No, I haven't done any pixel art in about a year. I mean, I have, but that is private project.

Yes, painting is hard because with black and white, pencil for example, its mostly about form and usage of values alone. But in painting it is values + actual color which doubles it. You have to learn to look, you can't just compare stuff to get the proportions, you need color! Eye must be trained, where to put red, where to put blue, and mostly these go to most unnatural places you can imagine.

I use oils on canvas mostly. Have some works on cardboard and panel also, but canvas is the best medium for me. You can buy pre-stretched canvas if you are lazy like I am. Recently i have been doing watercolour also, mainly because school put me into it, but I need more practice with it since its totally different thing. Oh, and I suck on portraits.