I dont know if this belongs here, but is there an easier way to make sprites than by drawing each frame?
You have to draw each of the frames for animations and each sprite for anything else. You don't necessarily have to draw everything from scratch for instance you can edit previous sprites for making new ones but there is no simple shortcut.
too bad, its a pain :-\
For walkcycles you can generate a basic template using SSH's Walkcycle Generator (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26501.0).
From what I've seen I don't think it generates "game-ready" walkcycles, but it would give you a good basis to work from and would cut a lot of the guesswork, estimations, calculations, etc. out of drawing the cycle.
Or if you prefer there are several walkcycle templates around that you could draw on top of.
Not much help really on other animations, but walking tends to be a big part of every game. ;)