion-skinning option. If you’re an artist and have some cool sketches that you’d like to transform into pixel art, it’s easy to do with GraphicsGale. The TWAIN feature allows you to snap a photo of your masterpiece and import it into the software from any digital camera or scanner. You can also preview any animations during the editing process to help you get your design just right.

​

Slate
Is designed for pixel art and offers features such as editing images directly, using layers, creating seamless 2D tilesets, and previewing sprite sheet animations. You can download the app from the official Slate website and start creating pixel art today.