yup, it's really user friendly, didn't even need a yt tutorials to get it XD, you can check it out, it's free but some exports need to be bought, like mp4 exports, or bigger canvas.
yeah, I would agree, but since art is my best strength in a game, It's much better to use my time in there than making a more complex game mechanics and not knowing what will be the outcome, XD
took me years and years, there's no shortcut, but I guess watching other youtubers do pixel art helps too, like Brandom James Geer, he made a lot pixel art and gives a ton of good advices, if you want a really better deep dives about pixel art, I really recommend you looking at his stuff!