I'd like to learn

[Vipershark]

I agree; you're a pretty good artist. One technique I've found works is to draw a sketch, shrink it down, then pixel over it.

Pixel-overs (a fancy word for tracing) might be all right when you're just starting to learn to sprite but they're by no means something that you should regularly put into practice.
They have their uses (in cases where you need to turn art into sprites for whatever reason) but they won't help you create custom sprites. They shouldn't be relied on.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

Actually what Midi said can help you create custom sprites and you can rely on them, because it can speed up your process in some cases. Example. He didn't say pixel-overs or tracing.

[Vipershark]

OH
Never mind, I wasn't paying enough attention, my bad.
I thought he was saying to pixel over a reference. Midi was correct, sorry.

[Level 1]

I have never really taking in consideration the idea of pixel tracing, but what Chris just showed actually proves a good point. I would consider this as a good starting point for Final, since he has little experience in pixel art in the traditional way, but he has shown some skill in hand-made artwork with pencil and paper. Though I have to ask,what kind of style would be easier to begin with? Cartoony, realistic, geometric, or any other style in art? I ask this because I honestly never knew how to decide this on my own.

[orochii]

Probably the simplest one is better, because there is less detail to care of. But I think you should try it by yourself. See with which one you have more affinity. Or just start spriting, do some stuff, and decide what the hell does it look like later mwahahaha!

Disclaimer: I don't know any of you and/or what you people have done, ok? I just say what I feel I can say at the matter...

[Level 1]

I mean, personally, I always tried to go for a cartoon-like style, it allowed me to exaggerate the proportions to my liking. With the freedom of it, I could create people with animal features, and shapes with human qualities. But that is when I draw in paper, when it comes to pixel art, I try to show detail with a small color palette.

Again, that is my personal taste, I am not encouraging Final to try this, unless he feels like it is comfortable for his own liking.

[Vipershark]

I think for most people, cartoony is the easiest place to start.
Either way though, it's important to learn anatomy and how light works and such because even though it's cartoony and stylized, it still follows real-world guidelines.
It's important to have a bit of everything, I guess.

[FinalSmash]

So should I try to sprite an actual picture or say a Yoshi's Island sprite and copy it?

[Level 1]

Well, don't do what I had made as a mistake. Look at a good reference of what you want to try and showcase, in your example, a Yoshi Story sprite would be a good beginning, but don't copy it pixel by pixel, try and remake it with different proportions, maybe a bigger head, maybe a longer tail, etc. Play around with the style until you come up with something original, something people can say "Yes that is Yoshi Story style" but doesn't make people think "Well it's obviously just a Yoshi sprite with a bigger tail, cool I guess"

[FinalSmash]

Okay. I might try to make an 8-bit Yoshi.

[E-Man]

Well, there's nothing stopping you from attempting to create any 8-Bit sprites; however, if you want to create true 8-Bit sprites, just keep in mind that one character sprite could only use three colors plus transparency at the most.

[Vipershark]

Don't start with 8-bit.

It might look easy ("oh look only four colors!") but 8-bit sprites are often harder to make than full-color sprites because it takes a lot of previous knowledge to actually make those four colors represent what they're supposed to well.

Start out just making a regular, no-frills, no particular style sprite. We'll go from there.

[FinalSmash]

All right. Yoshi it is. Please don't laugh when you see it though.

[Level 1]

We won't laugh, we understand it's your first time making pixel art, so if anything, all you will get is constructive comments to help you improve your skills.

[Iocus]

May I clarify something stated earlier?

You are not forced to lay pixels one by one; you are allowed to do a rough sketch to get a feel of the pose, anatomy, etc.

You are, however, expected to handle your piece in a pixel-by-pixel basis. That is to say, every pixel must be placed with a purpose, so jaggies and stray pixels, are, generally, a big no-no.