Nomad Boy

Hello, I'm new in hacking. I want to make my own custom sprites and animation for a project. The question is, What is the easiest way to "draw" the sprites?, or the easiest tool to do it? If someone can give some advices i will be very grateful. Oh, another question. Is it easier to draw a sprite using an already existing one or start one from zero? Sorry for the bad english, thank to everyone.