Modding Help Making my first mod. Advice and tips

First time poster to the forums although I made this account a while back and kinda forgot about it...
I've been wanting to make a mod for Starbound for sometime as a way to see how modding works but also maybe start making my own mods if things go smoothly. I wanted to start somewhat simple and make a hair mod, various hair styles for each race which are designed around said race. I've already drawn the designs that I wanted to make it just actually making them for Starbound. As a beginner to mod making I wanted to ask these questions:

1.) Are Photoshop and/or Clip Studio good programs to use for pixel art?
2.) How do I make the hair designs programmed to only be available to each certain race as designed?
3.) Will it be a good idea to have another version of Starbound to test this and future mods?
4.) Is there a way to animate the hair in any way? I know vanilla hair didn't have any animations but I have a few designs that would work great if they were.

I hope to get along with everyone and create some mods of my own to add to the pile of so many great mods!
Any advice and information will be appreciated

 

1: Photoshop yes, the other idk
2: species files:

Code:

"genders" : [
    {
      "name" : "male",
      "image" : "/interface/title/male.png",
      "characterImage" : "/interface/title/humanmale.png",
----->"hair" : [ "male1", "male2", "male3", "male4", "male5", "male6", "male7", "male8", "male9", "male10", "male11", "male12", "male13", "male14", "male15", "male16", "male17", "male18", "male19", "male21", "male22", "male23", "male24", "male25", "male26", "male27", "male28", "male29", "male30", "male31", "male32", "male33", "male34", "male35", "male36", "male37", "male38", "male39", "male40", "male41", "male42", "male43", "male44", "male45", "male46", "male47", "male48", "male49", "male50", "male51", "male52", "male53", "male54", "male55", "male56", "male57", "male58", "male59", "male60", "male61", "male62", "male63", "male64" ],
      "shirt" : [ "workoutchest", "coolchest", "conceptchest", "sweatervestchest", "hoodiechest", "hoodiechest2", "protectorateshirtchest", "protectoratevestchest" ],
      "pants" : [ "workoutlegs", "coollegs", "conceptlegs", "sweatervestlegs", "jeans1legs", "jeans2legs", "jeans3legs" ],
      "facialHairGroup" : "",
      "facialHair" : [ ],
      "facialMaskGroup" : "",
      "facialMask" : [ ]
    },
    {
      "name" : "female",
      "image" : "/interface/title/female.png",
      "characterImage" : "/interface/title/humanfemale.png",
----->"hair" : [ "fem1", "fem2", "fem3", "fem4", "fem5", "fem6", "fem7", "fem8", "fem9", "fem10", "fem11", "fem12", "fem13", "fem14", "fem15", "fem16", "fem17", "fem18", "fem19", "fem20", "fem21", "fem22", "fem23", "fem24", "fem25", "fem26", "fem27", "fem28", "fem29", "fem30", "fem31", "fem32", "fem33", "fem34", "fem35", "fem36", "fem37", "fem38", "fem39", "fem40", "fem41", "fem42", "fem43", "fem44", "fem45", "fem46", "fem47", "fem48", "fem49", "fem50", "fem51", "fem52", "fem53", "fem54", "fem55", "fem56", "fem57", "fem58", "fem59", "fem60", "fem61", "fem62", "fem63", "fem64" ],
      "shirt" : [ "workoutchest", "coolchest", "conceptchest", "sweatervestchest", "hoodiechest", "hoodiechest2", "protectorateshirtchest", "protectoratevestchest" ],
      "pants" : [ "workoutlegs", "coollegs", "conceptlegs", "sweatervestlegs", "jeans1legs", "jeans2legs", "jeans3legs" ],
      "facialHairGroup" : "",
      "facialHair" : [ ],
      "facialMaskGroup" : "",
      "facialMask" : [ ]
    }

3: assuming you mean another copy of starbound, it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't hurt not to either
4: afaik no. tho if any1 ever comes up with a way to animate anything other than arms, body, sleeves, or pants, I'm definitely going to get it

 

#3 You can use the "Unstable" version listed in steam as your testing platform. It is exactly the same as the regular version right now.