Pixel by pixel? Yeesh !! I'm not too big into the pixel art scene myself, but in the few occassions where I do it, I find its much more natural / less intensive to use a pen tablet.

i dont do pixel art much, but when i do, i use the pixel tool on medibang lol

Depending on what I'm doing, sometimes I get my shape with a larger (but still pencil) 'brush' and then go back and reduce that to a line.

I think pixel by pixel is fine for a small canvas, 16x16, 32x32 etc, when you start getting into bigger size, line tools, brush sizes and the bucket took can help. I'm still learning, and struggling with hue shifting, color shifting. I use Aseprite for my pixels, which does help, but i've used photoshop too, depends on your preference.

Eagerly awaiting answers to this one. I'd love to do stuff like teeny towers and the sticker page but .. I can't draw. Makes me so sad! Been trying to do the daily challenges on Pixilart but my efforts are seriously primitive.

i use windows paint, and then import to piskelapp.com to animate and make transparent

idk if all my pixel art really looks good/correct but i do pixel by pixel on canvases even bigger than 32x32 via krita using the select tools/bucket. theres probably a better way but this gives me the most control

I use aseprite on windows and pixaki on ios. Usually find it easiest to block out the shapes with a large brush then trim it down, a bit like painting. For big stuff I draw a sketch first, import and resize then trace it with the line brush.

https://lospec.com has some pixel art tutorials, I mainly use it for the huge amount of palettes

Thanks for all the responses, very much appreciated, gonna take some of these to heart in earnest and give a go - stay tuned!