Jon Purdy (evincarofautumn) & Kevin Chaloux (Kaiseto) of Purloux Studios have made one of the easiest and comprehensible pixelart basics tutorial to be found. It covers all the basics, from lineart, coloring, specific techniques, and opinions on creating pixelart.

"If you are new to pixelart and can ony read one tutorial, this is the one."

At the end of the Anti-Aliasing (AA) section is a link to their comprehensive Anti-Aliasing tutorial which is a must see/read. It is a detailed overview of the theory/process of AA. It is comprehensive enough for beginners who understand nothing or little about AA.