I am new to this program and I was wondering if I should use Photoshop or Illustrator to make my character sprites.
I like to fool around with PiskelApp. I draw the sprite in there and Export the Sprite Sheet as a PNG. I’ve done a few videos on using it here
And I’ve been continuing using them in making a small game as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5EB19z9RC16RA7KPHIup_Q
Hi RayTheSlayer, that depends on what sort of style you have in mind.
If it’s pixel art, Illustrator won’t be of much use. You’d be better off using designated pixel art software. There are some examples in this thread.
If it’s any other style, Illustrator might come in handy as it offers more advanced vector operations than Photoshop. Another advantage of using Illustrator is that it includes a Mesh Gradient tool which is missing in Photoshop.
That being said, Photoshop can import simple vector shapes from Illustrator, so you could even use both applications in your pipeline, i.e. creating the vector shapes in Illustrator and importing them in Photoshop.
If you create your characters as vector objects in Photoshop or Illustrator, one of the main advantage is that they will be infinitely scalable without becoming pixelated. This might be useful in the future when default screen resolutions change from 1080p to 4k and beyond (8k is already on the horizon).
Hope this helps 
Morten / Team Playlectric
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I like to make my character in photoshop and animate it in after effects