It's probably easier to animate something before the coloring part, but I do it afterwards because it's what I'm used to. Some animations kinda need the coloring to accurately judge the animation, like something may look jumpy only before the coloring part. Still, I recommend trying both and see which is more to your liking. I'm using MSPaint to draw my sprites so I don't have layers.

I usually draw rotations out by hand, but for rotating more complex parts I use RotSprite, then clean the resulting frames again by hand. [link] <- The site's currently down as I'm typing this, but I think it has the download link when it does come back up.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Congrats! Was Ivory Lagiacrus tough? Just need one Blackcurl Horn+ so I can upgrade my Kelbi Bow to its Rare 9 form, which is its final upgrade. Then just the 5 Earth Dragongems for the full set of Helios X and I can start easymoding my way to those rare drops. Helps to have the set when the game simply refuses to give you certain items, so you can bruteforce it until they drop. Looking forward to playing with you again, and be sure to update the game on next Tuesday since it adds cross-region play between EU/UK/AUS and US severs + off-TV play with just the Gamepad controller.

Sounds interesting, but I doubt I would have enough time to contribute to another game project with my own ones underway. Thanks for the offer though, hope you find someone who has the time and skill needed!