Graphics Graphic Software for Animation

[Zizka]

I’m unsure where this would fit but here goes.

As much as I like pixel art, I’d like to switch the graphics style. I want to practice drawing without a “grid” and be able to to scale my art which is troublesome with pixel art.

I’m used to using different frames for animation so I don’t know how to handle this with other software or even which software to use.

Some examples:

Spelunky 2 (or HD).
Mostly what I’d like to go for. I don’t know what Derek Yu used. Some animations seem to involve simply moving part of the animation as opposed to redrawing the whole thing. It doesn’t seem to be strictly a sprite sheet so to speak.

Cuphead
(I know cuphead is special in the sense that it uses traditional medium for the original animations but they were integrated digitally at some point. This looks like traditional frame-by-frame.

Braid

Darkest Dungeon. This seems like skeletal animation for the idle stance for example or walking sequence. I don’t know how this integrates into a game engine however... is it natively supported by the engine as opposed to being integrated?
Keep in mind that I use GMS 2 so the software suggested should be compatible.

If possible I’d like something which is easy to use/user friendly and not thousands of dollars.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Mk.2]

For frame by frame animation, try Krita. I thought it was very impressive considering it's free, and it has basic animation features.

For skeletal animation, I've only tried Spriter Pro because it was in a Humble Bundle, but it seemed decent and intuitive. It's not really my thing, so I don't know how it compares to other software like Spine, or compatibility etc.