Aseprite

Aseprite is a sprite animation program that allows users to create animated sprites and pixel art. Aseprite is a sprite editor that affords users the ability to create 2D animations for video games. It is used to create pixel art, retro-style graphics in the style of the 8-bit and 16-bit generation of consoles, and any other graphics desired by the user. Aseprite is a paid program: its source code is available, but compiled builds may not be redistributed. It is provided via Steam key and also as a DRM-free download for Windows, macOS and Linux. For key redemption, a free Steam account is required. A trial version is available, but it cannot save files.

Features:

• It has an intuitive interface that suits every user, from beginners to professionals.
• It composes sprites using layers & frames as separate concepts
• It creates images in RGBA or Indexed color mode (256 colors), or Grayscale images
• It runs on Windows 10 and 11, macOS and Ubuntu Linux
• It opens and saves GIF animations, sequences of PNG files, ICO files etc.
• It has a timeline feature where users can copy and move layers, frames, or specific images
• It has animation tools for real-time animation preview, onion skinning, and tag frames
• It supports Undo and Redo for every operation
• It has pixel art tools for drawing patterns and textures, shading, pixel-perfect strokes, RotSprite rotation, tiled mode, and filled contours or polygons
• It supports multiple editors and/or views for the same sprite.
• It can export and import sprite sheets and texture atlases
• It has a command line interface to automate conversion and sprite sheet generation
• It includes updates for the whole v1.x series up to v1.9.
• It has tilemap layers and custom brushes

Aseprite's intuitive interface makes it very easy for beginners to draw characters and layers.

Thus, Aseprite is a program that hobbyists, pixel artists and game designers can use for any level of work. Because it is designed for this kind of work, it offers focused tools, and the graphics you create are yours to use, even in commercial games.