For proper 2D pixelling, I've never seen anything on PC that's a match for the Amiga DPaint series:( The number one feature missing from most modern art software is the ability to see two different zoom levels at once (zoomed in close, and maybe a 2x-3x zoom, so see something close to 'actual pixels' at the game's target resolution) The number two feature - it may seem a bit too picky - but I've never seen a PC mouse pointer move as smoothly as the Amiga mouse pointer Linkin Park The Messenger Live. . Even with a high-end 'gaming mouse' claiming silly numbers of DPI and Hz. Just rose tinted glasses? That and that pixel art always looked sweeter on CRT screens, which we were all using back in those days?. For pure 2D pixel art, i'd say for the win. With v.9.1 out, so much has been added and improved. Its open source, no catch.

Ocrtools Keygen. Constantly being updated and improved. It has: Layers support Proper alpha channel unlike GraphicsGale.

Meh!, Has onion skinning. Color palette ramp. Simple and much cleaner UI. Unlimited undo options. Import/export sprite sheets option. Split view for more freedom and so on, and none of the 'overrated' and 'out of this world' stuffs you would get from this blah and this bleh. Simple and yet reliable in every way.

The question is what you want from the software in the first place. If you want really good graphics with shadows and other automatic effects then you should probably consider software for creating cartoons. For this purpose you can use, Synfig Animation Studio, Tapptoons Linetester, eDrawings. If you want to create a 2d sprite animation for 2D game and you really want to save your time then you can consider Flash software.