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Description
EDIT: looking back on this, i realize some of it may have been a bit confusing/ambiguous, so please feel free to note me or comment if you have any questions and i will reply as best as i can! hopefully i'll be able to make a better guide soon ;w;
examples of my pixels using this method:

Featuring Bitebat 's character, Delta!Okay, since a bunch of people voted yes on a recent poll, I've decided to go ahead and make a step-by-step progression/tutorial of how I do my pixels! I will be providing a bit more of an in depth explanation below, but if you don't feel like reading that, download this and read the shorter version! Since this tutorial is free, I am not requiring anyone to pay anything, but I am in need of a new laptop soon, so if you'd like to donate, anything received is greatly appreciated! Step (1) Sketch
This is where you sketch out what you'll be pixeling. You're free to start on a bigger canvas and resize, or start on a canvas that will already by the size of your pixel. Generally, I sketch without resizing, and I use a regular brush/pen tool. When sketching, you can also use the binary/pixel tool if you'd like, but I prefer the regular pen/brush because it allows me to get more details and it moves freer than the pixel tool! Everything is more of a preference, so use whatever sketching techniques you're comfortable with.

Step (2) Lining
Once you are satisfied with your sketch, it's time to line! If you sketched on a bigger canvas and haven't resized yet, now is the time to do so. When lining pixels, you want to be very careful to not get jagged/sharp lines. To avoid this, I generally follow the rule of "1-2-3" when pixeling curves ( example: 1 2 3 ) to get a nice, rounded look. Unless you are going for sharper edges on purpose, this is a good rule to keep in mind as it can easily make or break the appearance of your pixel! Another thing to note is to keep the pixels generally looking the same. What I mean by this is, when pixeling diagonals, make sure to keep the singular pixels grouped with the singular pixels instead of mixing in single pixels and double/triples until you get to a curve. Doing so will make your pixel look much less jagged and it will look much smoother!
Once the pixel is lined, I generally get out my eraser tool and change the min size to 100% and pull the density down to around 15%-20% and lightly erase the stray lines inside of the outline. ( example ) This is a personal preference, but I feel like it makes the pixel look a lot smoother and realistic.

Step (2.5) Gradients
This is more of a side-step for those that are pixeling gradients.
Pixeling gradients is probably a rather difficult obstacle for many who don't want to spend the time to dither (believe me, I understand. I never using dithering as I feel like it takes way too long and doesn't yield promising results). When I pixel a gradient, I usually map out the main colors. Make sure to note that when you map out your colors, don't keep too much of a contrast between them as it will be harder to get a nice looking gradient in my opinion! Once you've got your colors picked out, if you are using sai, pull up the color mixer as it will be extremely beneficial. If you are not using sai/your program does not have a color mixer similar to sai's, you are going to have to take the colors, mix them, and hand pick the colors yourself. If you are using sai, pick two of the colors and put them into the color mixer. Once you've done that, start closest to the first color and move the mixer slightly up to get the next color, and put that color down next to the first color on the pixel. Keep doing this until you've gotten a smooth looking gradient, and don't forget to change the colors in the mixer depending on the color map! This process requires a critical eye and a good understanding of color, but I believe that it looks much nicer than dithering. This is my own was of pixeling gradients, but feel free to use whatever technique you think looks best with your own style!

Step (3) Color
There isn't much detail to this step other than to color in the pixel based on the character's design! Sometimes certain colors, namely darker colors, don't look that nice when pixeling, so feel free to mess around with the colors until they look nicer.

Step (4) Lines + Shading
Once you've finished coloring your pixel, it's time to color the lines in! This is not a mandatory step, and if the lines look nicer black, by all means keep them that way! I, personally, enjoy coloring the lines because it gives the pixel a nice pop, and it makes anti-aliasing easier. You are free to manually hand pick colors and color in the lines that way, but what I usually do is create 3+ copies of the lineart. Change the first copy to "overlay" and merge it down to the colors. Next, move one of the copies below the color copy and then merge the color layer down onto that. Lastly, lock the third layer and fill it in as any color that looks nice and change the layer to multiply. Feel free to mess around with the opacity until it looks nice, and merge that down. After that's done, if the lines aren't to your liking, feel free to change other copies of the lineart and whatnot until you get a result you like! Once you've finished "coloring" the lines, it's time to shade. I usually flat color the limbs that are on the opposite side of the side facing you, if they are showing. After those are colored in, I usually just use simple cel-shading techniques for this, as I don't go too overboard with shading, but feel free to shade however you want! Once you've finished shading, change the layer to "multiply", mess around with the opacity if needed, and merge down again.

Step (5) Anti-aliasing
Here's the hardest step of all. If you decide you'd rather not anti-alias, then skip this step! It's not necessary and it's definitely a preference.
Since my explanation will leave much to be desired, read this guide as well!
After you've finished with all the above steps, it's time to move onto anti-aliasing if you'd like to add a bit more detail to your pixel. I do recommend this step as it makes the pixel look a lot smoother and despite how tedious it is, it is a very good technique to have under your belt. When I anti-alias, I hand pick all my colors to generally match the colors of whatever I'm outlining. The colors should fade from darker to lighter, but I'd highly recommend keeping the saturation up, as it can begin to look muddy otherwise. When I do this, I usually make another layer above the pixel in case I decide I want to restart AAing completely or partially and the un-do wont go back far enough. There isn't an exact way to AA or to explain it, but it requires practice, patience, a basic knowledge on color theory, and a critical eye. After a while, it will start coming to you more naturally, so if you don't get the hang of it right away, don't worry! It's very hard to master and it's taken me many times of tedious practicing to get where I am, and my own AAing could definitely be better. My advice is to not give up, and just try and try again!

Step (6) Finish
You're done! Once I finish everything, I usually add final touches like a white outline and my signature, but you're free to add any extra details at this stage as well. Pixeling is very hard and I was not good with my first attempts, but with years of practice I've come to understand pixels a lot more and I'm glad I have. Pixeling can be tedious, but I find it fun and it's even more rewarding when the outcome is what you'd hoped for.That's my guide to pixeling! I know that I probably left a lot to desire, but I hope that my insight helps/helped in some way! I am, by no means, a professional, but I do believe that I've been pixeling long enough to be able to offer this tutorial at least. I hope this helped you and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Description
EDIT: looking back on this, i realize some of it may have been a bit confusing/ambiguous, so please feel free to note me or comment if you have any questions and i will reply as best as i can! hopefully i'll be able to make a better guide soon ;w;
examples of my pixels using this method:

Featuring Bitebat 's character, Delta!Okay, since a bunch of people voted yes on a recent poll, I've decided to go ahead and make a step-by-step progression/tutorial of how I do my pixels! I will be providing a bit more of an in depth explanation below, but if you don't feel like reading that, download this and read the shorter version! Since this tutorial is free, I am not requiring anyone to pay anything, but I am in need of a new laptop soon, so if you'd like to donate, anything received is greatly appreciated! Step (1) Sketch
This is where you sketch out what you'll be pixeling. You're free to start on a bigger canvas and resize, or start on a canvas that will already by the size of your pixel. Generally, I sketch without resizing, and I use a regular brush/pen tool. When sketching, you can also use the binary/pixel tool if you'd like, but I prefer the regular pen/brush because it allows me to get more details and it moves freer than the pixel tool! Everything is more of a preference, so use whatever sketching techniques you're comfortable with.

Step (2) Lining
Once you are satisfied with your sketch, it's time to line! If you sketched on a bigger canvas and haven't resized yet, now is the time to do so. When lining pixels, you want to be very careful to not get jagged/sharp lines. To avoid this, I generally follow the rule of "1-2-3" when pixeling curves ( example: 1 2 3 ) to get a nice, rounded look. Unless you are going for sharper edges on purpose, this is a good rule to keep in mind as it can easily make or break the appearance of your pixel! Another thing to note is to keep the pixels generally looking the same. What I mean by this is, when pixeling diagonals, make sure to keep the singular pixels grouped with the singular pixels instead of mixing in single pixels and double/triples until you get to a curve. Doing so will make your pixel look much less jagged and it will look much smoother!
Once the pixel is lined, I generally get out my eraser tool and change the min size to 100% and pull the density down to around 15%-20% and lightly erase the stray lines inside of the outline. ( example ) This is a personal preference, but I feel like it makes the pixel look a lot smoother and realistic.

Step (2.5) Gradients
This is more of a side-step for those that are pixeling gradients.
Pixeling gradients is probably a rather difficult obstacle for many who don't want to spend the time to dither (believe me, I understand. I never using dithering as I feel like it takes way too long and doesn't yield promising results). When I pixel a gradient, I usually map out the main colors. Make sure to note that when you map out your colors, don't keep too much of a contrast between them as it will be harder to get a nice looking gradient in my opinion! Once you've got your colors picked out, if you are using sai, pull up the color mixer as it will be extremely beneficial. If you are not using sai/your program does not have a color mixer similar to sai's, you are going to have to take the colors, mix them, and hand pick the colors yourself. If you are using sai, pick two of the colors and put them into the color mixer. Once you've done that, start closest to the first color and move the mixer slightly up to get the next color, and put that color down next to the first color on the pixel. Keep doing this until you've gotten a smooth looking gradient, and don't forget to change the colors in the mixer depending on the color map! This process requires a critical eye and a good understanding of color, but I believe that it looks much nicer than dithering. This is my own was of pixeling gradients, but feel free to use whatever technique you think looks best with your own style!

Step (3) Color
There isn't much detail to this step other than to color in the pixel based on the character's design! Sometimes certain colors, namely darker colors, don't look that nice when pixeling, so feel free to mess around with the colors until they look nicer.

Step (4) Lines + Shading
Once you've finished coloring your pixel, it's time to color the lines in! This is not a mandatory step, and if the lines look nicer black, by all means keep them that way! I, personally, enjoy coloring the lines because it gives the pixel a nice pop, and it makes anti-aliasing easier. You are free to manually hand pick colors and color in the lines that way, but what I usually do is create 3+ copies of the lineart. Change the first copy to "overlay" and merge it down to the colors. Next, move one of the copies below the color copy and then merge the color layer down onto that. Lastly, lock the third layer and fill it in as any color that looks nice and change the layer to multiply. Feel free to mess around with the opacity until it looks nice, and merge that down. After that's done, if the lines aren't to your liking, feel free to change other copies of the lineart and whatnot until you get a result you like! Once you've finished "coloring" the lines, it's time to shade. I usually flat color the limbs that are on the opposite side of the side facing you, if they are showing. After those are colored in, I usually just use simple cel-shading techniques for this, as I don't go too overboard with shading, but feel free to shade however you want! Once you've finished shading, change the layer to "multiply", mess around with the opacity if needed, and merge down again.

Step (5) Anti-aliasing
Here's the hardest step of all. If you decide you'd rather not anti-alias, then skip this step! It's not necessary and it's definitely a preference.
Since my explanation will leave much to be desired, read this guide as well!
After you've finished with all the above steps, it's time to move onto anti-aliasing if you'd like to add a bit more detail to your pixel. I do recommend this step as it makes the pixel look a lot smoother and despite how tedious it is, it is a very good technique to have under your belt. When I anti-alias, I hand pick all my colors to generally match the colors of whatever I'm outlining. The colors should fade from darker to lighter, but I'd highly recommend keeping the saturation up, as it can begin to look muddy otherwise. When I do this, I usually make another layer above the pixel in case I decide I want to restart AAing completely or partially and the un-do wont go back far enough. There isn't an exact way to AA or to explain it, but it requires practice, patience, a basic knowledge on color theory, and a critical eye. After a while, it will start coming to you more naturally, so if you don't get the hang of it right away, don't worry! It's very hard to master and it's taken me many times of tedious practicing to get where I am, and my own AAing could definitely be better. My advice is to not give up, and just try and try again!

Step (6) Finish
You're done! Once I finish everything, I usually add final touches like a white outline and my signature, but you're free to add any extra details at this stage as well. Pixeling is very hard and I was not good with my first attempts, but with years of practice I've come to understand pixels a lot more and I'm glad I have. Pixeling can be tedious, but I find it fun and it's even more rewarding when the outcome is what you'd hoped for.That's my guide to pixeling! I know that I probably left a lot to desire, but I hope that my insight helps/helped in some way! I am, by no means, a professional, but I do believe that I've been pixeling long enough to be able to offer this tutorial at least. I hope this helped you and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!