Scribblette: I just don't see how drawing can help you PIXEL art better. I'm not trying to be mean but I'm just saying...

Whether you are drawing with pen on paper, painting on canvas or drawing/pixeling on a computer: you are working on art! Over the past several hundred years, certain techniques have been developed to render an image. It would be unwise to not look into it, as you will deny yourself the basics of art. Which apply to pixeling as well.
It doesn't matter if you want to create a realistic image or a caricature: The same rules of art still apply.

Let me give you an exagerated example:

Simple basics like rendering a shadow on a sphere correctly so that the sphere looks round. And not something else. I'm sure you can tell that the right image is not a sphere.
It won't be a sphere in a realistic setting. And also not in a comic setting. The science of the right shadow is simply faulty.

So I'd advise to look at some realistic stuff (be it a cat or a ball) and draw that on paper. Wielding a pencil is a lot easier than figuring out where to place your next pixel, and it puts you pretty much at the same place where all the great artists once started
Draw, a lot! At least one hour a day and draw not what you think you see but what you actually see.
I think you can put that to the test by drawing a mug or teacup. It's the infamous test to see how your technique is developing (or not).

Hope this helps in any way!