Traditional art, mang. Draw on paper, ink with pen, take a pic/scan, and post. :D I only got a tablet back in February, bro. I'm don't even have a year of experience with digital art.
Spriting is its own art, so there is a level of skill you need to do it well. But luckily, you only need MS Paint to do it, so you can start anytime! It's usually best to start with small projects, recolors, fusions, things like that. I'll gather up some tutorials for ya so you can check them out. :) It's something I need to do anyway since the A&D/Pixel Art merge.